Technically, Satria Heroes: Revenge of Darkness has all the potentials to introduce audiences who aren't familiar with Indonesian tokusatsu, Bima Satria Garuda and the sequel, Bima-X, to the saga; but, it tends to have fun with itself. In fact, it opts to be a (literally) simple, blatant, campy Kamen Rider-inspired bonanza, which might get you cringed and entertained at once.
Satria Heroes narrative is pretty simple - following up three-act structure with an additional backstory stuffed right before the mid act. It splits the focus to two key figures - Ray and an iron-masked antagonist - and presents it in three interrelated episodes. Ray and Iron Mask respectively get the focus in the first two episodes before finally they clash in the third episode 'Revenge of Darkness.'
Narrative-wise, the Iron Mask's episode is superfluous. It has no impact at all to the storytelling but justification to the titular revenge which, frankly saying, feels forced. Even, The Raid 's star, Yayan Ruhian, couldn't help it from sinking.
The best part are always the fighting sequences, in which all the merchandise-worthy Satria (the masked riders) goes on total rampage with all the costume-upgrades and sets of weaponry. The child inside me screams when those Satrias evolve into their ultimate mode; but, the same child inside me suddenly goes silent knowing that those modes are also superfluous.
There are a lot of things to fix in technical department, especially sound mixing, VFX, and color grading. However, the only thing Satria Heroes must fix, should they make a sequel (which is highly possible, as there's a clue for it in the post-credit scene) is the script. While the traditional one-episode treatment in tokusatsu can always work, some elements can be trimmed down, tidied up and made more effective... or at least, they can work more on the dialogues.
After all, Satria Heroes: Revenge of Darkness is acceptable for being intentionally campy and funny. It's good at being that, despite the technical flaws.
Satria Heroes: Revenge of Darkness (2017)
Action, Adventure Directed by: Kenzo Maihara, Arnandha Wyanto Written by: Reino Barack, Ishimori Production Starred by: Christian Loho, Fernando Surya, Yayan Ruhian, Adhitya Alkatiri
