King Kong Escapes (1967)

aka King Kong's Counterattack

Because King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) did well, Toho wanted more ape. The result is a joint production with Rankin/Bass that's part US monster movie and part Japanese kaijū movie, with an American lead and a Japanese evil-doer.
The plot is bonkers: a rich madame (Mie Hama) wants a rare element mined from the earth, so needs the help of Dr Who (not that one), a crazy James Bond-esque scientist (Hideyo Amamoto), who builds a mecha version of Kong to do the dangerous work. Shit happens (radiation, naturally) and Mecha ends up battling the real King Kong, while dashing US submarine commander Carl Nelson (Rhodes Reason) stays dashing, especially during close-ups.

2 white-gloved subordinates out of 5

Infra-Man (1975)

aka The Super Inframan

Shaw Brothers Studio wanted a piece of the sweet profit that imported Japanese tokusatsu movies were generating in their native China, so they produced their own movie and filled it with their well-established form of SB Chinese style martial arts. The result is a dynamically engaging slice of madness that feels familiar but different at the same time.
To become the hero, Lei Ma undergoes a dangerous surgical procedure involving super-human DNA (that just happened to be lying around). The self-sacrifice turns him into the agile Infra-man. Hooray!
The studio didn't half-ass it when it came to the sets either; the lair of the campy villainess Demon Princess Elzebub is amazing.

3 pointy metal titties out of 5

Attack of the Super Monsters (1982)

The dinosaurs didn't really die out. Instead, they hid underground, growing more intelligent, biding their time for a return. They've now surfaced to shoot fire from their mouths and take over the world. The Gemini Force Defence Squad, a team of four brave heroes who can do some pretty amazing things, fight the good fight against the evil Emperor Tyrannus (a talking T-Rex).
AotSM is the first four episodes of a thirty-nine episode Japanese TV show titled Dinosaur War Izenborg (1978-79) joined together, dubbed into English and released as a feature. Even in its bastardised form it's as mad as a hatter. It's a tokusatsu/kaijū/superhero show that mixes various kinds of live action footage with cel animation, sometimes in the same scene; think Gamera + Thunderbirds + Gatchaman and you'll be on the right track.

3 bionic transfers out of 5

Kamen Rider: The Next (2007)

A sequel to KR: The First (2005) that's set two years after the previous disappointment. Takeshi is now a tutor teaching a class of unruly pupils. He takes a peculiar (and inappropriate) interest in one of his female students, but she has a part to play in the resulting drama, so it's okay and not creepy at all, even when he visits her home. Meanwhile, a pop idol is causing controversy.
For reasons that I can't fathom, the first half hour is a Japanese horror film, and not even a particularly good one; it's a bad Ringu (1998) rip-off.
It abandons that for a while so it can avoid being a KR movie in other ways. Eventually it has no choice but to show some masked rider action, which, like before, is well-executed but entirely soulless.
It's only during the J-Horror wrap-up that any emotional impact is felt.

2 remodellings out of 5

Kamen Rider: The First (2005)

I prefer my KR to be lit for TV. The cinematography of the movies is more lush and dramatic but the ‘upgrade’ causes something endearing to be lost.
The First is a movie without a series, even though it’s based on one. It’s a retelling/re-imagining/retread (pick one) of the first KR TV series that appeared in 1971. I've not seen the original, so I can’t compare and any direct references or knowing nods outside of scarf-wearing went over my head. Judged solely on what the film is, it’s a disappointment. It’s bland, with few redeeming features. It tries hard to be an adult drama, but if you go that route you need to deliver a satisfying resolution, of which there’s none.

2 warming ice crystals out of 5

Mechanical Violator Hakaider (1995)

Hakaider (from Kikaider) is part wasteland hero, anti-hero and villain all at once. He even manages to be perceived as a chivalrous knight vanquishing a very odd but awesome looking personification of an evil parliament.
It’s Japanese to the core. It’s aware that it’s a glorious mess, and it knows that we know, so it revels in the madness from beginning to end. Wings, chains, dream sequences, henshins, etc; all that good stuff.
Your viewing pleasure will either be 51 mins (theatrical) or 77 mins (director's cut). They’re both mind-blowing with minimal characterisation and maximum style, but the longer one has the end credits scene moved to a more fitting position within the bonkers and broken narrative.

3 burnt flowers out of 5

Ultraman: The Next (2004)

Wiki says The Next film is part of a three-phase reinvention of the Ultraman franchise for an older audience. I say it’s a successful one. Prior to it I was watching the awful Ginga TV series. The difference is staggering.
The titular hero doesn't appear until around 40+ minutes into the running time. Until then it mostly focuses on crafting a drama about an F-15 pilot named Shunichi (Tetsuya Bessho) who loves to fly almost as much as he loves his wife and young son. He finds it difficult to juggle time for both, a situation made more complex when a man-sized lizard creature escapes a lab, resulting in the military being put on a state of emergency.
The effects are a mix of suits, scale models, camera trickery and CGI. The creature design is really interesting, getting more and more dangerous as it pushes the film toward a kaijū-heavy finale that meets expectations.

3½ conscience attacks out of 5