Golden Bat, a 10000-year old skull-headed, flying superhero is released from an Egyptian sarcophagus somewhere in the lost continent of Atlantis and flies to our rescue when Earth is threatened by a rogue planet under the control of the dreaded four-eyed furry Dr. Nazo. Also fighting for our continued existence is Captain Yamatone (chop-socky star Sonny Chiba), Dr. Pearl, and their team, including Emily (Emiri Takam), whose bat-pin gives the young girl the power to summon the 'Golden Bat' (a child with this kind of responsibility is common trope in these types of stories). Earth's only hope lies in Dr. Pearl's awesome "Super Destruction Beam Cannon", which the chortling super-villain tasks his nefarious hench-people (the feral Jackal, the scarred Keloid, and the sexy Piranha) to steal. Giddy stuff from start to finish! This film version of a kamishibai character created by Suzuki Ichiro and Takeo Nagamatsu in 1931 (thus predating the similarly super-powered 'Superman' by almost a decade) contains all the expected elements of a kid-oriented tokusatsu adventure (heroic youngsters, secret organisations, bizarre villains, mysterious gadgets, super weapons, last minute rescues, and lots of over-the-top action) and is great fun. The miniatures and special effects are imaginative and quite well-done (for the era and genre), the characters (both good and evil) are fun, and the story moves along quickly to a predictable but satisfying conclusion. I have seen a lot of kaiju, kaijin and tokusatsu films and 'Golden Bat', for all its silliness, is one of the most entertaining. (watched on-line with English subtitles)
Review of The Golden Bat
