Perhaps wait and see this on the third Monday in September? That apparently is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan.
Although I was not familiar with the original versions, I could clearly sense the homage woven through this. I went with one of my sons who had seen Shin Ultraman. He was also a fan of Evangelion, I suspect Hideaki Anno helped fill at least half of our California theater.
Ultimately, we both felt this was okay but likely would resonate more with people who grew up with Kamen Rider. I actually think my son was hoping for *more* of the practical special effects as would befit the tokukatsu genre.
One of those effects was kind of sweet in terms of the foamy fatality for villains and heroes alike. It's explained away early on as a form of self-destruct to preserve enemy capture of technology. Perhaps one other practical tip if you are thinking of seeing this with young kids, there is a lot of death....tidy and foamy....but a lot. Didn't offend me, just surprised me. (Perhaps the US marketing mentality keeps villains around for reboots and cereal toy futures?)
Two other askew thoughts...
1) The chaste nature of relationships. I suspect an accurate homage, but again a US flavored movie would have included some teen heart-throb romance. Instead here there is an emphasis on the uniformity/sanctity of the team/family/country. It was funny to me that the sultry "Scorpion" villain in her battle frenzy throes would exclaim in English. Was that the wicked West and our prurient ways contrasted vs the noble selflessness of the true Japanese?
2) It was unclear to me if the daughter were augmented or entirely an android. I suspect the latter, but there was an odd focus on her former friend and now foe wanting to see Ruriko cry. Similarly my favorite character, the enigmatic and remote "K" is clearly more GPT than DNA, and his ritual with flowers in pocket after the foam evaporate seemed to speak of the quest for a soul in the machine.
By the way, the "K" and insect nature of the augmented beings did bring an interesting hint of Kafka that might just be me.
"K" injected a more modern taste of AI into this decidedly retro film (A brief history of "I" and "J" and their creator *may* allude to the more fearful side of the AI concern craze.) Also the augmented Bat and talk of virus I told my son had to be a modern nod to Covid, but he thought there was actually some sort of vampiric virus in the original. Maybe just me, it was funny that the first two villains were a spider-man and a bat-man.
Bottom line, this felt like visiting a friend's house with a vintage toy collection, but it is placed up on a pedestal, in a vacuum- packed case. So a bit hard to embrace fully for me. Perhaps on the meta-level, Anno sacrificed his selfish creative instincts to preserve the original sanctity of the show, and that feeling he had as a young fan.
Although I was not familiar with the original versions, I could clearly sense the homage woven through this. I went with one of my sons who had seen Shin Ultraman. He was also a fan of Evangelion, I suspect Hideaki Anno helped fill at least half of our California theater.
Ultimately, we both felt this was okay but likely would resonate more with people who grew up with Kamen Rider. I actually think my son was hoping for *more* of the practical special effects as would befit the tokukatsu genre.
One of those effects was kind of sweet in terms of the foamy fatality for villains and heroes alike. It's explained away early on as a form of self-destruct to preserve enemy capture of technology. Perhaps one other practical tip if you are thinking of seeing this with young kids, there is a lot of death....tidy and foamy....but a lot. Didn't offend me, just surprised me. (Perhaps the US marketing mentality keeps villains around for reboots and cereal toy futures?)
Two other askew thoughts...
1) The chaste nature of relationships. I suspect an accurate homage, but again a US flavored movie would have included some teen heart-throb romance. Instead here there is an emphasis on the uniformity/sanctity of the team/family/country. It was funny to me that the sultry "Scorpion" villain in her battle frenzy throes would exclaim in English. Was that the wicked West and our prurient ways contrasted vs the noble selflessness of the true Japanese?
2) It was unclear to me if the daughter were augmented or entirely an android. I suspect the latter, but there was an odd focus on her former friend and now foe wanting to see Ruriko cry. Similarly my favorite character, the enigmatic and remote "K" is clearly more GPT than DNA, and his ritual with flowers in pocket after the foam evaporate seemed to speak of the quest for a soul in the machine.
By the way, the "K" and insect nature of the augmented beings did bring an interesting hint of Kafka that might just be me.
"K" injected a more modern taste of AI into this decidedly retro film (A brief history of "I" and "J" and their creator *may* allude to the more fearful side of the AI concern craze.) Also the augmented Bat and talk of virus I told my son had to be a modern nod to Covid, but he thought there was actually some sort of vampiric virus in the original. Maybe just me, it was funny that the first two villains were a spider-man and a bat-man.
Bottom line, this felt like visiting a friend's house with a vintage toy collection, but it is placed up on a pedestal, in a vacuum- packed case. So a bit hard to embrace fully for me. Perhaps on the meta-level, Anno sacrificed his selfish creative instincts to preserve the original sanctity of the show, and that feeling he had as a young fan.