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kamenstranger · 11 months

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Well, this was a big one, wasn’t it? I guess Ultraman was the big one, but getting a Kamen Rider movie released in the US, that was a big shock. Not without some compromises, but even so, it’s surreal to see a Kamen Rider in a theater. It was certainly an experience in itself.

But, I’m dancing around the meat of the subject here; the movie. Cool factor of a Kamen Rider playing in theaters aside, is it good?

The short spoiler free version is yes… but I do have issues.

First, some solid positives. Ruriko is great, a lot of the superfluous aspects of her character were cut down and she plays a much bigger role than either the Manga or original series. She puts up a cold logical exterior that hides her true emotions, but you get the impression there’s a lot more to her than she lets on, and Minami Hamabe does an excellent job showcasing different personas as the characters opens up.

Hongo is great, Sosuke Ikematsu brings a real tragic humanity to the character that perfectly embodies the sadness of being a Kamen Rider.

Likewise, Tasuku Emoto’s Hayato is a sharp contrast to Hongo and one of the best parts of the film, if tragically underutilized.

There are some great action bits, fun callbacks to the original, iconic musical beats. We even have a take on Ishinomori’s interest in Gaia theory being incorporated. Visually the film’s a lot of fun, great over the top set pieces in a way only Anno can deliver- some of the night scenes notwithstanding.

That said, the film is also front loaded pretty badly with a lot of exposition, a couple superfluous Kaijin-nigen or rather “Augs”, a lot of the fights are clunky, and the film often feels more like a series of vignettes strung together, feeling more like several episodes condensed into the time span of a movie rather than something written with the framework in mind. That will probably be the biggest sticking point for a lot of people.

I enjoyed the movie, I saw a lot of good, I saw a lot of blemishes. It’s a mixed bag that has its ups and downs, it's probably not going to be seen as good as Shin Godzilla and Ultraman.

From here on out, I’m getting into spoiler territory.

So let’s discuss the pacing, because more than anything that’s the biggest issue.

The first 45 minutes are the most uneven of the entire movie. The opening sequence is however fantastic, it hits the ground running and sets the tone for the movie perfectly. But once Spider Aug is killed, that’s when things start to become noticeably sloppy. We’re hastily introduced to two Government agents that really don’t have any character to them, they’re just two agents who recruit Ruriko and Hongo to take down Shocker, while also keeping tabs on them and providing some limited support like safe housing. Yes they’re exactly who you think they are.

It’s at this point in my viewing I realized there’s a lot of exposition and set up being jam packed. Even before the two agents show up we have a big info dump in the middle of the Spider Aug section spent explaining what Prana is- which is basically the life force of the universe. A soul, the conscious, etc. It’s what all augmented Cyborgs run on, so get used to hearing it a lot as an explanation for everything. Nano-machines, son.

After Spider is killed and they introduce the agents, we get another exposition heavy scene on how SHOCKER came to be (Which despite the whole parallels with real life cults, never amounts to any sort of major social commentary) It comes off sloppy. They’re trying to cover all the things that are needed to set the foundation, but at the cost of presentation. The opening 20 minutes is basically Action scene> Massive info dump> action scene> massive info dump.

A complaint I’ve seen is Anno's reverence for the original series hampering the movie, that there's perhaps too much fondness or nostalgia- but never explaining exactly what that entails except maybe some of the visuals and the opening basically being the first two episodes of the OG series. Undoubtedly you've seen the locations that appeared in the original '71 series, or the use of snap zooms. That's not really an issue in my book, as it doesn’t seem to simply come from a place of nostalgia, but Anno recognizing that the locations and editing style also invokes a certain tone and visual vibe beyond the simple act of "I recognize that" out of the audience. They ostensibly serve the same purpose they do as originally intended. Sure, nostalgia is inevitable, but it's not the only point. It's also a small part of the movie.

No, where I think the film gets tied up is insisting on having certain monsters for the sake of having them. After that big info dump with the agents and our heroes allying with them, Hongo and Ruriko begin systematically take down SHOCKER’s senior members, the hybrid soldiers (And in one case a group of agents taking down Scorpion) Even though it’s only two monsters, it feels very cobbled together and disjointed with the rest of the film. Bat’s entire segment in particular feels like it’s there because they had to have a Bat Monster after the Spider, and they had some really cool ideas. The concept for a fake out, a kick ass curb stomp, and checking a monster off the list all came first– trying to fill in a story around it and justifying their inclusion came second. Bat easily could’ve been cut entirely and it probably would’ve helped the pacing immensely. Scorpion is there so they can have the Shocker Combatwomen and because her venom is used later by the agents to kill a surrendering Aug, which has some fucked up implications that’re a bit glossed over. A hybrid of Chameleon and Mantis Man; Kamakiri Chameleon, also pops up down the road with almost no set-up beyond revenge for Spider Aug.

Thankfully things mostly get better once we get to Wasp. The story is better paced out, has more coherence, and we have some hints that Ruriko has a history with Wasp as she’s more emotional than previously seen, and Wasp, Hiromi, treats Ruriko like an old friend. Ruriko also has some nice quiet moments with Hongo that adds to the humanity of the two. In fact, I would go so far as to say the scenes between the two carry the film a great deal, particularly with so much action/exposition in the first act, it’s nice to slow down and focus on two characters and their personalities.

In particular it makes you appreciate just how Ruriko had the best change ups. No nonsense with thinking Hongo killed her father, she was a part of SHOCKER and is augmented, she’s a researcher and computer expert allowing her to upgrade Hongo’s gear. I like this take on the character, it’s different and allows her to be more involved. She has a real chip on her shoulder regarding her father who was always distant, she doesn’t even think much of his death, but by the midway point the facade starts to crack and open up.

After Wasp however, there’s not a whole lot left story wise. It’s mostly about taking down Ruriko’s brother, Ichiro Midorikawa (Mirai Moriyama), the Butterfly Aug, and assumed final Senior member. And man, Anno really wanted to use some other Ishinomori characters thrown into a blender. Ichiro turned on humanity after his mother was killed in a random attack when he was 6, and eventually his entire family is killed off over the movie. So he has a thirst for vengeance and is a blue Butterfly with a double half typhoon… this man is a V3 and Inazuman OC. I’m not even mad, but that’s what he is. (He also goes by Kamen Rider 0, which is a term that goes back to the OG series as a planned failed prototype Rider, and would later be used as a placeholder for New Kamen Rider/Skyrider, Black, and Shin. References!)

Ichiro has a cool calm demeanor, and his power is absorbing the prana of others and placing them in a purgatory-like realm, his goal being to do that to the world so no one else has to die a senseless death like his mother. He’s framed as being ideologically the opposite of Hongo, and there is something there about order and chaos, control and freedom. Sadly, I don’t find him an interesting villain. Moriyama does a great job in the role, but I don’t think he has enough to work with. Ichiro simply isn’t that developed nor does the film utilize the themes surrounding him. He’s someone that would make a great series villain, have flashbacks to his old self, the relationship with Ruriko. Really build him up overtime. But for a film? Not so much. And I shouldn’t have to read a prequel manga to fill in the blanks.

That aside, it’s Ichiro who’s responsible for turning Ichimongi Hayato into 02, and I want to re-emphasize; Hayato is great in this. He’s more upbeat and jokey than Hongo, he contrasts wonderfully, is a lot of fun, and we do not get enough of him in the film. We don’t even have much of him interacting with Hongo. You have the initial fight, a few words after, and then their only other interaction is during the climax.

Thankfully, while the narrative is a bit light after Nigo is introduced, the film wisely maintains character interactions with Ruriko that play a substantial role in providing much needed heart, showing a vulnerable more human side, while Ikematsu once again is bringing his all to showcase Hongo’s sorrow.

I should also mention Hongo’s backstory at this point, and it’s…weird. It comes very late into the movie and primarily is there to contrast with Ichiro.

The short of it is his father was a policeman that refused to use his gun in a hostage situation and it got him killed. Hongo took that kindness and willingness to help others to heart, but unlike his father, he is willing to use that power, the destructive means. And I get the intent there; it’s the same basis as the story Ishinomori told about hitting a bully. You have to use strength sometimes, not because you enjoy it, but because you need to, even if it breaks your heart to do it. There is something still a tad uncomfortable about the whole ordeal about Hongo wishing his dad shot someone, but I also suppose that’s the point. There is another important element to the story, which is that the end of the movie has Hongo giving up his helmet at the cost of his body. He has, in essence, given up the gun like his father. That’s something I would want to analyze on a rewatch. But my initial reaction to the backstory is “This isn’t good or necessary.” I don’t think we need to be given a reason for why Hongo is a kind person willing to use force, that can just be who he is. But Anno can’t help but impose parental complexes on a character.

I suppose the last thing to mention is that, yeah, Hongo “dies” during the final battle, but similar to the manga, his mind lives on. But instead of being a brain in a jar somewhere, his prana inhabits the helmet given to Hayato. It’s a nice twist on the concept.

Also worth mentioning that this is the most open-ended of Anno’s Shin series. Hayato gets a new suit, becomes Kamen Rider 2+1 (love that name) SHOCKER has a new Cobra Aug, and the film ends with Hayato riding off.

Oh, I also didn’t mention K, because he doesn’t appear to do anything important. Emphasis on appear.

So, Shocker was founded by a Japanese billionaire who created an AI system called I, a big machine, and later J (looking a lot like Kikaider) and the third and final before his suicide was K. K is an observer throughout the film, showing sympathy for fallen Augs, but also the heroes, never intervening against them. He just watches in secret, and I’m wondering if a sequel intends to develop a conscience for him and turn him against Shocker. That’s the only reason I can figure he’s here because otherwise it’s a very unnecessary and weird cameo. It feels like the Kyodain siblings appearing as villains in the Fourze movie, it’s just an out of place re-imagining for the sake of a reference.

But that's just one half of Shin Kamen Rider. While the story leaves a bit to be desired to say the least, how to the visuals fair? Well, it's a bit mixed as well.

If I give Anno anything as a filmmaker it’s that he’s typically visually engaging, goes extra hard when needed, but also knows when to dial it back. Even with all the Wikipedia level exposition at the start, the camera’s always moving, always making the frame look interesting, usually providing additional footage as a character explains a backstory. But, when we get to Ruriko and Hongo having a heart to heart, things are more simple, because it’s the characters drawing you in more than anything else.

Of course, where the visual truly lets loose is the special effects. When Anno is on, he is fucking on. The above is the perfect encapsulation of the film at its best going extra on the style, and the best I've ever seen at invoking the speed and power of Ishinomori's Manga panels. Transformations and finishers are unsurprisingly the biggest highlight. The editing and fight sequences are another matter...

We’ve got probably 3-4 different things going on here in terms of styling. There’s snap zooms and smash cuts like the 70s series, which… can look a little archaic, but I kinda like it. There’s a charm and sense of love there.

You’ve got more modern rapid cuts showing the impacts during fights, which never gets tiring. It adds a speed and franticness to the battles while still providing a clear shot of the impact.

It’s also just fun watching SHOCKER combatmen get their heads squished, or blood splatter against a tree like a bucket of paint. Speaking of, the fights are very violent, almost on par with Black Sun’s level of gore. Again, I’m fairly certain some of the monsters were thrown in here simply to have them be turned into a smear under Ichigo’s boot.

The other more predominant style is…not so good. We have quite a lot of fights that use a very shaky cam combined with rapid smash cuts and obnoxious closeups that invokes the absolutely worst in action scenes, devolving into an incoherent mess of blurry visuals that makes a Taken film look refined. You can get away with a little bit if it’s meant to show the chaos of what the opponents are facing, but not an entire sequence. The audience still needs to see what’s happening. The Scorpion Aug in particular has one of the absolute worst. I remember thinking to myself it looks like they shot this on a damn phone… later learning that several scenes were shot on goddamn iPhones.

Another thing I’m not crazy about is the night sequences, or areas that are dark. As much as SKR wants to replicate and build off of the OG’s visuals, these are lit worse than the Showa era stuff. The entire fight with the Shocker Riders in the tunnel system is barely visible, it’s an absolute mess of what could and should’ve been a highlight of the film. Even with the glowing eyes, nothing looks as visceral and raw as when the OG put the heroes in the dark.

However, the fight between Hongo and Hayato is really fun. This is going full Shonen ham with showcasing the Riders running at incredible speeds, jumping high into the air, and flipping great distances. Most of the fight is in CG, which is okay, not great looking, but I’m happy they didn’t do it at night to try and hide it. Although I do wonder why doing wire work and green screen wasn’t used for some sections.

Also, there’s a bit in the fight where Hongo’s leg gets injured. I laughed.

But while I do enjoy this particular battle, this also highlights a limitation of Shin Kamen Rider’s fight scenes, which is that the only really good bits are either quick cuts only showing the impacts, or heavily CG’d. Suit actors having well paced and well shot choreographed fights simply aren't here. And that’s made all the more damning by the currently airing series, Geats, having some of the absolute best choreography in a Toku in years. Hell, the fight between Black Sun and Bilgenia had a more interesting structure. Sure, Ichigo and Nigo having a DBZ fight is fun, having Wasp move at an inhuman pace can only be done in CG. But so many fights devolve into watching a cutscene.

One thing I can give credit towards being consistently amazing is the sound design. Every hit feels destructive, crunchy, squishy, and incredibly satisfying to the ears. The opening battle sets a pretty high standard and it never disappoints. Numerous subtle sounds, too. The film has multiple sequences where we’re keyed in on the sound of leather and zippers. Kinda sounds kinky, doesn’t it? But it is oddly enjoyable. Probably my favorite is Hongo removing his glove, which really doesn’t want to come off, like the armor is a part of him, with a sound befitting that.

We might as well get into some of the miscellaneous general aesthetics and visual choices, because we get a blend of everything here. I don’t want to spend much on the main suit itself beyond just how amazingly simple the design philosophy was. Take the original suit, mix some of the Sakurajima colors in there, add panel lines and some techno stuff. Bam, something modern that stays more true to the original than "The First" did and looking miles better.

What I find more interesting is how the suit is treated as a separate piece, it doesn’t just form, it’s something that has to be put on. Or, as is the case here, almost never taken off. It’s not dissimilar to what was planned for, uh, Shin. Likewise, the helmet is a separate part that has to be put on before transforming, like in the Manga and numerous conceptual ideas for other Riders.

They even go as far as to require Hongo to gather wind to transform, while Hayato can just easily take the wind in at a standstill. And that’s maintained, Hongo never even fans his hands.

The Riders are also monstrous under their armor, though not to the extent of Black or Shin. It’s a very subdued look comparatively, but very unique as well. It’s Showa-esque in a way; red eyes, green skin, and some clawed hands with spines. And I think that’s probably the best way to take later iterations of Rider and retroactively fit them to the 70s Showa inspired aesthetic.

I also like the speenlines on the Shocker masks, kinda reminds me of the Big Machine in the manga.

Ooooh boy, what a ride. We’re kinda at the part I’ve been dreading, and that’s my final thoughts.

So, when I was in the theater, I was struggling to figure out what my thoughts on the film were, and it’s something I’ve mulled over for a couple of days since. I undoubtedly did enjoy my time, but it also felt off, and there were a lot of issues bugging me. That’s a recurring thing with me and Anno’s films. I’m always happy to see the man’s work, he’s unabashed in what he does and I truly respect that. But there’s always some element here and there that irk me, even going back to Shin Godzilla.

I thought they had a great nuanced take criticizing the Government’s response to natural disasters, the overreach of the US’ influence, and a cynical outlook from officials where the biggest concern wasn’t loss of life, but economics. Yet all the same, there's a message of hope that there are those that care and are trying their damnedest. At the same time, the film is nearly undermined by a lack of a much needed human element from those disasters. We see property destruction, but never the people caught up in it. I thought it was toothless in that regard, less so than a film made in the 50s which had the gall to show a mother and her children in a sea of flames. Shin Godzilla has a lot of appealing elements, particularly visually, but I found it flawed.

With Shin Kamen Rider there were certainly more flaws than Anno’s previous outings, but the thing that I came to realize above all else is that it doesn’t feel like Anno wanted to make a movie, he wanted to make a big budget Mini series and crammed it into two hours. The number of ideas in here feels like they could be expanded upon and made into 4-6 roughly 45 minute long episodes for a first season. Spread out the expository dialogue, do more with Bat, Scorpion, and Chameleon/Mantis, build up Hongo and Hayato's relationship so they learn to work together before the finale, and expand on Ichiro. That sounds like a far better medium for the story being told here.

I enjoyed my time with Shin Kamen Rider. I'm glad I saw it. There's a great deal of love, knowledge, and admiration for the series.

But it’s clear that the ideas were too big for a movie, too expensive for a series, and the compromise is noticeable in the final results.

I have to wonder if Anno was drained after the combo of Eva 3.0+1.0 and Shin Ultraman but pushed himself to make this.

Meanwhile, I am once again here, knowing that I enjoyed the watch, but how much I enjoyed it is hard to pin down and I think all I can manage is: good enough.

Because when I step back and take a look at what SKR does with all its pieces relative to the 121 minute run time, the characters, the setting, themes, the filmography… I think it does less than what Kamen Rider ZO does with its 48 minute runtime. Shin Kamen Rider feels like a production that was poorly planned, exacerbated by the pandemic, with a script that ballooned beyond the means of its intended format.

Even with the things I did enjoy, it feels like every positive comes with an asterisk. The finishers are incredible- the pacing is ruined to incorporate several of them. The speed and power invoked in the transformations are perhaps the absolute best of the franchise- but all the fights are more expensive yet less fluid and visually engaging than a television production. The pace improves midway- that quality is not consistent.

I’m bummed saying this, but it’s just how I feel on the matter. Again, Shin Kamen Rider wasn't a bad time, I wasn’t miserable. Hell, the audience I saw it with was clapping. If you got a ticket for the June 5th showing, I hope you have fun. Seeing a Kamen Rider movie on the big screen isn’t something you get often, ya know? Just don’t expect it to match Godzilla or Ultraman.

As for the possibility of a sequel, well, Anno’s already teased wanting to do Mask World, and I hope Anno gets to make it. Thankfully he’s taking an extended break, something I feel is much needed since, again, I think he was burned out while making Rider.

And I’m getting burned out on this review, so I think I’ll end it there.

As always, thanks for reading. If you like what I do, you can donate a dollar to my Ko-Fi page or simply reblog this post.

#tokusatsu #review #kamen rider #Shin Kamen Rider #Toei

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