2022 ‘シン・ウルトラマン’ Directed by Shinji Higuchi
The Japanese government sets up a special task force to fight the giant creatures suddenly appearing across the country. Soon, the squad unexpectedly meets a giant silver humanoid who starts appearing every time a space monster attacks!
シン・ウルトラマン 空想特撮映画, 신 울트라맨, Shin Urutoraman: kūsō tokusatsu eiga, Shin Ultraman: Fantasy Special Effects Film, 新·超人力霸王, Shin Ultraman: Filme de Efeitos Especiais de Fantasia, Shin.Ultraman, Shin Urotoraman, Новый Ультрамен, ชิน อุลตร้าแมน, 新·奥特曼, 新‧超人
Canada
Fantasia International Film Festival
USA
New York Asian Film Festival
Ireland
Japanese Film Festival
UKPG
USANR
Japan
Taiwan
Thailand
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Russian Federation18+
Japan
Canada
Hong Kong
Ireland
Japan
Malaysia
Russian Federation
Taiwan
Thailand
UK
USA
"Unlike American attempts at Godzilla films, Anno and his co-writer and director Shinji Higuchi, are more interested in using special effects creatively than obsessively chasing after verisimilitude. Thus their films have a charm lacking in Hollywood effects movies: they effectively balance the retro appeal of the original ‘50s and ‘60s products with modern techniques and approaches to storytelling without devolving into intentional campiness or condescending quaintness."
Reviewed as part of InReview Online's coverage of the 2022 NYAFF.
was hoping for a bit more of that bureaucratic/political horror satire that i liked so much in shin godzilla (this instead opts for some more traditional pop superheroics in the face of humanity's impending extraterrestrial annihilation), but nonetheless still a very solid modern attempt at a throwback to the 60s kaiju brawler era in terms of cartoon tone, dynamic colorful images and giant men in suits physicality. even the sound fx and music feel like straight out of the showa era. fun! loved the psychedelic black hole space combat imagery in the finale.
Ultraman tries his very best to defend the earth from a hotchpotch of kaijus without knowing humans have created their own monster: bureaucracy.
Like five episodes of a ULTRAMAN series squished into a two-hour block, but they're damn good episodes directed by filmmakers possed by the spirit of Akio Jissoji. I do question why a team of CGI artists made all the monsters look like they were costumes, instead of just using costumes, but I appreciate the aesthetic fidelity nonetheless.
The third time I watched it I was fascinated by the rhythmic use of editing and camera angles, which is overwhelming on first viewing, but is far less all over the place than it seems. Shout out to the use of phone cameras (Sony?) to get the wackiest of angles - and some regular shots too for some reason!
Quite possibly the most complete-feeling superhero film ever made, and that thought only just recently entered my head. The hours I've spent since watching this have been spent fucking spinning around in circles about how thoroughly Anno and Higuchi understand the source material, to a degree only matched by their previous work on Shin Godzilla. I was practically nodding in agreement the whole time. This thing still has the bite and the musings on international politics and the way Japan's bureaucracy fits into all of that, but here it serves a minor note to the greater theme of genuine silver-age Science Fiction optimism and wonder for the universe and how far we can go. We're in trouble, we always are.…
All the pacing issues in the world couldn't make me not love this. Why I haven't just sat down and watched every Kaiju film ever made is beyond me, because every time I see one I'm grinning and kicking my feet the entire time. The creature designs are so unique and even unsettling at times.
I love that this one took the time to make some self-referential jabs too; it's funnier than Shin Godzilla but nowhere near as clever, which isn't even that much of a hindrance when it comes to this kind of film. The ultimate point is BIG MONSTER GO SMASH. If you can squeeze some human condition stuff in there too, then great.
Has the arch tone of Shin Godzilla but lacks the same satiric ambition, resulting in a movie that feels like it should be funny but isn’t really. Almost every single composition and editing choice is strange and disorienting for no discernible reason. That said, it’s briskly paced, has good kaiju stuff, and has a clever story that makes imaginative use of Ultraman and his mythology. Also, Ultraman remains a compelling screen presence, one of our last true movie stars.
This might not be quite as strong as Shin Godzilla, it doesn’t have the same horror in its awe and its jabs at bureaucracy feels less pointed, but it is still on the most visually interesting and enjoyable 2022 movies. It has great design and colors, Haguchi keeps bouncing it back between action and humans absorbing it into the government structure in a way that I find very effective. Shin Ultraman has a dry matter of fact style that doesn’t ground the action, but highlight its unreal qualities. As if its imagination was to overpowering to be contained no matter how tight the structures around it.
New York Asian Film Festival 2022
A total throwback to the oldest iterations of the TV series, this latest Higuchi/Anno “Shin” reinterpretation captures the goofy magic of old school Ultraman perfectly. Episodic, tongue-in-cheek but always played straight, the plot moves so quickly from creature to creature and crisis to crisis that it feels a lot like watching one of those old compilation movies that crush together an entire season of television. In a good way.
My one real complaint is that I would have loved to see some actual rubber suit monsters (though Ultraman definitely seems to be played by a toy at one point). But that’s a small complaint when CGI is used to create monsters that LOOK…
A funny, powerful film, effective editing and deeply human relationships. Just as good as Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman was amazing.
Final Score : 88% 🍎
