Kamen Rider (Masked Rider) - The First

I'll describe the product in the order I saw it. Firstly, the title on the actual DVD is "Masked Rider the First", not "Kamen Rider the First" as shown/as it should have been.

Upon getting it, I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find the supposed 2-disc set was, in fact, one DVD.

The special features are surprisingly well-put together, featuring the trailers (without subtitles), trailers for other projects from years back that the company that released this DVD has apparently acquired (as is frequently done with import releases), and, shockingly, a very in depth and detailed behind the scenes feature that I really enjoyed and that was actually subtitled.

The film itself has an acceptable subbing job, and I was pleased to find that there was no poor dubbing to suffer through, I suppose they finally ran out of monotoned voices to lazily read out lines.

Picture quality is a bit off, but that might be due to transfer stuff (though I don't know why, Japan uses NTSC too), subtitles are clear and easy to read, and the sound quality is excellent

Highly recommended for the Kamen Rider fan or even just someone who has been looking for a good piece of tokusatsu to show to a friend in the hopes of getting them interested too. This flick also makes a surprisingly good date movie, it has action and romance, some slow bits where you can easily get away with a bit of making out, as well as some unintentionally funny bits

NOT for kids though, there is totally a naked dude in part of this film, parents'll want to take a look at this before showing it to the kids. Also, parents'll want to figure out if their kid is really ready to read and watch a film at the same time.

This movie takes a look at the first two riders that started it all Rider 1 and 2. Both were created by a group called Shocker who to start their destruction of mankind by a soldier to lead their army's, but they turn on Shocker and are considered traitors. Fans of the original riders will love this one. There is also a cameo the man who played Masked Rider V3 in the Early Rider movies and television series.

Like Japan's Sentai Ranger shows, Kamen (Masked) Rider has been living on in seemingly endless iterations since 1971. This film is supposed to be a retelling of the first series, or at least the origins of the characters who inhabited that show. The evil shadow-army Shocker, and the two rogue cyborgs they created who turn against them and become heroes and protectors of Japan. Like many modern retellings, both Western and Eastern, the designs are beautiful, especially the subtle and respectful updating of the Rider costumes, and even the monsters they fight, which were also classic combatants from the original show. Also respectful was the lack of CGI effects, which are appearing in increasing amounts in the more recent Rider TV shows like "Kamen Rider Kiva". In the early years, Kamen Rider was mostly a martial arts cyborg hero with a super-motorcycle and, to its credit, this movie honors the simple fun in that.

What didn't work for me was the bland cast of pretty boys and girls (actually the boys are prettier) who seem to be pantomiming anime rather than acting as real humans. The original lead actor from the 70's, Hiroshi Fujioka, was certainly not naturalistic in his approach to the role of Takeshi Hongo either, but his dynamic presence was like watching a caged wild fire on screen. He was also very much an adult, as was his popular replacement, the always charismatic Hiroshi Miyauchi in the next series, Kamen Rider V3 from 1973. Speaking of Miyauchi, he has a tiny token cameo in this but it's so out of touch with the rest of the film that it just feels tacked on.

The point is that, the once exciting, flesh and blood leads who helped create characters we cared about have been replaced with an even younger crowd of sullen hipsters, so skinny that they barely fill out their Rider costumes! Again, I think this is more of an anime influence. However, style alone isn't enough because, like so many re-makes, this one lacks the true heart and soul of the original. It's a little darker and pushes a few tragic love plots but, essentially, it's a very old story which has already been retold in most of the Kamen Rider series (as well as countless other Japanese super hero stories, both live action and anime). In order for this material to still have a life it needs to breathe with real actors and dialogue that matters. Otherwise, lets just watch the old shows because they were already so fun and great!