SHIN ULTRAMAN (2022)
The world of Japanese special-effects cinema and television, or the 'Tokusatu' genre if you prefer, is a vast decades long phenomenon. Dipping into any of this is far more intimidating than the mere twenty-something movies in the Godzilla franchise. Beyond the realm of mainstream Western entertainment exists a world of transforming heroes that spans dozens of shows, of which only a tiny fraction were adapted by Saban in the 1990s. Though this kind of chop-and-swap effort to appeal to English speaking children was successful at the time, the original versions were more than a passing fad in their country of origin. With so much history how can a single film hope to capture what made it work so well? Let's take a look at two of the latest iterations to see what the makers of Shin Godzilla have to offer.
The approach taken in Shin Ultraman is one that embraces the episodic format of its original source. The prior incarnation Ultra Q (a monster themed Outer Limits style series) and Ultraman (in which a silver alien giant fights said creatures) are treated as prologue and main narrative respectively here. Part remake and part reinvention this new storyline lacks the orange jumpsuits but it does cover a lot of similar themes and alien invaders. As a result it can occasional feel overloaded, particularly during the initial kaiju montage, but it eventually settles into a familiar formula. Just as these kinds of shows have a monster of the week and a non-stop series of alien threats, the plot here surrounds a string of invaders.
During one particularly devastating attack Shinji Kaminaga, (Takumi Saitoh) an agent for monster crisis agency the SSSP, tries to save a child but is injured by the arrival of a giant from outer space. Dubbed 'Ultraman' by the government, this strange visitor fights the latest monster threat and saves the day. But in the confusion it also creates a mysterious connection to Shinji who is always absent when Ultraman is on the scene. There are no great creative leaps here in a story that follows plenty of established tropes. However, there is a sense of escalation as the invaders change from direct physical threats to figures that use subterfuge. Some even offer the people of Earth technology in their attempts to take over the planet.
It's all pretty retro feeling even if Ultraman no longer has visible eye-holes in his mask for the actor to see from. There's a lot of charm to the effects which do a nice job recreating old set pieces and shot compositions with new techniques. In some ways most of this is going over old ground as a series of adversaries are re-imagined. None of the alien names are new which means that there are all kinds of call backs for old fans. But like Shin Goldzilla there are lots of engaging elements for newcomers. The cold calculating mood of that bureaucracy filled storyline is essentially absent. But in its place is an enjoyably light-hearted tale of co-operation and hope in the face of ever increasing odds.
The visual style of the story is also inventive in a lot of unexpected ways, even if the clinical and slick presentation is familiar. Tiny cameras are used to create a multitude of strange shots and things rarely get repetitive. For a movie about giant threats they get a lot of mileage out of shooting from behind office furniture at strange angles. At one point they even show the perspective from inside a foil packet as one character is eating. Scale is often toyed with beyond sequences showing Shinji's co-worker Hiroko (Masami Nagasawa) becoming a giant herself. What it lacks in depth and any serious kind of critical commentary it makes up for with all these flourishes.
Shinji and Hiroko meanwhile are the main character hooks; one strangely distant and perhaps alien, the other an odd mixture of optimistic and aggressive. The rest of the team get plenty to do but it's their strange interactions that keep the human drama from ever becoming dry. The intergalactic threats also have unique personalities from the camouflaged Zarab to the silver-tonged Mefilas. They're all fairly single-minded but have different approaches to their plans for the Earth. The variety also keeps things very well paced as the SSSP team overcome each kind of problem but are faced with some new dilemma. It has enough existential drama along with all the laser beams and black holes to keep the momentum going.
The results are a strange distillation of the original Ultraman series with enough modern ideas about the meaning of life and the importance of human willpower. Not all of the visual effects are perfect and it leans into CGI a little too often during some of the climactic moments. Replicas of many old-school moments work best, but scenes that go bigger and flashier aren't always perfect. But it makes up for this in the amount of heart and the eccentric moments along the way. There are times when it might have become too bogged down with details from the source material, and there are scenes that tread a fine line between fun and morbid. But the tone is fairly consistent despite all of the elements being juggled, resulting in a breezy adventure that everyone can get on board with.
4/5
BONUS REVIEW
SHIN KAMEN RIDER (2023)
Shin Kamen Rider meanwhile is the third part of this so called 'Shin Trilogy.' With the precedent set for reproducing an old series in film form it's got to be a home-run right? Well your mileage may vary in this case. The original man-turned-cyborg plot is essentially the first half of the movie, in which Takeshi Hongo (Sosuke Ikematsu) becomes the victim of 'SHOCKER', an evil organisation turning humans into enhanced soldiers. But thanks to the regrets of Dr. Midorikawa (Shinya Tsukamoto) and his daughter Ruriko (Minami Hamabe) Takeshi escapes brainwashing and gains superhuman powers, becoming a masked hero. Can Hideaki Anno add anything new to this formulaic premise?
While there are many old-school moments being reproduced (even down to the locations) there are also plenty of modern touches. SHOCKER goons don't turn into splats of ketchup when they fall from a great height, but they do dissolve into bubbles. The villain-of-the-week format still includes characters like Spider-Man and Bat-Man but now they're called 'Augs' and have new sci-fi designs. There's still a rival masked hero called Hayato Ichimonji (Tasuku Emoto) but now the kicks and punches are performed at greater heights and are rendered with CGI fuelled energy. The problem is generally one of pacing as it hops from one bad guy to the next too quickly without earning a sense of emotional depth.
This is particularly evident in the second half of the story as it shifts away from animal themed costumes and gives Takeshi and Ruriko time together. It's supposed to be a tragedy that they've both lost parents, and that they've both lost parts of their human nature. But most of the time it's too much like a soap opera. Shin Ultraman's odd couple felt more average, even if one was an alien, while these two act too much like cyborgs. Similar third act problems also cause an issue, again falling into a trap of going bigger but with increasingly unconvincing CGI. It doesn't help that more than one third act set piece is shot in the dark obscuring the character movements.
Elsewhere there's a lot of talk about 'prana energy' and not enough simple human determination. Government agents Taki and Tachibana (Takumi Saitoh and Yutaka Takenouchi) exist only to spell out a message of hope to Takeshi, something he should have figured out himself. But these characters are part of a sub-plot that feels incomplete, distracting from development that the heroes might have gone through naturally. Flashbacks help but they also feel inorganic and often come along very late in the running time. Overall there's a great sense of energy to the action and a clear fondness for the source material. But it works best when it sticks to the low budget charm of that 1970s series without veering into melodrama. It's not a disaster but it means this is the lesser of the three projects.
3/5
