Summary
The Shin Japan Heroes Universe expands as Hideaki Anno reimagines a classic superhero series on a massive canvas.
Between rounds finishing his theatrical versions of the Neon Genesis Evangelion saga, Hideaki Anno has been not so quietly reinterpreting other icons of Japanese pop culture. Having climbed the titanic mountains of Godzilla and Ultraman, Anno has turned his eye to a superhero who has been a staple of Japanese media since the 1970s: Kamen Rider.
Like Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman, the film version of SHIN KAMEN RIDER (シン・仮面ライダー or Shin Masked Rider as its marketed internationally) reimagines the original franchise in the here and now. Anno wastes no time in throwing us in the deep end, coming in hard with a massive chase highway sequence that’s as fast and furious as any major event film.
Yet the third part of Anno’s thematic trilogy immediately distinguishes itself from its predecessors in a few key ways. The first in the series without his frequent collaborator Shinji Higuchi, the opening fight sequences are quite literally bathed in blood. You might even say it’s a SHOCKER to the system. (That pun makes so much more sense if you’re familiar with the source material – so let’s get on that).
Reinterpreting the original material, the film sees motorcyclist Takeshi Hongo (Sosuke Ikematsu) kidnapped by the Sustainable Happiness Organization with Computational Knowledge Embedded Remodeling (SHOCKER) and transformed into a grasshopper-human augmented being. He is set free by Ruriko Midorikawa (Minami Hamabe), formerly of SHOCKER and the daughter of Dr. Hiroshi Midorikawa (Shinya Tsukamoto), who enhanced Hongo to take down the organisation.
What follows is a series of very comic book inspired fight sequences, a who’s who of single-serve villains and recurring favourites. It’s as if Anno was asked which villain should be used in the film and he responded with ‘Yes.’ Stylistically, this is most cartoony of Anno’s Shin Japan Heroes Universe, even when including Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time in that expanded world. Playing up the inherent camp of the genre, there’s certainly no government boardroom meetings this time around.
Some of it is incredibly impressive, especially a speed fight with a Wasp-Aug, while other pieces would happily fit in the wobbly cardboard eras of the franchise history. There’s a Bat-Aug (played by Toru Tezuka), for example, that is a comical rubber mask villain. It may have been a conscious throwback, but it takes one out of the moment.
Yet it remains fascinating for those signature Anno touches. There’s scenes between one of the villains and an artificial intelligence, one that believes mankind’s salvation lies in subjugation, that stylistically and thematically continue Anno’s Evangelion work. In these scenes, a single figure stands in an otherwise blackened room speaking to the AI, and it’s hard not to think about Gendo Ikari talking to the avatars of SEELE.
Building up to a classic team-up of a climax, and leaving the door wide open for future adventures, there’s a lot to like about SHIN KAMEN RIDER. At the very least, it’s a refreshing alternative to the increasingly formulaic Hollywood equivalent and a great end to Anno’s Shin Japan Heroes Universe – and quite possibly the start of something new.
2023 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Hideaki Anno | WRITERS: Hideaki Anno | CAST: Sosuke Ikematsu, Minami Hamabe, Tasuku Emoto, Nanase Nishino, Shinya Tsukamoto, Toru Tezuka, Suzuki Matsuo, Mirai Moriyama | DISTRIBUTOR: Fantasia Film Festival, Amazon Prime | RUNNING TIME: 121 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 July – 9 August 2022 (Fantasia)
