Kamen Raidâ: The First

To me, Maked Rider is your average children's Japanese Power Ranger movie. Only instead of being something only a child can enjoy, it makes for a decent action flick. With a deeper (and darker) storyline, less protagonists, and without cheesy humor, aliens, crazy weapons that give the heroes an advantage, and giant robots or powerful vehicles that that the heroes could also use to lay waste to their foes.

The plot of the film jumps around quite a bit, and when it's not expanding on the main character's story you're often left bored or just dead confused at whats going on (although by the end, bits and pieces will have all come together, not that the plot twists these make are that significant to the story). Although the rising action portion of the film is a long one, and the good action scenes are short few and far between, when it gets good, it really gets good. Essentially its still acrobatic martial artists wearing costumes fighting either each other or hordes of evil minions (which are the human equivalents of grunts from Halo), the moves that the main characters can pull off are amazing. But I can't critique the film based on action so Pros Excellent Action Cool looking costumes (most of them at least) Interesting plot Cons The plot jumps around a lot The good scenes are spread out throughout the film separated by long scenes of diologue and other characters

I watched the movie recently. I gotta say I LOVED IT. Friggin' amazing.

Pro:

-Loved the romance between Hongo Takeshi, Asuka and Ichimonji Hayato. -Excellent acting. They were so good. -The Shockers. My gosh. I loved them all, especially Spider. -The subplot about two illness people who later became into Cobra and Snake. I loved that subplot. I must say it's nice to see them together and then became into villains. -The wire work were excellent. Well done. -The Choreography Fights were really well done. -The Legendary Actor who used to play as Kamen Rider V3, Hiroshi Miyauchi... it was NICE to see him in this movie. I hope he comes back in the sequel (If the rumor is true). Hiroshi Miyauchi FOREVER!

Bat looks very interesting and it reminds me of Agent Aburera from Dekaranger.

Con:

-One thing that bothers me, it's like something went go fast. I wish they put the UNCUT version in that movie, just like Hakaider Movie. But heck, it was very enjoyable to watch.

Overall, this movie gets an A-. Good plot and subplot as well. Also, Behind-The-Scenes was really cool. I must say it's a worth to buy it and watch the movie!!

I'm definitely looking forward to see the sequel...if the rumor is true.

HENSHIN!

When I first saw the cover of this film, I was really surprised with it since but also extremely happy since it was like a dream come true for me. Kamen Rider has been childhood hero since I was 6 and I'm still very fond of them

To get to this film, I have to stay that it was good but everything just seemed to be like going just too fast and it was more like the creators were focusing on Hongo more than Ichimoji rather than having both of the riders fight along side by side together most of the time. Apart form that, there were also a lot of parts which were not explained in the film like Kamen Rider 2's background, where did he get his bike and what was his real connection to Katsuhiko

However, these flaws did not stopped KR : THE FIRST from being a great movie. The love triangle plot between Hongo, Asuka and Ichimoji was great and I really liked the part when Kamen Rider 1 saved Asuka from the spider monster defeating him in the process. The final fight was also great and I really like the choreography crew who worked out so well in making the fights very entertaining. The ending with KR 1 carrying Asuka in his arms on the beach in the end was really romantic indeed (as well as the one when they were riding together on Hongo's bike

Overall, Kamen Rider THE FIRST is a great film and should be enjoyable for all the fans and its even better than its sequel THE NEXT. Its definitely something for the fans to enjoy

This film is wonderful. It's has quite many flaws, but it's still a great film to watch. A remake of the famous Kamen Rider from 1971, it is truly nostalgic.

But this film is kinda confusing, especially with the subplot of the young man and woman who ran away from their hospital. The subplot drags the viewers away from the main story (Takeshi Hongo get's kidnapped by the evil Shocker and turned into a grasshopper cyborg), and renders what should be an action movie into a drama.

The special effects seem rather lousy, Hongo and Ichimonji don't seem to have a true henshin. All they do is open their jacket, reveal the belt and the armor suddenly appears out of nowhere. Then they put on the helmet manually, come on, it's 2005! Shouldn't there be a cooler henshin? But anyway, the suits look baddass. In the original 1971 Ichigo and Nigo looked rather simple and round, in the 2005 movie they look much more detailed and much more complex in design, the monsters/inhumanoids also look much creepier than the original 1971 television series.

The story itself is both sad, dramatic and romantic. Overall it's a great film you should watch.

ps. I'm addicted to the film's OST Bright! Our Future

First of all, the negative review(s) you might read here definitely do not reflect the opinion of all die-hard fans of the classic Kamen Rider series. You can see that their review 'usefulness rating' are very low anyway, meaning most people don't agree with their baseless reasons for bashing something new.

I watched the original Kamen Rider series as a kid back in the 70s, and it was really good entertainment for the time. Rewatching these classics about 30 yrs later, I feel the nostalgia, but understandably not too impressed with the old fashion FX and fight choreography. So, pulling this franchise into the 21st century is a very good idea to me. I just couldn't get into the other "Rider" series because the story isn't about Hongo. And the Riders only look derivative of the original and therefore not as good.

It really brought back fond memories when the classic title theme was played at the beginning of The First. I totally love the introduction of Kamen Rider 1. Since the character is introduced during the night, the light-up eyes effect was an excellent idea! The use of CG effects in the movie was well...very effective. Some good examples include: when Kamen Rider 1 jumped off the building landing on the ground with all the broken window glass around him. Also when Kamen Rider 1 and 2 are fighting each other, the concrete busting punches and kicks are really powerful looking. These are not just eye candy FX but used very effectively to show the invincibility of these super-human characters.

As for the villains, the intricate wire-work was very well done. I especially liked the battle with 'The Spider' where high-flying moves are done in conjunction with speeding motorcycles and among trees. The original series (if watched today) lacked some of these FX scenes to thoroughly convince me that Kamen Riders have any real special powers. Well, other than the big kick that ends the show every time. But for a youngster in the 70s, that was enough to keep me role-playing "Kamen Rider" endlessly with my friends during recess. One other cool idea in this new franchise: we can see that the "grasshopper" heads of the Riders after transforming is really just a helmet. They can take it off to reveal their real human faces. This allows the actors a much greater range of emotions while they are Riders. It also confirms for me that the Rider transformation is just changing into the suit, not changing into another being like Ultraman. For Kamen Rider, I rather like the idea that they are still human inside.

Overall if you were a fan of the original, I think The First is a must see, but still good entertainment if you just happen to like superheroes and anime. I hope that I'm not offending any fans of the other 'Rider' series when I say that they're just not the same as Kamen Rider. But "The First" successfully captures that magic from the past, and relaunch it with modern film production values. 9/10