Let's do this.
The movie, like the series, is a very linked film with enough importance placed on the twists to drive them home even if they are predictable. It uses the themes in the show well and has a lot of great moments for the main cast, as well as only having minor plotholes. It is a very well-done movie as well, and sits within the series canon comfortably. Other Rider movies tend to take an alternate-universe [AU] approach, giving a new story to old characters, or changing characters. I didn't really mind that, but I think W takes the show and ups the stakes to a level not seen in the show. It's okay when they do that in AU, but you can't really be as attached since the movie will have no bearing upon the show and if you don't know the characters in the movie, then you won't really care.
That said, W is a show that makes you care about the characters and how they interact. The exposition at the beginning is a welcome addition to let this be a movie that you can watch without prior knowledge of the episodes that border it or even the show itself. There is a cameo for many clients, every form, and lots of new designs. You know that this is going to be big, and it is going to be something to deal with. I find movie Rider villains, and even villains of series-based movies in general, don't really do any more than the antagonists of the shows would do. Sure, some have armies and whatever, but not any more power. The NEVERs, however, aren't afraid to do what they need to, and they're only a force of 5! They will kill, something W does not do in the show often, and kill hard. A terrorist group like this is not something you want to mess with.
The characters introduced in the movie are probably the weakest point. There are many, and W has not handled so many characters at once in an arc, at least not characters who turned out to be incredibly important. While the threat is large and real, I wish the movie was a little longer so we could have gotten some information about them. Maria is the one most fleshed out, and she is probably my favorite newer character. She's also got a good actress, so that helps.
The rest are, while not forgettable, not given enough lines for us to care about them. Then again, they are terrorists so I suppose that's part of the characterization and part of the point.
The music is a little higher than standard for W, which is really good. I enjoy the background music in W and I find it sets the mood here as well as it does in the show. The only song I'm not a huge fan of is W, which is, ironically, the movie's theme song. W-B-X, the show's theme song, is used to good effect, so that makes up for it. There's nothing I can think of that's really standout, but it does the job.
Eternal is a nice design, and his power is pretty threatening as well. Not much more to say about him, but I really like that cape.
Kamen Rider Joker, on the other hand, is the real new star as far as I'm concerned. While W was very good about bike fights and hand-to-hand combat, it was always with lots of special effects which are cool but distract a little since the fight choreography is somewhat limited. It was very nice to see a Rider do stuff the old-school way: ass-kicking with fists and kicks, and not too many flashy lights and form changes. He also pays a lot of homage to the Showa Riders of old, which is just more cool.
Speaking of the fight choreography, in here it is just amazing. Koichi Sakamoto does the directing for this movie and his action scenes are filled with awesome wire-fu and high-flying action. With a show like W, so steeped in its own history while showing small conventions of older shows, the wirework really stands out and brings the fight scenes to a level that Rider has not seen in a very long time. Thankfully, there are no large distracting explosions to take away from the focus of the fighting, and I think the choreography is a large part of the movie's feeling of grandness. The filming is really good too, with a dark style adding to the feel.
I had a few problems, but they are very minor. One is the characters, and after is the form changes in the last battle. They seem more systematic than strategic which is what W is good at, but I understand they wanted all the forms in there so it's not too bad. The plot is also kind of thin and doesn't use too much lore from the world of Fuuto. It's more like something of a side story than something that could conceivably affect Fuuto at large, at least until the later scenes.
Overall, W FOREVER was not a disappointment in any way. With a great cast, great characters, and an awesome action director, I have to recommend it to anyone who's a movie fan, and then some. It's one of my most favorite movies, and the best movie I've seen released in 2010.
Final Score:
9.5/10
You will like it, whether you admit it or not.
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