With Marvel and DC monopolizing the superhero landscape with high budgets, big-name actors, and CGI graphics, Shin Kamen Rider feels like a breath of fresh air. Also known as Shin Masked Rider in other territories, the adaptation recalls the campy costumes and over-the-top action of the original 70s tokusatsu series. It’s fun, if a little bit silly, and slightly unhinged, albeit with a more modern polish. The bizarre action sequences tend to be paired with old 70s rock, blood oversplashing, motorcycle stunts, and exaggerated expressions, especially from the villains. It’s a fitting love letter for the series’ 50th anniversary.
"“Shin Kamen Rider” remains thrilling and thoughtful, both as an expression of Anno’s instantly recognizable style and a weirdly moving expression of the title hero’s restless spirit."
— Simon Abrams
A man forced to bear power and stripped of humanity. A woman skeptical of happiness. Takeshi Hongo, an Augmentation made by SHOCKER, and Ruriko Midorikawa, a rebel of the organization, escape while fighting off assassins. What’s justice? What’s evil? Will this violence end? Despite his power, Hongo tries to remain human. Along with freedom, Ruriko has regained a heart. What paths will they choose?
After escaping his abduction by the organization SHOCKER, motorcyclist Takeshi Hongo realizes he’s been turned into a grasshopper-cyborg hybrid. Rejecting the Grasshopper-Aug mantle, Takeshi dubs himself as Kamen Rider, and fights against the AI-controlled organization.
Shin Kamen Rider has serious existential themes, with its body horror and AI at play. All Kamen Rider wants to do is to dismantle the evil organization that mutated his unwilling body, and that still retains a certain amount of control over him and his ally Ruriko Midorikawa. While SHOCKER is out for the most cliche goal of world domination, there’s a similarity to Wall-e’s AUTO AI, in which both AIs misinterpret directives to assert total subjugation of the human race. This serious tone is offset by the goofiness of its writing and action, but this proves to make the themes instantly more watchable than other anti-AI superhero films.
So, so, so fun. And so, so, so bizarre.
