Whenever we can, my husband and I try to go see any Japanese movies aired by Fathom Events. We saw Shin Godzilla back in 2016. This week we saw Shin Ultraman. Both movies were made by Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno. A third movie is scheduled to be released in Japan later this year but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, Shin Ultraman.
Giant monsters called kaiju are attacking Japan. The government has formed a taskforce called S-Class Species Suppression Protocol or SSSP to handle them. During a particularly difficult kaiju attack, an extraterrestrial in the shape of a giant human appears and dispatches the beast. But now the SSSP has a new problem - is Ultraman a friend or foe?
In an attempt to reboot the original series into one 2-hour movie, the kaiju fights are very short. The movie starts with a list of kaiju and how they were killed. Ultraman fights two kaiju then the first “big bad” is introduced. Yes, there is more than one Big Bad. There are actually three Big Bad enemies. Ultraman fights five enemies in total. Unfortunately, the kaiju fights are usually the focus of tokusatsu movies. By minimizing the fights, the movie seems to drag a lot.
Since the fights are so short, the time is filled with a lot of talking. We aren’t given the time to see the kaiju or Ultraman or the baddies do much so it has to be explained to us. This also makes the movie drag. Seriously, this was the longest 2-hour movie I have ever watched.
But there are some good parts. Masami Nagasawa was wonderful as Hiroko Asami. She brought the perfect amount of humor to a movie that sorely needed it. Everyone else was fine but it really was Nagasawa that made Shin Ultraman worth watching. OK, really she is the only good part.
Shin Ultraman really is a Japanese movie for a Japanese audience. While that isn’t a bad thing, we were shown an interview with the director, Shinji Higuchi, before the movie. Higuchi noted the differences between Japanese audiences and American audiences and he hoped that American audiences would enjoy his movie. I didn’t hate the movie. As a matter of fact, I did find a lot of it quite enjoyable. But I’m not sure a lot of people would feel the same.