Shin Ultraman – Review

A quick opening montage gets the viewer up to speed on the modern world of Japan and its kaiju infestation. Having faced monster after monster and utilizing all available technologies, Japan is well-used to gigantic beasts ravaging its countryside. The creatures are randomly given names by the government and when defeated, the armies get ready for the next event.

Due to these “S-Class” attacks by monsters, a specialized team of experts is formed, dubbed “S-Class Species Suppression Protocol” or SSSP. This crew mobilizes all resources necessary and deals with all monster threats. Unfortunately, these threats are growing more and more dangerous, and the SSSP only knows so much. It is led by Kimio Tamura (Nishijima), who directs his most trusty agent Shinji Kaminaga (Saitô), and his newly introduced tough-girl agent partner Hiroko Asami (Nagasawa).

The crew is on scene for the most recent attack, which is a giant kaiju which has been named “Neronga” and is almost dinosaur like. As the SSSP readies their defenses, things get strange, even for this setup. A small child is seen on the battlefield, so Kaminaga immediately heads out into the destruction in order to attempt to protect the school kid.

Then… out of the sky… a gigantic silver “man” flies in from space. He attacks the Neronga monster, eventually blasting it with a super intense beam of light. The fight however damages the countryside, and Kaminaga is injured. The SSSP has little knowledge on their new gigantic metallic savior. This does not please the government agencies who expect better from their experts.

Or is he? Kaminaga shows up for work with no issues shortly after. Then… another kaiju attack! A sudden invisible attack from a hard to see creature that has some similarities to another that attacked before, this one draining the power grid and blasting off electricity. What is causing all of these monster attacks? What is this new gigantic man that is seemingly helping defend humanity? What the hell is up with Kaminaga?

As the silver savior shows up again to tackle the newest creature, the world grapples with what is happening, and the Japanese government can only do their best to craft the best international treaties. This is only the very beginning, as new forces continue to enter the picture causing ripples worldwide.

Shin Ultraman continues the excellent pairing of action and bureaucracy, which was set in the writer/director pair’s first outing, Shin Godzilla. The sense of satire infused into the government agencies is both realistic and hilarious, as well as overbearing and insane all things considered. The atmosphere this creates is a very fun one, especially considering the crazy action on screen.

The script should make the viewer laugh just as much as give eye-candy treats of intense action scenes featuring huge monsters and unknown alien forces. This is sort of “super-hero” type, but certainly is not like most of the normal affairs that hit the theaters every few months.

I am not too familiar with the older Ultraman series/comics so I can’t really compare to anything else, but this I liked.