Jinzô ningen Hakaidâ

After encountering a group of rebels in the autocratic pseudo-utopia of Jesus Town, a vengeful cyborg battles the forces of the town's angelic/demonic self-righteous despot. I watched English-subbed version of this henshin action-fest 'cold', having no familiarity with the television program on which it was based and found the film visually interesting but a bit boring, the latter due to the overly long and repetitive action set pieces. The perpetually scowling Hakaider was just another in a long line of similar looking über-mecha and there seemed little logic or consistency in his toggling back and forth between wetware and hardware or his resistance/susceptibility to various weapons. There is an interesting 'angel' motif woven through the imagery, both Gurjev, the leader of Jesus Town and Michael, his android head of security have wings (sort of) and clouds of white feathers feature prominently at times. The script and acting are drama-school at best (at least when watched dubbed) but the special effects are well executed although the designs seem derivative, resembling everything from Kamen Rider to Robocop. I especially liked the climactic stop-action work. All-in-all: OK but likely more appealing to fans of the original TV show or of the 'mecha-henshin' genre in general (of which I am not, I am just check-boxing my way through a lengthy list of live-action Japanese sci-fi films).

From the guy that direct Kamen Rider ZO and Kamen Rider J two very entertaining tokusatsu flick that too bad never made into an actual series so I expected nothing more than a cheesy action-fest from Hakaider and after a few up and down moments in the end the movie actually make my day a bit brighter.The plot may utterly horrible and there not much meat in the main character Hakaider beside the usual emotionless and badass attitude of an anti hero plus the horrendious English dubbing only make it more worse that it already is but the movie never bother me one bit cause I'm too busy being in awe about how over the top and fun this movie is with the costume and practical effects.The stop motion fight between Hakaider and the weird robot got me quite confused cause the introduction of it very out of nowhere but apparently Mechanical Violator Hakaider is also a spin off of the metal hero series Kikaider so that may explain something

Ok, I was intrigued by this movie. It just had a cool look, a very manga-esque feel. I really thought there would evolve something special out of this. But it didn't. Actually it became more boring every minute until I thought I'm watching a real crap fest. The visual tricks just don't do it for 80 minutes. And apart from those visuals, there's not anything good to find here.

The music and the topic remind one of "Terminator 2". There's also a little "Mad Max 2" and "Spawn" added for good measure. The sets look very cheap, the acting gets worse once the movie progresses (that asexual king is really embarrassing!) and the pacing is sleep inducing. A little blood helps sustain some interest, but not much. And those dream sequences are way too long and way too empty. All in all, I'd give it a

Rating: 3/10

OK boys and girls welcome to class, how many of you are familiar with the term 'Acid Western'? (Does quick headcount) Good, good, go to the head of the class. For the rest of you the term 'acid western' refers to a film or piece of literature that uses the looks and or tropes of the western genre but also has a lot of surreal imagery and metaphor (hence 'acid'). This genre is different from 'weird westerns' because 'weird westerns' are regular westerns but with a science-fiction or fantasy twist. Whether the creators realized it or not this film is an acid western; structurally it's like any old Tokusatsu film but with a lot of the tropes associated with the western genre, but it also has a lot of surreal motifs and visual metaphors which make it an acid western. The dystopian sci-fi setting only makes it weirder. Set in a distant future where civilization has collapsed, save for this one town called 'Jesus Town' which is ruled by a dictator, a group of thieves break into a vault believing it to contain treasure. They are in fact greatly surprised to find not treasure in the vault but a robotic being called Hakaider (the principal villain from the Kikaider tokusatsu franchise) along with his bike and shotgun and no memory of his past. Once he has been freed he sets out to discover himself only to accidentally get caught up in a rebellion against the despotic ruler of Jesus town. Structurally this movie has the vibe of a spaghetti western like Django or A Fistful of Dollars, a lone stranger with a mysterious past wanders into a corrupt town and sets about righting wrongs, replace the motorcycles with horses and the comparison is complete. This movie is also one of the nicest looking tokusatsu films ever thanks in no part to the director Keita Amemiya who is a notable artist, writer and director who gives his movies a distinct organic mechanical look, along the same vein as H.R. Geiger or David Cronenberg. Amemiya gives the movie a dark but sleek look but also laces it with a lot of strange visuals. For example in this movie white is used to represent the forces of evil while black is used to represent not-bad, Not good per-say just not bad. This movie also has a couple of dream sequences which have imagery like black knights and mummy angels. The final fight scene in this movie is also note worthy for it takes place in a white room and is fought between Hakaider and an evil robot called Michael, seems pretty straightforward but as they fight they keep breaking the walls of the room and the internal mechanisms of the room are red and have a strangely organic look to them so that by the end of the fight the room looks like a Tarantino action scene just happened in it despite the combatants both being robots. On top of all these weird qualities add good action, a kick-ass score, decent acting, and run-time that just over an hour and you get one of my favourite tokusatsu films. It's weird as hell but fun if you know what you're getting into. Recommend for fans of tokusatsu, fans of strange and people who like picking movies apart.

This movie is a must see for any fan of "Tonkatsu" (Reflective to real life) style cinema as well as Science-fiction/action. Comparitively this movie is an unsung classic in "Tonkatsu" it has such compelling elements similar to work from Kurosawa's "Ran" and "Rashomon".As some would complain that this film is not a visual masterpiece, I would in turn ask them how much of it they have seen. There are very dynamic characters and excellent plot formation and culmination. The storyline is a very insightful view on humanity and socio-economic divisions and struggles therein. While touching these points and making an impact at doing so, the movie's elements of action and drama are of such quality that anyone can enjoy the film without struggling to get it's deeper meaning. Missing this film is an injustice to anyone who enjoys science-fiction, action, drama, and intriguing storyline. Enjoy this excellent film.