Shin Kamen Rider discussion thread

[takenoko]

< Shin Ultraman
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So for context, I went to see this in theaters in May and did not love it. I saw Shin Ultraman earlier this year and loved it. It was a great time. I went home and watched Shin Godzilla, and while different, really enjoyed it too and thought it was a great political drama

Why didn't I initially like Shin Kamen Rider? It was quirky and weird, but not in a charming way the way Ultraman was. Hongou is basically the Shinjitized version of Hongou. He's introverted, troubled, and full of doubt. Ruriko is full of personality, but she keeps you at a distance. I did genuinely like both of these characters, but it was hard to get emotionally invested in them

I did genuinely love Ichimonji who was perfect. He was funny, personable, and charming. Even brainwashed, he's still the best character in the movie. And him crying in front of Ruriko is one of the best scenes

But with some distance, I started to appreciate Hongou and Ruriko more. Their quiet and sweet relationship. How they needed each other and were really cruelly forced into this extremely violent world that they live in

And I think I just didn't like the theatrical translation very much. It was so technical and verbose that I found that I missed a lot of points on the initial showing. It was just too much to read. I didn't feel like they explained critical concepts to the story very well. I thought the tone was off (like there's one point in the theatrical subs where Hongou called Shocker "a bunch of dangerous dudes" which didn't fit his character) And I think there might be one line that was interpreted incorrectly and is just a straight up mistake

I still feel like Shin Ultraman, Shin Godzilla, and Shin Kamen Rider is my order of favorite to least favorite of the Hideaki Anno's Shin series, but I'm glad I revisited the movie and took it on on its terms instead of my expectations. The First will still be my favorite interpretation of Ichigou, but I appreciate this version and Anno's quirks more now

[decade368990]

The movie is 7/10 basically. The story isn't really as cohesive as everyone were anticipated. It's more like surviving in the territory of an Aug and then deal with them. I do feel like things got broken due to Anno wanted to add a lot of things into the movie, but was restricted to 2 hours max and not exceeding it. Does it improve anything if Toei allowed Anno to turn this movie into two hours and a half???

It's interesting to find out from behind the scenes that at least 14 iPhones were used to film this movie.

It still has it's quality overall, but still not on par with the classic THE FIRST and THE NEXT movies.

[msf232]

I went in to watch only for Minami Hamabe, and on that front I wasn't too disappointed

But otherwise, the storytelling seemed bland... wouldn't recommend this to someone else

[Ghost23]

I just watched it and I didn't hate but I didn't like it either. The fight sequence weren't all that great, it was like they try to be flashy but end up looking so so. They got these huge air fight sequences that just don't bring it. I think the problem is they try to make those super fast motions blow trading fights like in animated shows but with CGI that just doesn't work. the rest is just scenes that are very loosely sequence together but not really matter in what order. Also I feel like they explain a bit too much, like how the name 'SHOCKER' came about. The only thing I like was the new bike design and how it transform. Didn't like the new rider outfit, look like it was paying homage to the umpire design of the original KR. Not sure where the 'Shin' part fit in this movie but I definitely like "Kamen Rider the First" much better then this retelling.

[Mxylv]

I’m at an odd crossroads with this movie, but I guess it works best when compared with Shin Ultraman: the latter movie was, in all likelihood, a better movie than this one, but this was a better Kamen Rider movie than Shin Ultraman was an Ultraman movie. (Some spoilers follow here.)

Nearly every aspect of the movie indicates that the director fundamentally understands what Kamen Rider is. This varied in a few ways, from mundane aspects like heavy bike use to thematic ones like bringing good out of an evil situation. Even the film's bizarre choice of putting camp moments into what was maybe not the darkest, but probably the grittiest of the Shin Tokusatsu Trilogy worked surprisingly well at modernizing the '71 series' tonal variety. This is the best kind of fan-made film, because it not only captures the director's love of a franchise, but what draws him to the show and why he loves it, and conveys a wish to communicate the style and substance that resonated with him to a wider audience.

With all that said, it's not what I'd call a perfect film, and some points went from inconsistent to just plain awkward. The initial concept of the helmet put a fascinating spin on Kamen Rider’s link to his enemies, but its progression from emotional dampener to Shocker Vision Pro to portable afterlife really didn’t work for me. Similarly, while Kamen Rider’s always raised questions about an uncomfortable proximity to evil, the scorpion lady sequence raises related questions about proximity between satirizing sexism and just sexism--maybe like some of Hitchcock’s stuff subtly chastising viewers for watching what he’s putting on the screen. There are also a couple continuity errors (e.g. with bubbling), and while the scarring the riders get when powered has both a fun edge and allegorical significance (in addition to drawing from Ishinomori’s vision), their faces are shown as their handsome selves at some point in the final fight. Huh?

Curiously, this feels like part 1 of at least a 2-part film series. There was plenty of room for a sequel in Shin Godzilla or Shin Ultraman, but they also decisively worked as their own isolated stories in their own movie-isolated worlds, and I didn’t get that feeling from this. While the results of the Riders' efforts were satisfying and nothing to handwave, the movie aims to make it clear that the whole story isn't over--but then again, considering how much was already in this movie, trying to wrap up everything probably would've made it way too overstuffed. Overall, though I wouldn't call Shin Kamen Rider a movie more to be experienced than to be watched, but it's pretty close to that category.

On a side note, I have a working theory that Higuchi and Anno were directing Shin Ultraman and Shin KR around the same time and swapped movies halfway through without telling anyone, which would explain why Shin Ultraman suddenly got darker in its second half while Shin Kamen Rider got more relatively whimsical.

[takenoko]

Did Shin Kamen RIder get more whimsical??

Not to be super reductionist, but you got your Evangelion tropes in my Kamen RIder movie!

[Mxylv]

Mostly whimsical by comparison—most of the hyperviolence was relegated to the first half hour or so, and aspects like the continually expanding implications of Prana into basically The Force and the aforementioned portable afterlife system caused what started as a mostly-grounded, gritty hard science fiction film to turn into a more fantastical, still-gritty science fantasy one. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but nonetheless strange

[takenoko]

Oh, I think I just totally misunderstood what you meant. I'm getting you now. It's very much "We lost Shinji in the giant robot" kind of metaphysics lol

[HowlingSnail]

Finally gotten around to watching this. It's basically the Kamen Rider version of Power Rangers 2017, where basically it's just the designs and names they've reused, and everything else is totally new. Certainly it's better than Kamen Rider The First.

Like PR 2017 though, it feels a bit like they've missed the point. For one thing, these Riders aren't really henshin heroes. They're wearing their armour basically at all times, and just put their helmets on. I was really hoping for a big "RIDER HENSHIN!" moment.

It had some decent fight scenes, albeit with some questionable CGI, and I enjoyed all the classic music playing, but that's kind of all the movie had going for it. Ruriko is such a boring character (through no fault of Minami, she's great in Kakegurui), and overall it feels like there's far too much plot to fit into a movie. Like, this would have been better as an actual Kamen Rider show, with time to develop its characters.

I dunno. I can't help but feel like they were hoping for a sequel that's probably never happening.