the movie raises too many questions with no answers. for example, *SPOILER* why was hongo chosen to be a part of shocker? what are shocker's motives for killing people? if they kill witnesses of their killings then we will go back to the question of their motives for killing. why was hongo given a motorcycle? is katsuhiko the same person as ichimonji? added that the subplot has no point of it being there. the action scenes were cool. the whole movie was good for a one time/casual watch, but if you're the kind of guy who watches movies for the story, i suggest you don't watch it, because a part of you will hate this movie and will just leave you confused as soon as the credits start rolling. i'll rate it a biased 6 just because i am a kamen rider fan, but if i weren't maybe i'll give it a 4.5 or 5 tops for the props, costumes and action scenes.

Watching "Kamen Rider the First" is a refreshing way for me to be reintroduced into the series that started it all: the original adventures of Takeshi Hongo and his partner-in-crime-busting Hayato Ichimonji. After all, I was only knowledgeable of the series from Black onwards.Contrary to the position that this was a lame excuse to create a ripoff movie, this presentation of the original plot is, according to the people involved themselves, more than a remake: it is a re-imagination of the plot, giving it a much more darker twist but still containing elements of the original show.Looking at the production: cast, costumes and probably everything else, anyone who witnessed the original Kamen Rider and is open enough to so-called "upgrades" would appreciate the movie very well. After all, though Kamen Rider the First is still most probably targeted for kids, it indeed also included the original viewers who are now most likely adults and are ready to witness darker themes. Basically, this is what Shin intended to project: unfortunately, the disturbing graphic content offed even adults. We might be even able to say that The First is Kamen Rider's successful attempt to cater to both kids and adults, accomplishing what Shin did not.To be candid about it, the movie tells the story of Hongo as not a saved-at-the-last-minute brainwashing to-be-victim but as someone who was turned into a puppet of evil but was redeemed before doing more damage to others and to himself as well. And Ichimonji is not the kidnapped-to-be-brainwashed that he was in the series, but, again, an "almost Shadow Moon-like figure" through Hongo's fault as well, but also someone who finally became a hesitant ally. The movie also contains a subplot which does appear cheesy from the beginning and might make people wonder why it had to be included in the movie, but I have one thing to say about it: when you understand it after watching the movie, you might understand as well why there are Orphenochs like Yuji Kiba.I defy the initial review that the movie is crap: I hate to say this but probably there are some people who thinks gold is crap and vice-versa, that's why they bashed on this. Or maybe they are also on the same line as the idiotic purists who are against Hibiki. Kamne Rider the First is one worthy watch and is probably the best means for someone to be initiated into the real world of Kamen Rider.

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!

I had heard of this film only after witnessing the true horror that is the more recent series of the Kamen Rider franchise, most infused with far too much pretty-boy angsting by actors who are so poor they couldn't convincingly appear on a soup commercial, coupled with female leads whom we're apparently supposed to consider ingratiatingly cute but who, in fact, are at least as incompetent as their male counterparts in terms of acting. While the traditional Kamen Rider series may not have been masterpieces themselves, many of them at least managed to convey the darkly fascinating world in which the Kamen Rider series is rooted, and to boot they had excellent and exciting fights. Not so in this film, which purports to be an homage to the original Kamen Rider series. In fact, that claim couldn't be farther from the truth.As with many of the more recent Kamen Rider series, this film is one that falls flat on its face for the attempt to inject 'adult drama' into essentially a children's series. And as always, with 'adult drama', the 'drama' in question consists of rather puerile acts and activities, childish participants, and seemingly arbitrary angst that prevents more or less all of the characters involved from being anything approaching sympathetic or interesting. Any real character development is eschewed in favor of attempts at artsy shots and sequences (which the director never once manages to pull off successfully), contrived plot devices that have no basis in the original material this claims to pull from, or totally superfluous scenes that make this seem much longer than its 1.5 hour running time. And in that seemingly interminable time, not one plot point is resolved to any satisfactory conclusion. In my mind, that spells utter failure, and I find it unlikely that this little terror will be sequelized.As with other films of this director, who seems only able to disgrace old and well-respected series with his unimaginative plodding, the focus on the human angst in favor of things actually happening brings down the film considerably. When we do get the marked relief of someone actually fighting, it's over too quickly and usually comes off as boring and too CGed-up to be anything but gaudy and confusing. Further, as usual with this director, unwelcome changes are made to the already perfectly adequate source material and then hastily discarded partially through because, quite frankly, they don't work; perhaps he saw this and decided they should be done away with, but if so he shouldn't have included them in the first place. As usual, a shoddy job.The actors fit into the aforementioned mold of being physically attractive but not much else. Further, every time they're actually required to do anything physically demanding, it's patent that they have no idea what they're doing. They are entirely unconvincing doing anything that doesn't involve sitting around whining, which they don't even manage to do that well; the acting talent gulf in this is obvious when veteran actors, terribly underused and misused for this travesty of film, outshine the entire rest of the cast simply by appearing for a few minutes in a throwaway scene or two. Films like this shouldn't go to the trouble of getting older and respected actors involved with the franchise in question, because they're only potent reminders of superior works. If they believe that it will bring in fans of the original series, they can think again. And while I have nothing against feminine-acting men, I do wish the director had given a bit more direction to some of the main actors who were supposedly very close to some of the generic females that paraded across the screen; they seemed much more interested in each other. While that's not a bad thing in my opinion, we shouldn't then be expected to believe they have any relationship at all with these girls.Movement and so forth also managed to be amazingly awkward, with one scene sticking out where a girl faints in a way so unlikely that it made me laugh. Certainly not the intended tone for that scene, but it unfortunately wasn't the first or only incident of people moving or acting in ways that were incongruously unlikely and implausible. How exactly can people do this? It's through bad direction, and that makes the horrid director's taint on this even more laughably obvious.Honestly, I can only hope this talentless hack is barred from sullying the name of any other old and respected series. Kamen Rider has been slighted enough by the recent series purporting to be faithful to the original source material. They're hardly little more than asinine soap operas with some flashy costumes and the occasional fight. If you're going to claim that your film is a return to the original Kamen Riders' era and tone, at least try to capture it. If this incompetent horror had decided to do his own original Kamen Rider film, it still would've been terrible, but not quite as insulting as claiming he was trying to redo the original series. Anyone who wants a real idea of what the original Kamen Rider series were like should seek out those series and not this pathetic excuse for film-making.