Shin Kamen Rider (2023) - Movie Review

Where Shin Ultraman looked at superheroes as an ideal, tapping into the loftiness tied to a lot of DC superheroes and even some of the cosmic areas of Marvel’s continuity, Shin Kamen Rider is a more street-level affair. It’s just as indebted to the styles of its predecessors, from the high-flying low-angle shots to the often-jarring scene transitions mid-fight scene, but with a much darker tone. Well, that and a much bloodier presentation; the first major fight scene involves a lot of goons being punched and expelling clouds of gore, and the fights to follow are just as visceral.

Shin Ultraman (2023) - Movie Review

When I watched and subsequently reviewed Shin Godzilla back in 2016 (man, remember when it felt like that year was the worst that things could get? Good times…), I didn’t think a whole lot of it. Cheap special effects, wordy bureaucratic story, general lack of engaging material; what little I do recall of the film itself isn’t all that positive.

What I certainly wouldn’t have anticipated is that that film would be the origin point for its own cinematic universe: The Shin Japan Heroes Universe as spearheaded by Shin Godzilla’s co-director, writer, and co-editor Hideaki Anno. This universe thus far consists of Godzilla, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time (and yet, for some reason, none of the other Rebuild Of Evangelion movies), along with today’s subject. And honestly, just based on this latest entry, not only am I looking forward to where this cinematic universe goes, but I might even give Shin Godzilla another honest go at some point.

Shin Godzilla (2016) - Movie Review

Back in high school, I went through something of a Japanese cinematic phase. And no, this was before I found the Critic; this was less classy A-movies and more splatsticky B-movies. Specifically, those connected with goremeister Yoshihiro Nishimura: Mutant Girls Squad, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, Tokyo Gore Police, right up to the film that started it all for me Robogeisha. It was around this time that I developed a liking for that style of filmmaking, getting into Grindhouse shortly after. This is probably where I also got my appreciation for the more insane films out there so, for those who find reason to object to my defending of films like Yoga Hosers and Zoolander 2, you can thank the land of the rising acidic breast milk for that. So, when news hit of a new Godzilla film coming out with Nishimura himself working on the effects, a particularly abnormal wave of nostalgia washed me into my local cinema to check it out. I’m a bit rusty on recent language-other-than-English cinema, so I don’t know how this will turn out.