Shin Ultraman (2022)
Middle part of the "Shin" trilogy, a series of movies reimagining a couple of Japanese genre classics, all written, produced and, except for this one, directed by Hideaki Anno.
Shin Godzilla, the first one, is already considered a bit of a classic. A dryly satirical take on the Kaju movie genre that asked "How many public servants does it take to defeat a rampaging monster?" while showing off Anno's most sophisticated foray into live action film making yet. Shin Ultraman is the attempt to reinvent superhero Ultraman the same way, but ends up with something a lot messier.
I'm gonna be honest here, I didn't really know who Ultraman was, beforehand. After seeing the movie I'm still not quite sure, but what I gathered is: He's basically Superman, except he turns into a giant. Shin Ultraman is the story of how a series of monster attacks is thwarted by giant, metal armored hero Ultraman, the product of a member of a highly advanced alien species merging with a human man who lives undercover as government agent Kaminaga. Kaminaga is faced with greater physical and moral challenges when other advanced extraterrestrials try to impose their will on humanity.
There is a decent bit to like about Shin Ultraman, mostly in the way it works as an homage to super dorky 60's (from a western perspective, we'd say "Silver Age") superhero cheese. Expensive CGI used to recreate cheap effects and costumes, cartoony soundtrack, funny poses, hell, there's a scene where the roles of hero and villain are emphasized by the hero wearing a white and the bad guy a black shirt. All of that is very fun. But so much more of it is weird and I imagine only makes sense if you're familiar with the Ultraman property.
Why is there a running gag about a character grasping her own thigh whenever she is determined to do something? Why does the movie have three different villains that feel like they could have quite easily been merged into one character? Why is the overarching plot so loose it seems to change in 20 minute intervals? And what exctly is Ultraman's relationship to humanity? Not philosophically, mind, the movie makes quite clear that he believes humanity should follow its own path without interference and that's what puts him at odds with the other aliens who either want to exterminate or control it. No, I mean just, like, emotionally.
You know how Zack Snyder's newer Superman movies dedicate a lot of time to everyone being convinced Superman is either gonna bring salvation or doom to mankind while Clark is just kinda like "Man, I'm so conflicted about how to use my powers responsibly, I just want to work as a reporter, take care of my mum and spend time with my girlfriend.". And I guess that's probably the main difference between Superman and at least this version of Ultraman, Superman thinks like a human being before anything else, where Ultraman is characterized primarily as a near omnipotent alien whose affection for mankind is that of an outsider looking in, despite his insistence that part of him is human.
Some of Shin Godzilla's political satire carries over, which is why there's a supporting cast of fussy government bureaucrats trying to make sense of what's going on (a task that's already hard enough for the viewer) and how to react to it. It's material that doesn't exactly lend itself to political commentary the way a disaster movie like Shin Godzilla does, which is why up until the end, a lot of that stuff comes off as a bit token. Hell, even Ultraman himself seems to feel that way, considering that despite technically working for a government agency in his civilian identity, he spends most of the movie away from them doing his own thing.
In short, I enjoy the style of it but I found the content messy and confusing. Probably a result of trying to cram in more of the source material than fits in a two hour movie. Perhaps that's fine for someone already familiar with it but as someone who has no history with Ultraman I felt mostly left out. It has got a hell of a unique style going and some of its left field plot devices were amusing but overall I got the impression I just wasn't in on the joke. Let's see if Shin Kamen Rider is more newcomer friendly.
Middle part of the "Shin" trilogy, a series of movies reimagining a couple of Japanese genre classics, all written, produced and, except for this one, directed by Hideaki Anno.
Shin Godzilla, the first one, is already considered a bit of a classic. A dryly satirical take on the Kaju movie genre that asked "How many public servants does it take to defeat a rampaging monster?" while showing off Anno's most sophisticated foray into live action film making yet. Shin Ultraman is the attempt to reinvent superhero Ultraman the same way, but ends up with something a lot messier.
I'm gonna be honest here, I didn't really know who Ultraman was, beforehand. After seeing the movie I'm still not quite sure, but what I gathered is: He's basically Superman, except he turns into a giant. Shin Ultraman is the story of how a series of monster attacks is thwarted by giant, metal armored hero Ultraman, the product of a member of a highly advanced alien species merging with a human man who lives undercover as government agent Kaminaga. Kaminaga is faced with greater physical and moral challenges when other advanced extraterrestrials try to impose their will on humanity.
There is a decent bit to like about Shin Ultraman, mostly in the way it works as an homage to super dorky 60's (from a western perspective, we'd say "Silver Age") superhero cheese. Expensive CGI used to recreate cheap effects and costumes, cartoony soundtrack, funny poses, hell, there's a scene where the roles of hero and villain are emphasized by the hero wearing a white and the bad guy a black shirt. All of that is very fun. But so much more of it is weird and I imagine only makes sense if you're familiar with the Ultraman property.
Why is there a running gag about a character grasping her own thigh whenever she is determined to do something? Why does the movie have three different villains that feel like they could have quite easily been merged into one character? Why is the overarching plot so loose it seems to change in 20 minute intervals? And what exctly is Ultraman's relationship to humanity? Not philosophically, mind, the movie makes quite clear that he believes humanity should follow its own path without interference and that's what puts him at odds with the other aliens who either want to exterminate or control it. No, I mean just, like, emotionally.
You know how Zack Snyder's newer Superman movies dedicate a lot of time to everyone being convinced Superman is either gonna bring salvation or doom to mankind while Clark is just kinda like "Man, I'm so conflicted about how to use my powers responsibly, I just want to work as a reporter, take care of my mum and spend time with my girlfriend.". And I guess that's probably the main difference between Superman and at least this version of Ultraman, Superman thinks like a human being before anything else, where Ultraman is characterized primarily as a near omnipotent alien whose affection for mankind is that of an outsider looking in, despite his insistence that part of him is human.
Some of Shin Godzilla's political satire carries over, which is why there's a supporting cast of fussy government bureaucrats trying to make sense of what's going on (a task that's already hard enough for the viewer) and how to react to it. It's material that doesn't exactly lend itself to political commentary the way a disaster movie like Shin Godzilla does, which is why up until the end, a lot of that stuff comes off as a bit token. Hell, even Ultraman himself seems to feel that way, considering that despite technically working for a government agency in his civilian identity, he spends most of the movie away from them doing his own thing.
In short, I enjoy the style of it but I found the content messy and confusing. Probably a result of trying to cram in more of the source material than fits in a two hour movie. Perhaps that's fine for someone already familiar with it but as someone who has no history with Ultraman I felt mostly left out. It has got a hell of a unique style going and some of its left field plot devices were amusing but overall I got the impression I just wasn't in on the joke. Let's see if Shin Kamen Rider is more newcomer friendly.
Last edited:
