X
- 2023
- Not Rated
- AMC Theaters
- 2 h 1 m
- 2023
- Not Rated
- AMC Theaters
- 2 h 1 m
Summary College student and motorcycle enthusiast Takeshi Hongo is abducted by the evil organization Shocker and converted into a cyborg as part of their plans for world domination. Before they can brainwash him to do their bidding, he escapes and uses his new enhanced abilities as Kamen Rider to wage a one-man war against Shocker.
Directed By: Hideaki Anno
Written By: Shotaro Ishinomori, Hideaki Anno
- 2023
- Not Rated
- AMC Theaters
- 2 h 1 m
- 2023
- Not Rated
- AMC Theaters
- 2 h 1 m
Shin Kamen Rider
Metascore
Available after 4 critic reviews
6.8
Where to Watch
Summary College student and motorcycle enthusiast Takeshi Hongo is abducted by the evil organization Shocker and converted into a cyborg as part of their plans for world domination. Before they can brainwash him to do their bidding, he escapes and uses his new enhanced abilities as Kamen Rider to wage a one-man war against Shocker.
Directed By: Hideaki Anno
Written By: Shotaro Ishinomori, Hideaki Anno
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Eventually, this outstanding reboot’s most generic elements appear subordinate to the title character’s deranged, boyish, and sometimes romantic subjective reality.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 13 User Ratings
6.8
54% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
38% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 13 User Ratings
6.8
54% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
38% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
In no small words, this is kind of the movie I've been waiting to see for my whole life.
Extreme personal hype aside, this film is also the culmination of Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi's "Shin" trilogy, a series of vaguely connected modern reboots of classic tokusatsu works; starting with Godzilla, then Ultraman, and now Kamen Rider. And although the source material consists of otherwise disparate, disconnected media only linked through history, Anno and Higuchi commit to a throughline that connects them altogether into a thematic trilogy that's greater than the sum of its parts.
Shin Godzilla focused on a monster for whom existence itself is pain, the folly and failure of mankind.
Shin Ultraman starred a being that toed the line between extraterrestrial and human, an impossibly optimistic entity that believed in not just hope, but the inherent goodness of life and humanity; a beacon of heroism and selflessness.
and now, Shin Kamen Rider has its protagonist's humanity forcibly taken away from him, forcibly turned into a monster himself, but despite tragedy, hope perseveres, he makes a choice to turn his newfound abilities against his creators to become a hero of his own accord.
There's such a myriad of ways to interpret Shin Kamen Rider on a thematic level; either as an update of the original '71 classic to combat and address modern cynicism, a conclusion and culmination of the Shin trilogy's modern themes, as a standalone character study on what makes a **** where Shin KR finally got **** hit me in the heart, is as a wholesale metaphor for Hideaki Anno's personal struggles and where he is as a person now. Shin KR is, even moreso than Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0, the perfect post-Evangelion Anno work. Eva was born out of a young creator's struggle with depression. 3.0 + 1.0 is that same creator learning to let go, and now Shin Kamen Rider is a postmortem of Hideaki Anno re-examining his past personal struggles that ultimately becomes a re-affirmation of his ability to beat it all and come out on top - Kamen Rider, the ultimate hero, is the literal personification of Anno's newfound love of life, of hope, and of humanity.
There's a shared internal conflict across all characters in the film, from protagonists to the villains, of the struggle to understand happiness, whatever that is. Everyone wants to achieve it, take control of it, but none of them really understand what it is.
**** Takeshi Hongo. College student and motorcycle enthusiast turned half-bug monster by the evil Shocker. Happiness and pain are frequently touted within the film as being two sides of the same coin, a disconnect that most of the characters inherently reject, but it's something Hongo accepts. For all of his monstrous strength and abilities, his consistently strongest weapon is his heart. His kindness is often touted by others as a weakness, a liability, but it's also the single most influential force in the film - Hongo's pure unfettered moral goodness pierces just about every character in the **** when they reject it, they eat a Rider Kick for their troubles.
Ruriko Midorikawa is perhaps the best case for this. Yes, she is literally Rei Ayanami in both personality and even character arc, but with the key difference that she exercises her own agency from the get-go, as opposed to starting out as a passive character that's subjected to the whims of others. Hongo's kindness gets her to open up her heart, and as such comes to understand for herself what happiness is. Taking the meta context to the extreme, it can be taken a stand-in for Kamen Rider literally helping Anno conquer his depression. Cheesy? Perhaps, but you have no idea how much that man loves Kamen Rider.
Speaking of Anno, what a wonderfully directed movie. The man hasn't lost his touch, the absolute chaos filmmaking on display here is clearly from the same man who did Love & Pop and Ritual. His dual skills as both an extremely talented animator and a masterful live action filmmaker reach their peaks here with truly insane action setpieces that rival even the biggest blockbusters with a tiny fraction of the budget and resources those movies enjoy.
Hard segue here to appreciate the actors. Sosuke Ikematsu as Takeshi Hongo absolutely blew me away. Absolute powerhouse performance that hard carries the film through all of the typical heavy-handed Anno dialogue and exposition. It's quite an incredible feat to be able to stand up to Hiroshi Fujioka, who in many people's eyes is THE Kamen Rider. Co-starring alongside him is Minami Hamabe as Ruriko, the aforementioned Rei stand-in. She manages to exude both a cold stoicism and eventually a poignant sense of warmth, that reaches its head in the film's quietest and most emotionally gripping scene.
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The Climax of the ANNO Shin Trilogy has finally arrived and it does not disappoint.
As both a Kamen Rider and Action movie fan, this movie was a **** blessing from God. Not only does it pay great homage and respect to Ishinomori's original work but it also succeeds heavily as an action film with its own ideas and spins.
It has some of the most insane experimental fights ive seen in recent history. The intense choreograpy, the **** cuts, the editing and the Anno cinematography all make such an exhilarating and frenetic experience that will put you on the edge of you seat (SLIGHT SPOILER - that DBZ Ichigo vs Nigo fight was fantastic).
Even if you're not a Kamen Rider fan i highly recommend this movie because THIS is just action cinema at its finest. **** the cleanliness of JW4 and **** the long takes. I'd rather watch what Shin Kamen Rider offers all day and i hope Hollywood will follow soon enough.
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Shin Kamen Rider kicks ass.
The very first scene after studio logos is a motorcycle chase, followed by a shockingly bloody battle that sets the tone for the rest of the movie. There is no plausible "maybe he just knocked the goons out" in Shin Kamen Rider's fights. Nor is there the idea that killing is totally cool and not a problem because they're bad guys. The brutality and disorientation of the action is the point of it.
I have no nostalgia for the Kamen Rider series. I've seen none of it before this one. As for the creator, I was underwhelmed when I saw Neon Genesis Evangelion about ten years ago - I've forgotten almost everything about it. I thought Shin Godzilla was pretty good.
This is a movie that feels like it was made because someone thought it would be awesome more than to make a billion dollars at the box office. If soulless superhero movies have given you Marvel fatigue lately, Shin Kamen Rider is worth your time. Its heart is evident and its action is fun to watch, if disorienting.
Amazon calls it "Shin Masked Rider". At time of posting, it's available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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My favorite of the Shin movies so far. After the first fight sequence I was hooked. Loved the throw back to the original Kamen Rider look. But it has its own story from the original series. The ending took me by surprise. Very few movies can actually surprise me these days. Looking forward to adding this to my blu ray collection so that I can watch it again.
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When it comes to Shin Kamen Rider, if you embrace it for what it is and what it has always been known for, it will work on you. However, if you don't appreciate its campy nature, then it's best not to bother, as you may end up feeling like it's a waste of your time. For that is intentional and essential to the spirit of the film, the franchise and the character.
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Well, I’m thinking…
Quality of Shin series (from best to worst):
Shin Evangelion > Shin Godzilla > Shin Ultraman > Shin Kamen Rider
Yet…
Human touch in Shin series (from most to least):
Shin Evangelion > Shin Kamen Rider > Shin Godzilla > Shin Ultraman;
Sosuke Ikematsu did emotionally amazing job on being Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider, I really do wish to see him play this role more in the future. There’re many interesting & unpredictable camera angles just like other Shin series (I assumed, it’s a signature for this series to must have odd yet creative camera angles).
However,
(almost) all action scenes looks very very terrible… insert close-up shots, hard cuts, unmatched handheld shaky camera, unfinished-render-CGI lookalikes… and a lot more that were enough to make me feel glad that I didn’t have to see these scenes on big screen theater, my eyes gonna dance in the dizzy for sure. Thankfully, there're few action scenes looked great and impressively resourceful (according to the problem they’ve on choreography design for action scenes that director Hideaki Anno himself felt it was too ’staged’).
The only things that I adore so much from this film undeniably is all modern costume designs for classic characters. They all look super cool, yet nostalgically classic, which were cool enough to cover up all the flaws I had to endure during the whole film.
The soundtrack also is incredibly great. There're a lot of disappointment from fans when they officially announced "Taku Iwasaki" to be music composer for this film (most of them expected Shiro SAGISU, the composer behind legendary score of Evangelion series, Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman), and as I mentioned previously, Iwasaki definitely did great job on this one, pretty sure you'll find many tracks that you can jam out!!
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Production Company
Toei Company,
Cine Bazar,
Ishinomori Productions
Release Date May 31, 2023
Duration 2 h 1 m
Rating Not Rated
Tagline Those which change. Those which never change. And those that don't want to change.
Website
https://shin-kamen-rider.jp/
Awards
Awards of the Japanese Academy
• 1 Nomination
