BLOOD WORK: June 2023

SHIN KAMEN RIDER (2023)

The Shin Trilogy is complete! After setting the tokusatsu world on fire with 2016's SHIN GODZILLA, it was announced that Hideaki Anno would be helming two more tokusatsu classics, respectively titled: SHIN ULTRAMAN (2022) and SHIN KAMEN RIDER (2023). Combine these three with Hideaki Anno's baby, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION and Japan went wild with the branding SHIN HEROES. There were a few Evangelion movies released over the last fifteen years known collectively as the "Rebuild of Evangelion" series, but I don't believe these films are included under the "Shin" banner (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), but EVA Unit 1 is a part of the Shin Heroes branding.

Anyway, without getting lost in the weeds here, KAMEN RIDER (translating literally to "Masked Rider") is a huge television and film franchise in Japan that began back in 1971 and has been running off and on ever since, spanning 32 television series, TV specials, manga, movies, and more! The Kamen Rider franchise is HUGE and one could spend years digging into it and getting caught up.

Growing up I remember seeing images of Kamen Rider here and there, rolling in Godzilla and anime circles you see things, (and there was the North American series from SABAN, which is where I think I first became aware of it) and I was always intrigued. Between Godzilla, Ultraman, and Kamen Rider, the Kamen Rider franchise is the one I know the least about and have virtually no attachment to. This basically means I was practically a blank slate going into Shin Kamen Rider. It also means I had the least interest of even going to see Shin Kamen Rider. But the completest in me (a part of me I both love and despise) urged me to go and after watching a few trailers I decided to go.

Speaking of going into Shin Kamen Rider, a special North American theatrical screening was announced: one night, one showing only, May 31st at 7:00 pm. When I went to see Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman, there were plenty of seats available in the theater. I thought, "There's no need to preorder my tickets, I'll just walk up and buy them at the box office." Boy, was I wrong. More people in my town showed up for Shin Kamen Rider than Ultraman or Godzilla (what the heck?!)! It was a sold out show! And I arrived right at 7:00 and the slowest ticket-taker in the world was working the box office. I missed the first seven minutes of the movie because of it... This was all my fault, I know, but c'mon!

THE SYNOPSIS

Motorcyclist Takeshi Hongo is abducted by the evil organization SHOCKER to be transformed into a human/insect augmentation, referred to as an AUG. Before being brainwashed into a soldier for SHOCKER, Takeshi is freed by a rogue member, a woman named Ruriko Midorikawa. Unlocking his new Aug powers, Takeshi and Ruriko join forces to take down the SHOCKER organization and defeat the other Aug soldiers. Their mission grows dire as they uncover SHOCKER's evil plan to destroy humanity completely!

INITIAL REACTIONS

Sidebar: Imagine you've done so well in your career that you were given the keys to your favorite shows and franchises from your youth? How amazing would that be?! That's what this looks like to me and, man, am I envious of Hideaki Anno!

So, without a whole lot of personal investment or experience with the Kamen Rider series, I was coming into this movie essentially a blank slate. Right away I noticed a 70s esthetic and style, both in cinematography and sound design that I liked. At the same time it utilized modern film techniques to bring the action and special effects to life in a way 1970s Japanese television couldn't do. This aspect I really enjoyed. Really interesting and entertaining sequences came out of this, keeping almost every set piece feeling different.

Moments like the kind I described above had me thinking this movie was brilliant! But then there were moments where I felt the filmmakers completely dropped the ball. There's a climactic fight scene near the end of the film where the sound effects drop out and the special effects are nonexistent and I was sitting there watching two actors literally rolling around on the floor. For the life of me I don't know what Hideaki Anno was thinking here. It felt like either a pretentious "arthouse" move or a massive oversight.

The main message of the film is: what does it actually mean to be a hero and what does world happiness truly mean? With every film in the Shin Trilogy I've noticed strong parallel's to Hideaki Anno's Evangelion. And this film feels like those last two episodes of Evangelion where Shinji is "finding himself." It's like Hideaki Anno is adapting Evangelion into EVERYTHING he does. He just can't seem to get away from it. Sometimes this works and sometimes I really wish he'd break away from this. But, if this is the reason why people like his approach then I guess stick with what works.

THE VERDICT

Of the three films in the Shin Trilogy, this one feels like both the best and the worst of the trilogy. The 70s esthetics mixed with modern fight scenes and special effects are the shining aspects of the film. Bringing the action down to a human level, instead of giant monsters, differentiates Shin Kamen Rider from the others and forces Hideaki Anno to do something different than just repeating the Evangelion thing. Yet he still finds a way to explore elements from Evangelion anyway, go figure. What hurts this movie though are moments of an "arthouse" esthetic where, to me, the film just looks silly.

Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10

Truthfully, I've never been over the moon about the SHIN films, even Shin Godzilla, which is the best of the three by a small margin. I've seen numerous critical analysis on Shin Godzilla to maybe convince me a bit more on it... maybe.

Anyway, for more of my thoughts on the other Shin films as well as all things Godzilla, check out these posts below!

SHIN GODZILLA (2016)

SHIN ULTRAMAN (2022)

THE SAGA OF THE KING OF THE MONSTERS

Part 2: Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Part 3: King Kong Vs Godzilla (1962)

Part 4: Mothra Vs Godzilla (1964)
Part 5: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Part 6: Invasion of Astro Monster (1965)

Part 7: Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster (1966)