Hakaider

BOTTOM LINE: A wicked, lean, anti-hero flick from Japan. The action is first rate and the story is suitably dark, weird and, at times, rather unsettling. Fans of the original KIKAIDA series will find this a fun, furious re-imagining of that show's uber-villain, HAKAIDA. Hyper-stylized, but that's par for the course with visionary auteur Keita Amemiya. If you enjoy any of this director's other work then by all means don't hesitate to grab this one. 5 STARSTHOUGHTS: Hakaida was a fantastic villain in the original 1972 Kikaida series. He was the ultimate 'bad guy' – the yin to Kikaida’s yang - but he was interesting in that he had his own moral code and didn't take crap from anyone, including his own creators! His conflictive nature made you end up rooting for him, the sign of a truly great character. It was surprising, or maybe not, to see him re-imagined as an anti-hero and given his own solo outing here. The design updates are slick, solid and still in keeping with the overall visual esthetic that the character established some 20 years prior, in both the original Kikaida series and its immediate follow-up, Kikaida 01. Hakaida proved so popular that in the sequel show they brought him back and made him the Big Bad, even going to far as to split him up into four similar yet distinct versions of himself!He is a dark, imposing wraith in this solo film. The original character design was rather cleverly and lovingly tweaked. The upgrades are aesthetically pleasing and logical. From every angle he just looks absolutely badass, (well, except for those pointy-toed boots. LOL). My only gripe is that his massive double barreled handgun has been replaced with a sawed off shotgun but it's not that big of a deal, and he makes use of it brutally and spectacularly throughout. And his old school White Crow motorcycle has received a MASSIVE update, as he now powers down the post-apocalyptic highways on a monstrous black Yamaha V-Max. Hells yes!The villain Hakaida must battle in this piece, Gurjev, is a creepy, totally demented loon (who eerily resembles a scarecrow-ish Michael Jackson!). Gurjev's henchman lieutenant is an angelic-looking robot; the polar opposite of Hakaida. (The traditional good guy in white vs. bad guy in black has been cleverly flipped here.) We're somewhat unsure of Hakaida's intentions and overall character, especially in the beginning, but once Gurjev's twisted, sickening vision of perfect peace has been exposed, you absolutely know who the truly evil person here is. The action sequences are savage and stylish; typical for Amemiya and flawless in their set up & execution. The blood you'd expect in something like this has been replaced by feathers(!!) - a bizarre, jarring visual choice... but one we have to live with. All-in-all this is a pretty cool little movie. As a big Kikaida fan, it was great to see one of my favorite toku villains resurrected many years later in a solo flick of his very own, and to have it done so well - in every aspect.THE DVD: The extended 77min Director's Cut is the draw here, although the original 44min cut of the film is thoughtfully included as well. The video & audio are clean and mostly free of dust, debris and little in the way of artifacting or pixelation; essentially on par with most big studio DVD releases. An English language dub has been added, a nice bonus for those who prefer not to have to 'read' their movies. Accurately-translated, easy to read English subtitles are also provided. Overall a very nice R1 release of a unique post-apoc/toku mash up. Recommended!

Style over substance and that style is seizure inducing confusion matched only by the absolute dogs breakfast of christian dogma they cherry picked so haphazardly and ham fistedly Evangelion would say they misunderstood their borrow source materials.Honestly you can get a lot of the backstory by with the color palatte and only a couple of names but it jumps from one "action scene" to another with no effort to world build. It's a dystopia, the only city is an analogy to paradise, which is a illusion built by obedience to a dictatorial concept of justice, and the leader in white with a vulture skeleton draped over his arm giving him a one winged angel appearance with a armored enforced named Michael with his own 1-winged motif. They are opposed by the amnesiatic "devil" in black protected by plot armor so impenetrable that would make the Fast and Furious franchise call BS. The love interest is a reincarnated ...fairy? in black i'm guessing by the time she shows up to be attacked by some legit nightmare fuel techno-zombie-angel is supposed to be Eve of Lilith and is the obvious redemptive love interest who will either die or comfort the dieing rider in the last act, or both.There was a surprisingly diverse cast of secondary and background actors and it appears they did make a effort to try and make a cyberpunk world where all cultures and faiths under the benevolent overlord's protection but it's glossed over in favor of getting back to over edited confusing fight sequences.This is definitely for Kamen Rider fans as more time is spent on the motorcycles and bottle rocket spark effects than plot by a factor of 10.

Rather great considering made in 1995 and also ludicrous.

An interest twist on the villain of the series though I could have done without the religious angel on everything. Also don't like how the subs were handled. Was worth the watch with both directors cut and theatrical versions. Definitely worth the pickup for fans.

Evil is good; Good is evil.It is too often a trend these days.This isn't Elric or Lone Wolf. This is like Lex Luthor. An absolute evil villain made out to be a hero.Hakaider is a villain and antihero who appears in the first Kikaider series, serving as the hero's nemesis.You can see Kikaider (the good guy in the old TOKUSATSU series Kikaider) hinted at in the final battle with one side of the face being blue and the other red.I was actually hoping that this was the new Kikaider move and not what it is.So I tolerated this artsy thing to get to the end of it.Hakaider is like Mad Max on a motorcycle turned robot. Black leather and a sawed off shotgun.Nothing wrong with fighting against the Man stop stop their oppressions of humanity.Elevation of evil, however, is never a good thing.For that reason, I have to give this the thumbs down.If you hate the world or maybe think it is gothy in some perverse way, you might enjoy it.I tolerated it.I'm writing this review. I wouldn't have spend time writing this review if I didn't feel that it set such a bad precedence.Others might not understand if they are taking it out of content with the original Kikaider series.

Every few minutes this movie throws something new at you, and it's always amazing. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this movie a lot more then I thought I would! It's a lower budget movie from 90's , so don't expect any super crazy effects. But it does have some delightful costumes and interesting scenes.

タイトル『人造人間ハカイダー』ディスク1枚/通常版-劇場版-（52分）＆ディレクターズカット版（77分）/16:9/1080p一般的な国内プレイヤーで再生出来ます（再生環境/SONYの2015年～の最廉価プレイヤー『BDP-S1500』）。タイトルで《JAPANESE LANGUAGE DIALOGUE-日本語＆注釈英字幕-》を選択した後、本編始まってから更に字幕《切》を選択すると、後は普通に鑑賞する事が出来ます。《JAPANESE LANGUAGE WITH SUBTITLES-日本語＆英字幕-》を選択した場合も同様で、本編始まってから字幕《切》を選択すると、後は普通に鑑賞出来ます。映像特典は、日本版とUS版のトレイラーです。画質は、主観ではありますが、HDの恩恵をそれなりに受けている感じです。国内版DVDが7000～8000円ほどするので、買おう買おうと思いながらも踏ん切りがつかず、気付けば20年以上たちました。いやはや2000円前後で『ハカイダー』を購入できる日が来るとは夢にも思いませんでした。本作は、物語自体が単純で、更には役者さんの演技も微妙なんですが（スーツアクターは除く）、監督の独自の演出と魅せ方が上手いので、雰囲気を楽しむ分にはそこそこ良い作品に仕上がっています。最近の派手な特撮に見慣れている人にとっては、本作品は凡作以下に映るかもしれませんが、ハカイダーファンと雨宮慶太ファンならば、「よくぞこの値段で販売してくれた」と感激する商品だと思います。個人的には、20数年の時を経て、やっとこさコレクション出来た感動から☆×5にしました♪・・・というか、あの当時お財布事情から買えなかった人も多かったと思うので、HD化している事も加味すると、正に福音とも言える商品じゃないでしょうかｗ

’93年の『仮面ライダーZO』に始まる実写ヒーロー劇場版をあつめた”東映スーパーヒーローフェア”第3弾のメインとして公開された異色作。公開時、劇場に足を運んで以来の再会！翌年公開の《ディレクターズ・カット》版は当地に来たかどうかすら定かでない。今回めでたく鑑賞が叶ったワケではあるが1時間強の中編にマトめられたオリジナル版の説明不足を補いつつスケールアップにも成功しているのは評価に値するが展開のハギレのよさはオリジナル版にゆずってるよな⁈あきらかに。死闘の末に自ら創造主の呪縛を断ち切って愛車ギルティを駆り去ってゆく姿に被さるあのメロディ。”ハカイダー”とくれば次はやっぱり【人造人間ビジンダー】でしょ⁉いやいや主役を張った、かってのライヴァルに華を持たせるカタチで今回は一敗、地に塗れた往年の特撮ヒーローにも”昔の名前”で出てもらいたい！なんて思ってたら・・・東映スーパーヒーローフェア自体が打ち止めになってしまった！あれから、もうすぐ30年。隣に座ったお母さまにセイギってなぁに？アクってなぁに？と尋ねていた御子たちもアラフォーに？漆黒のアンチヒーローの帰還を待つ。

古い作品なのでブルーレイとはいえ画質はそこそこ。ただしこの価格で購入できるのは大きな価値ありです。再生、字幕オフも問題ありません。内容については言及しませんが久しぶりに鑑賞すると役者の拙さがきついです。ハカイダーのデザインはかっこ良くて好きですが当時東映ヒーローフェアでこれを見せられた子供達は戸惑ったでしょうね。「たしかに貴様が正義なら俺は悪だ！」ですから。

北米盤Blu-rayのレビューです。リージョンフリー。ディレクターズカット版は日本語・英語に英語字幕。劇場公開版は日本語音声に英語字幕。共に字幕は消せます。画質は年代なりで、特にHDリマスターというわけではなさそう。映像特典は予告編のみ。価格を考えれば必要十分なソフトと言えましょう。

幼い頃に見て、そこで一目惚れしました。ストーリーは昔の特撮ということもあり、表現されるものは今の時代の、目が肥えた人にはチープに映るやもしれません。ですが、それを超える『キャラクターの存在感』がこの映画の魅力なのです。この作品において、主人公ハカイダーの台詞は極端に少ないです。だからこそ、伝わるものがある。自分はそう思っています。国内版が手に入りにくかったりする中、劇場公開版、ディレクターズ・カット版がこれ一枚で見れるのは非常にお得でしたね。まぁ、予告版の収録映像の方が画質良かったのは残念ですが…。