Mechanical Violator Hakaider (1995)

Mechanical Violator Hakaider (1995)

Starring: Jiro Okamoto, Yuji Kishimoto, Toshiyuki Kikuchi, Mai Hosho
Director: Keita Amemiya

So, in the early 1970s, one of the popular Tokusatsu series in the midst of more than a dozen was Android Kikaider, about a half-blue, half-red robot who fights the forces of evil. One of the supporting characters was a black-clad robot named Hakaider, who seemed to jump back and forth between antagonist and uncomfortable ally. Director-artist-FX man Keita Amemiya, best known these days for his "Garo" series, was on a roll in the 1990s, starting with Zeiram. Right before he made that film's sequel, he made this movie, sort of a retelling of the Hakaider story.

A group of treasure hunters are snooping around a series of underground tunnels looking for hidden treasure, as per the local urban legends. They eventually find a secret vault, which they blow up. Instead of treasure, however, they find a human-faced cyborg (Jiro Okamoto), whom they immediately recognize as Hakaider. The treasure hunters try to destroy it, but Hakaider comes back online, takes on his tokusatsu persona, and straight-up murders them all. He then hops on a motorcycle (with his trusty shotgun in tow) and heads over to Jesus Town.

What is Jesus Town? Well, think of it as the Japanese tokusatsu version of the alternate future of the Flanders Dystopia from "Time and Punishment" from the Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror V. A white-clad angelic being named Ryo (Yuji Kishimoto) runs a "peaceful" city through fear and lobotomies (well, they are microchips inserted into brains, but the effect is the same). His main enforcer is a winged, white-painted robot named Michael (Toshiyuki Kikuchi). Well, Hakaider arrives in town and immediately starts picking fights with Ryo's security force while falling in with a group of rebels, including a woman named Kaoru (Mai Hosho), who has been dreaming of a black knight saving her from a demon in angel's clothing. FORESHADOWING!!!

The plot is pretty simple: Hakaider shows up, doesn't talk a lot, and just gets into an escalating series of gunfights (and some fist fights) until he finally has to throw down with Ryo and Michael (get it? Michael the Archangel?). There is some interesting religious iconography and I liked the visuals of Kaoru's dreams. There is a brief moment when the rebels are talking about what they'd do if they managed to overthrow Ryo, to which Hakaider points out that if they did the things they fantasize about, they would ultimately be no better than the current leaders--a common theme of left-wing revolutions overthrowing right-wing dictatorships. I didn't understand the entire story--the death of one character is handled in a rather odd manner--and some of the mechanics of Ryo's armed guard weren't explained well.

But there is a lot of gunplay and people who don't need John Woo (or John Wick) stylistics do enjoy constant machine gun fire should enjoy this. There is a robot battle at the end, followed by a typical Keita Amemiya climatic monster escalation (see his Zeiram movies) which is realized almost completely in stop motion animation. AWESOME!