KAMEN RIDER 1972 / 1992 / 1994
With a decades long series made up of dozens of shows and movies sometimes it's best to start at the beginning. But it's also fun to use this as a jumping-off point to look ahead at how things evolved in later years. With the recent release of Shin Kamen Rider it's worth revisiting the earlier film releases, even if they're not actually feature length. But this brisk nature is an advantage for newcomers and old fans alike, allowing for a few cyborg stories in a relatively short space of time. Where else can you find a blend of superhero action, body horror, and alien invasion under one banner? Of course the answer is in any number of Japanese special effects franchises. But for now let's focus on the motorcycles and grasshopper masks.
Kamen Rider vs. Shocker (1972) is a great place to start, as it essentially takes the show formula and puts it into a new aspect ratio. It's not really much longer than the episodes but uses the wider film format in various ways. The Shocker bad guys, nearly thirty of them, all show up at the local quarry in one scene just to line up and give their names in widescreen. Of course most of them vanish without a fight when threatened by the heroes, but it's a fun moment. The plot surrounds one villain as per usual, in this case a fire-breathing salamander monster called Zanjio. His plan is to steal the secrets of a gravity bending device from a scientist by threatening a small child. Before falling off a cliff and exploding, as is tradition.
While Takeshi Hongo (Hiroshi Fujioka) returns to strike a pose the original horror vibes of the show are still absent. They do at least give Shocker commander Dr. Death (Hideyo Amamoto) a dramatic introduction with some sinister shadows, setting the stage for more kidnap attempts and world domination plans. There's even a strangely moody scene at a children's party where a birthday cake catches on fire. Another moment as a car passes through a tunnel is bathed in lurid green light. But when the formula everyone wants is hidden inside a stuffed toy things get silly pretty fast. Which is perfectly fine; this kind of low budget weirdness and eccentric moments are to be expected.
Monsters (and heroes) disguise themselves as other people in ways that seem impossible, scientists are dissolved by soap bubbles, and characters fight over a fluffy doll. There's a fun (and fiery) bike set piece and some double-rider action with Hayato Ichimonji (Takeshi Sasaki) which is good if unremarkable entertainment. Beyond the wider aspect ration there's little to distinguish this from the random creature features of the main series, but it's all fairly solid. It's a least fairly dynamic when compared to the follow-up movie Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell, which feels far more sluggish and lacks this kind team-up or this straightforward plot.
3/5
Meanwhile in 1992 someone asked, what if Kamen Rider wasn't fun at all? Of course the plan for Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue was to add elements of human experimentation and body horror to the series. After all, Shocker were all about taking ordinary people and turning them into monsters. Most of the time no-one was worried about who these people were (unless they became heroes) or what the process was. However... while this all seems like an interesting premise the execution really lets the side down. At under ninety minutes it's the longest of the films featured here, but the pacing makes it feels even longer. The whole thing is often just a slog as it gets bogged down in misery and melodrama.
Someone also asked, what if Kamen Rider was a serial killer? Our hero (Kohisa Ishikawa) is supposedly part of a genetics project to help fight against human disease. But he's been having mysterious dreams about random people being murdered. Of course there's no real mystery and everyone just pretends like it didn't happen, which kind of makes it tedious. Eventually there are plot twists about insect telepathy, grasshopper gods, and other ridiculous ideas, but it's all played far too seriously. It's trying too hard to be edgy and even the name of Shocker has been replaced by dull monikers like called 'The Syndicate' and 'The Institute'.
Everyone is morally grey and the bulk of the story is tied up with unconvincing medical debates about ethics, while a central romance lacks any kind of chemistry. Cronenberg's The Fly this is not, despite their best efforts. It lacks the old-school charms despite having better effects. Of course there are plenty of transformation sequences and practical monster costumes along the way, which save this from being a total misfire. But there's a lack of action that matches the overall lack of energy holding everything back. As a result it's no surprise that the planned follow up series was never brought to production and instead a separate feature, Kamen Rider ZO, was released to bring everything back to familiar ground.
2/5
ZO and the subsequent movie Kamen Rider J share some similarities, including children needing to be rescued and some great monster designs. But while the former follows a similar structure to the original plot about a reluctant scientist, before leaning into some cyberpunk madness, 'J' ejects this all in favour of a fantasy plot about the environment. Both have their moments and are readily available online thanks to Toei, but it's the latter mixture of alien invasion (in the H.R. Giger fashion) and the spirits within Mother Earth (in JRPG fashion) that have the edge. In one sequence it even delves into the giant heroes genre as Kamen Rider's 'jumbo rider' kick burns through the atmosphere to deliver a blow to the alien craft.
The absurdity doesn't end there in a story that involves insect sidekicks and a villain who caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Koji Segawa (Yuuta Mochizuki) is a reporter investigating pollution who finds himself in the path of an alien visitor, who defeats him and kidnaps his sister Kana (Yuka Nomura). The living spaceship 'Fog Mother' and her brood want to sacrifice Kana, apparently in order the begin harvesting the planet. Luckily for Koji the spirits of the Earth lend him what is called their 'J Power' so that he can turn into a superhero and save the day. What exactly is this power, and why does it enable him to form a glowing letter with his hands? It's not exactly clear. Why do supernatural spirits who serve nature provide a new motorbike along with these abilities? It's probably best not to worry about it.
The overall plot and some of its themes may be muddled, but it's a highly entertaining film. They include some of the usual battle locations (a quarry, a riverbed) but also have some great fantasy sets along the way. Unlike ZO there are unfortunately no stop-motion effects but the monster designs, particularly an alien alligator and a wasp woman, are nicely detailed. It's also a slimy, occasionally gruesome affair, in which punches go through body parts and alien larvae lie waiting to hatch. There's a laser sword and some of the music is clearly ripped from James Horner, (and sometimes Alan Silvestri) emphasizing the Western sci-fi connections. It's derivative... but in the best way. There are worse things you could spend forty-five minutes doing if you're a fan of any of these elements.
4/5
