ebiros2
This is a darker Ultraman that's set in a parallel universe. The movie is targeted for more mature audience, and it was made in the same time period as the Ultraman Nexus that also featured a darker mood.The movie closely follows the story featured in the first episode of the original Ultraman. Defense force F15 pilot Shunichi Maki (Tetsuya Bessho) encounters a red sphere from outer space. Prior to this event, another defense force pilot Udo (Kenya Oosumi) encountered a similar ball of light (this time blue in color) and transformed into a monster. From Udo's transformation, Maki is also suspected to turn into a monster and gets arrested. But his alter ego was Ultraman who came to capture the monster that took over Udo's body. Some homage to the original Ultra Q is also paid in this movie where Maki becomes a pilot of Cessna for a private corporation. The movie was part of the Ultraman N Project that was supposed to create a new appeal to the Ultraman series. Ultraman Noa, this movie, and Ultraman Nexus shares a common connection that became clear towards the end of Ultraman Nexus. But ultimately, this new darker vision of Ultraman series was unpopular with the audience, and the project was canceled.This Ultraman is really not Ultraman in my opinion. It lacks the style worthy of a super hero. Other may like the more realistic depiction of Ultraman, and opinions may vary depending on the viewer.
rasta_robot
Obviously, the first commenter knew absolutely nothing about Ultraman or the history behind the character, or of the culture gap this movie comes with. For those who aren't aware of the character, Ultraman is a classic Japanese superhero who, along with Kamen Rider, is the popular equivalent to our Superman. In Japan, Ultraman is instantly recognizable and apart of almost every child's childhood at one point or another. The budgets of the series is not always grand, so they are able to make do with what they have very well. Having said that, I will say the movie takes some good old fashioned imagination to enjoy. That's part of the culture gap. Japanese films rely on the imagination of the audience, and not just CGI to do the work for us. So, if you watch the movie with all the previous things considered, you should have a really good time.
teknomanblade
The movie was great, the story was spectacular, and the characters were very likable. I love the fact that they brought an old hero back and gave him a new make-over. The music is a rock-style of the original Ultraman music. I hope that if you are a great Ultraman fan, you will get it. I could only watch it with Japanese subtitles, but I still love it. The only problem that I had, was the fact that they used a pre-existing Ultraman from the Ultraman Nexus universe. I would have preferred something more in the line of the original Ultraman. I did enjoy that they did not kill the story with to much special FX, but the battles were spectacular. This movie would make the late Tsuburaya very proud!
nemkutya
As I was watching the midair climax of the movie (which is a lot of fun, by the way), I couldn't help but think that the music sounded very familiar. It was starting to remind me very much of Anton Bruckner's 8th Symphony in c-minor. No sooner had I made this inner note to myself when the soundtrack actually started *quoting* the 8th, note-for-note! OK, OK, I know this has nothing to do with the movie, which is probably my favorite Ultraman so far... but I like commenting on musical trivia like this. (Another odd Bruckner quote comes in the opening credits of Victor Halperin's "Supernatural" from 1933, which uses a few bars of the Third Symphony in d-minor.)
