Um... denim Kamen Rider


what's it about?

There's a guy, let's call him Kamen Rider 1 (forced foreshadowing) 
that gets kidnapped by an evil organization. Shocking, I know. They 
mix his DNA with grasshoper DNA to make him stronger, but calling him 
grasshoperman was a bit lame so they called him Kamen rider instead, 
even thou it means masked rider, which sounds a bit like a character 
that could appear in the lone ranger.

He will fight using the most amazing skills like kicking, and jumping, 
also kicking while jumping, that one is really something. He will also 
ride a motorbike, since they needed to justify the rider part of the 
name.

*spoilers*

After killing some bad guys he will find another guy who is exactly 
like him, but this new guy his a photographer, they really wanted to 
mix things up. Helper girl perishes, and Kamen rider 2 flourishes. 
Very emotional.

After some time Kamen rider 2 will encounter foes that even him can't 
kill, and when all hope is lost we feel a henshin in the distances and 
before a whole paragraph ends, we find out that Kamen rider 1 is still 
alive.

They kill the main girl's brother and everyone lives happilly ever 
after

*end of spoilers*

What I've got to say:

This movie truly blew my mind, even if the pacing is horrible as it 
feels as a compilation movie of a series that does not really exist. 
This was my first contact with the series and the best one.

When I was a kid my parent didn't allow me to watch power rangers as 
they deemed it to violent, so I never had that kind of childhood where 
you copy the heroes on tv while they morphed. It now allowed me as a 
fully fletched adult to relieve that childlike wonder when I saw Kamen  
Rider transform for the first time. Even if this movie tries to paint 
Kamen rider in a darker tone, with all the blood and violence, it 
still feels like a movie for kids, which I know that will put off a 
lot of people, but absolutely works for me.


Another great thing about this movie is the photography. Most shots 
did not have to be as hard as they were. Upon investigating, Hideaki 
Anno (yes, the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion is the director of 
this movie) was deeply inspired in the camera work of the original 
Kamen Rider series. When I went and saw some episodes to compare them 
I totally saw the resemblance, it pains me to say that the look you 
get when you try to make something good with little to no money is the 
best. I always prefere avant garde techniques and creative solutions 
as quirky as they look.

This movie is magic and doing frontflips over the camera is timeless.


Jioni 8/10/2024