Shin Ultraman

Best known for creating the popular anime 'Neon Genesis Evangelion.' Hideaki Anno serves as writer, co-producer and co-editor in this new adaptation of the 1960's character Ultraman. An extraterrestrial "dubbed" Ultraman crash lands on Planet Earth and becomes humanity's sworn protector, with the aid of the S-Class Species Suppression Protocol (SSSP) established by the Japanese government.

Modern Japan has evolved into a new battleground for giant creatures known as "Kaiju" to wreak havoc. Upon taking human form and living as one with the population to have an understanding of the human species. Ultraman concludes that mankind is worth dying for, and altruistically risks his life for the greater good. The audience is treated to bombastic action sequences, well-baked choreography and various fighting techniques from our champion which raises the entertainment value. The CGI is pretty outdated and don't translate well in certain scenes. But I wanted to overlook this flaw as I was devoted towards immersing myself in this universe. A large criticism I have is the narrative's lack of coherency. It contains an episodic structure where five stories are condensed into one feature. Making it difficult to engross ourselves into the storyline with too many subplots and a heavy amount of exposition to follow. This made the experience a bit tedious to say the least.

Despite the underdevelopment of the characters, they were likable as they had specific traits that helped them stand out. Whether it be Takumi Saitoh as the determined Ultraman or Masami Nagasawa as newcomer Hiroko Asami, delivering a humorous and charismatic portrayal of his "buddy" within the SSSP. Her onscreen presence was a favorite of mine. As the credits began to roll, I yearned for more substance due to the interesting premise. The storyline could have had a broader impact on the viewer, if fleshed out by the writer.

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Shin Ultraman, the second entry in the Shin tokusatsu series, is an entertaining retro throwback to old practical effects kaiju films. Its special effects, shrewdly combining retro scale-model special effects and CGI, has real weight and it brilliantly creates a look of its own. However, Shinji Higuchi's direction is too matter-of-fact for its own good, rendering the film cold when there's no battles happening.

In a reimagining of the Ultraman story, giant unidentified lifeforms known as "S-Class species" begin to emerge on Earth. The Japanese government established the SSSP, the S-Class Species Suppression Protocol, to eliminate all threats.

A mysterious alien entity, dubbed Ultraman, appears to save humanity from the giant monsters.

Shinji Higuchi's last film Shin Godzilla, a satire about government bureaucracy disguised beneath a kaiju movie, was a head scratcher that played better in premise than in execution. The central gag of government staff workers endlessly running into offices drowning in the bureaucratic process, ran dry after twenty minutes.

For Shin Ultraman, writer-director Shinji Higuchi tones down that satirical voice. There's no satirical target here and thus there's less sprinting into offices but the human characters remain cardboard cut-out caricatures.

When there's no monster fight happening, the scenes are just the SSSP staff explaining what needs to be done in the most straight-faced manner with zero subtext, as if they were reading a Wikipedia summary out loud. There's no sense of who these characters are beyond their job description.

Hidetoshi Nikijima, the star of the Oscar-nominated Drive My Car, sadly has no character to play or given any life to breathe into the narrative as the head of the SSSP. With its star-studded Japanese cast, it is just a kaiju-sized opportunity wasted.

It's an odd narrative style that Shin Higuchi has chosen. The film is either complete showing or complete telling. There's no hiding exposition under natural-sounding conversational dialogue.

I fundamentally don't understand why the film is so deliberately distant and allergic to human emotions. Imagine if an alien remade Ultraman and only focused on the battles and just wanted to rush through the talky scenes. Shinji Higuchi is not an alien, but just choosing to be one for some reason.

What won me over about Shin Ultraman was the special effects, an intriguing combination of old school and modern CGI. Together with the film's retro look, it achieves a unique look of its own, especially in its kaiju battle sequences.

I have fond childhood memories of watching Ultraman and Japanese kaiju TV shows. The visual of two costumed actors fighting in a miniaturized city always looked convincing. When computer effects took over in mainstream films in the 2000s, miniatures got left behind. The weight of things was gone. I wondered why so few filmmakers hadn't combined miniatures with CGI.

In Shin Ultraman, that combination of old and new special effects is used to great effect. It retained the weight of things. Many times, my eyes couldn't distinguish whether it was a scale model or CG-it always seems in-between the two. My eyes just believed it and it viscerally transported me back to seeing Ultraman on TV when I was ten, which was amazing.

Sure, Ultraman's beam looks fake in that retro way. However, when Ultraman and the kaiju wrestle and crash into the miniature buildings, there's real weight. When Ultraman flies, it looks like a real man being pulled up into the air. When things explode, it looks like a real bomb went off.

Hopefully, movie audiences who are used to seeing Hollywood CGI blockbusters can keep an open mind and not dismiss this artistry as "retro for retro's sake". I'm glad there are filmmakers keeping miniatures alive.

Overall, I feel half and half about Shin Ultraman. It's really fun in a kitschy retro kind of way. But by the third act, I was yearning for more subtext and something deeper from the script other than what the characters plan to do next. That depth never came and it left me cold when the credits rolled.

I wouldn't sit through Shin Ultraman again in its entirety, but I'd happily watch the fights again or any special features behind the filming of the miniatures.

I understand the design philosophy behind most of the scene and its a homage to OG ultraman hayate. If you have been watching ultraman since your childhood you know ultraman is actually a dark and entertaining story with alot of meaning treat it like eva. It is depressing at time but ultraman signify the light to your dark times. Thats why hikari is a word been used over and over again. If your new and just judge based on omg idk whats going on go and find the meaning behind it there.you may find your answers.

The CGI is passable, the acting is passable, the fight scenes are decently choreographed, and the filmmaking is exquisite. However, almost everything about this film has a caveat.

As someone who'd watched all the original Showa series, the sound effect/art homage decisions were extremely welcome. Unfortunately, as with the rest of the film, nothing is ever perfect. Instead of giving the fans a completely faithful Ultraman with all the shticks we've learned to love like the color timer, the grunts, the human-like exhaustion-staggering, they decided to cut all of that in favor of a "shin" (new) design claimed to be based on the original concept art of the late designer for the original Ultraman. This new design, unluckily, isn't memorable or aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. I simply don't understand how they can have such immaculate attention to detail on the references of the original sound effects, poses, special moves, and art splashes, yet completely undercut what matters most in the visual design.

The story is surprisingly unpredictable. Although it utilizes many tropes, every time I thought the film was about to have its penultimate final fight, the fight ends abruptly and suddenly there came a bigger threat. This is what I appreciated about the story. And yet, again, the shortcomings are impossible to ignore.

The characters are incredibly bland and one-note. Neither the characters or their relationships were built up properly. The film doesn't even attempt to give a reason as to why the SSSP team would have an attachment to Ultraman's extremely unlikable human host, and yet they do anyway. The film does however like to shovel blatant exposition down the viewers' throats to move the story forward.

Of all its faults, the cinematography was pretty great. There weren't spastic unnecessary cuts in the fights. Even in the most boring of scenes, there was always something to appreciate about the unique angles the scene is shot at.

1. A reimagining of Ultraman and the 37th film in the Ultraman franchise. The second live-action installment in Hideaki Anno's Shin Japan Heroes Universe. An epic tokusatsu entry with brilliant and realistic practical and visual effects combined with outstanding battle choreography. Well written dialogues with humour and political awareness regarding Japan's weak government bureaucracy and United States' over dominance in Japan's internal affairs.

2. A reimagining of Ultraman and the 37th film in the Ultraman franchise. The second live-action installment in Hideaki Anno's Shin Japan Heroes Universe. An epic tokusatsu entry with brilliant and realistic practical and visual effects combined with outstanding battle choreography. Well written dialogues with humour and political awareness regarding Japan's weak government bureaucracy and United States' over dominance in Japan's internal affairs.