‘Ultra’-Mega OK
Are you jonesing for some guy-in-a-rubber-suit action? If so get thee to the glory that is ‘Shin Ultraman’.
Shin Ultraman
Director: Shinji Higuchi • Writer: Hideaki Anno
Starring: Takumi Saitoh, Masami Nagasawa, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Daiki Arioka, Akari Hayami, Tetsushi Tanaka, Kyusaku Shimada, Issey Takahashi (voice), Koichi Yamadera (voice), Kenjiro Tsuda (voice), Koji Yamamoto (voice)
Japan • 1hr 53mins
Opens Hong Kong October 13 • IIA
Grade: B+
The pedigree behind Shin Ultraman | シン・ウルトラマン is kind of off the charts. Director Shinji Higuchi breathed fresh life into Godzilla in Shin Godzilla in a way that Gareth Edwards’ caginess (and dedication to Aaron Taylor-Johnson) never quite could. Joining him is co-writer and Shin Godzilla partner in crime Hideaki Anno, the legendary mastermind behind Neon Genesis Evangelion. The duo are currently hard at work on completing their unofficial trilogy with Shin Kamen Rider, so strap in. The cast features the Oscar-winning Drive My Car’s star Hidetoshi Nishijima and popular actor Masami Nagasawa (I Am A Hero, Godzilla: Final Wars). And it’s Ultraman!
So, if you come in expecting a batshit nutty, high concept, kooky sci-fi adventure with some badass rubber suits and an inordinate amount of peril headed for Japan, and very often Tokyo, you won’t be disappointed. Higuchi and Anno come at the material, like they did with Godzilla, with utterly straight faces and in doing so find the goofy glee in the property. You don’t even need deep knowledge of Ultraman lore to enjoy the shenanigans – it is “shin” after all – to get caught up in the fun.
Watch out for that thingy in his hand
Which doesn’t mean the story is an easy one to break down. In as few words as possible, after the Japanese government sets up the S-Class Species Suppression Protocol task force to control rampaging kaiju, the squad, led by Kimio Tamura (Nishijima), encounters what appears to be a giant silver alien robot dude that takes out the kaiju for them. With the death lasers that come out of his hands. It’s awesome. A particularly hazardous mission involving another kaiju (Japan is maggoty with kaiju) the SSSP’s strategist Shinji Kaminaga (Takumi Saitoh, Japanese remake of Cube, Fukushima 50) has a weird forest encounter with the alien, which draws the attention of security specialist Hiroko Asami (Nagasawa). Something’s hinky.
After Asami dubs giant silver guy Ultraman, he flies away with a radioactive kaiju to protect humanity, but another alien, Zarab shows up and says no, no, no. Ultraman is bad news and negotiates a peace treaty with Earth (through the Japanese prime minister) to save us from Ultraman. Long story short there’s a powerful Beta Capsule, two other alien interlopers, a body swap and a very cranky Japanese PM, Taishi Okuma (Kyusaku Shimada) trying to unravel the conflicting agendas.
Not Gojira this time
The star of an Oscar winner
Shin Ultraman delivers the frantic, overstuffed monster nonsense it promises, so there’s not much to either complain about or praise. Look at the poster. What you see is precisely what you get. Of course, if rubber-suited space aliens aren’t to your taste you’ll take great umbrage with the film overall. Could the VFX be better? Sure they could, but too much polish saps the joy from films like this. Fans of the form, however, are going to be delighted.
But for the fussy among us Higuchi and Anno have exploited speculative fiction’s greatest strength: its ability to hide criticism and commentary in plain sight. The duo directs a few more of the caustic barbs at Japanese bureaucracy they lobbed in Shin Godzilla at similar targets this time around, chiefly the weary, eye-rolling PM. They also throw in some contemplation of humanity’s place in the cosmos, our worthiness for it, and nations’ probable race to dominate extraterrestrial diplomacy should the ETs land. There’s even a few meta moments among the SSSP about how weird it is Japan has so many monsters to deal with, and how it’s probably a conspiracy to make Japan foot the bill for kaiju elimination. But the political commentary takes a back seat to ginormous OLs and black holes. Perfection. — DEK