Shin Ultraman

Superhero fatigue is real.  Can kaiju fatigue be far behind?  The latest series of Godzilla and Kong reboots have done just well enough to earn equally underwhelming sequels.  Meanwhile Japan, home base of the kaiju craze, has been quietly eking out their own series of nostalgic do-overs, the latest of which, Shin Ultraman, manage to do exactly what the U.S. films have not: reinvent the oversize monster genre without selling out to empty CGI spectacle.  

A member of the SSSP, a government entity dedicated to handling kaiju emergencies, Kaminga sacrifices himself to save a child during the latest attack.  But an interdimensional life form bonds with him at the moment of death turning him into a supersized superhero named Ultraman, coming to the defense of humanity against a slew of alien foes intent on claiming the earth for themselves.

 

Mystifyingly episodic for a feature film, Shin Ultraman goes through at least three world-conquering foes – and several assorted beasties – in its two-hour running time.  In between battles director Shinji Higuchi stages the requisite dialogue scenes (the bane of every Godzilla fan’s existence) with one amusingly odd shot composition after another.  Characters are crammed into tiny corners of the screen, shot between bookshelves, desk drawers and assorted body parts.  It’s an innovative way to make the exposition interesting – a big part of his previous Shin Godzilla’s appeal as well – but only makes the audience hungry for more kaiju action.

 

The film kicks off at top speed with a montage of new monstrous threats that lead to a showdown with an invisible electricity-sucking creature promptly dispatched by our sliver suited hero.  Visually it’s a wonderful balance of cutting-edge images of destruction and goofy callbacks for classic Ultraman fans.  The monster designs are jaw-droppingly imaginative and retain that suitmation look despite being completely CGI.  If only there were more of them!  As in Shin Godzilla, Higuchi focuses just as much on the political and economic struggles behind the scenes as he does the monster battles themselves.  As grown-ups we can appreciate the effort, but as monster fans we’d still like a bit more supersized smackdowns, please.

 

Although there was a short-lived release in U.S. theaters, the new Blu-ray will likely be the first chance for fans to catch the reboot.  And it’s a stellar visual presentation.  One hiccup: the subtitles use an SDH translation which mean you get sound effects like “laser blast” and “mountain rumbling” along with the conversations.  The good news is the dubbed track is actually quite good and lets you keep your eyes on the screen…a perk since the film is pretty much wall-to-wall dialogue.  No extras included other than a selection of trailers.

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