Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

terrencegraham1 Ultraman in the 21 century, secret government organizations, characters with dark secrets, authority abuses...,innocents in danger: and suddenly all this things blow up when The Silver Giant appears!! The old story of love, sacrifice and heroism, upgrade for a new audience, and a great gift for the 70' and 80's children.I like the detail that the hero was a man in his 35' old, with a little boy and wife; after all, mostly of the Ultra fans we have on this age now, still, this is not a fanatic movie, its a fresh story and people of all ages can enjoy it...its funny, this movie has the same elements of R. Emmerich's Godzilla, but without pretensions... and this was made with good taste! Maybe the story is a little slow at the beginning, and some characters could be more exploited, but nothing that the audience can't stand. The movie ended and you still want more action! Thanks for bring us Ultraman back!

Chung Mo Ultraman is fun. The original series was silly, cheap and imaginative. Ultra Seven, the second series, was still silly and cheap but had a tongue in cheek seriousness that made it fun as well. The numerous series that came after fell into a predictable "beat up the monster" rut that the kids in Japan loved but were never brought over to the U.S. The recent efforts to revive Ultraman are inspired by the re-imagining of the very silly Gamera movie of the sixties into the standard bearer of the kaiju genre. Well shot in high-def video (I couldn't tell it was until the credits said so), the movie works well as a stand-alone entry in the Ultraman tradition. The script is very good with an emphasis on human relationships. I have to agree with other contributors that this film is much better then most of the recent Godzilla films which were starting to resemble earlier Ultraman films. The special effects are very good at times with some excellent miniature work and some great combinations of real life with model work. The only complaints I have are with the music track and the direction. While overall very good, the director missed a few chances to raise this film up another notch. Sometimes the energy is lacking. The music, however, is a very mixed bag. The fuzzbox rock guitar has been overused by "children's" action shows for years and starts to sound like kazoos to me. The more classical action orchestral music is not inspired but at least it doesn't interfere with the action. It's like somebody forgot to tell the composer that they were trying to update the genre and the composer supplied a "by the book" soundtrack.Very adult without being unsuitable for most children, it's hopeful this movie along with the sister TV series, "Ultraman Nexus" (not the same story but equally adult) will find a US release sometime in the near future. Until then it's only available as an import.

S_Forgel If you were a kid who grew up in the 70's or 80's, you've probably heard or seen something about the superhero character known as "Ultraman", the silver and red colored hero who battles skyscraper sized monsters in Japan, all while using Martial Arts moves and keen looking powers, very similar in the tradition of the Godzilla franchise. The only major difference is that "Ultraman", in his many different guises or series (Ultraman, Ultra Seven, Ultraman Gaia, Ultraman Tiga, etc.), is always the 'good guy', with the huge, ugly looking monster to be touted as the 'bad guy', and not somewhere in between like Godzilla, who can either be a 'bad guy' or a 'good guy' depending on the particular movie he appears in.The "Ultraman" series (movie as well as television) has always been about good versus evil, with the titular character being on the side of good, usually defending the Earth (in whatever universe it may be in) against a rampaging monster.In true tradition of the "Ultraman" franchise, this movie, simply titled "Ultraman" (or "Ultraman Next") is a re-telling of the original 1960's series storyline, similar to the re-telling of the Batman film franchise with the film "Batman Begins".From the typical 'good versus evil' standpoint, "Ultraman" 2004 sets its sights on not only a younger audience, but a teen, young adult and adult audience as well.Immediately, the younger audience will be dazzled by how Ultraman makes his dramatic appearance in this film, whereas teens, young adults and adults will feel a bit of nostalgia from seeing one of their favorite heroes get called back into a visually updated and re-designed character and premise.Unlike the old television series and movies, where the shows or movies play out like an episode of "Power Rangers", complete with sci-fi based settings and vehicles, this particular "Ultraman" film takes place in a universe much like our own, where beings and things like "Ultraman" should not exist and are not really ready to be accepted.Like "Batman Begins", "Ultraman" (or "Ultraman Next") is believable in a sense where it just might be realistic enough to actually happen, if there were actual forces that exist in the universe who are willing to interfere with and ultimately defend the well-being of this galaxy's inhabitants.Sure, this movie still has the 'guys in the rubber suits', then again, so do recent superhero films like "Batman Begins", "Fantastic Four", "X-Men 1 & 2", "Daredevil" or "Spider-Man 1 & 2". Those movies made the comic book superheroes look and seem realistic enough to be accepted as live action film counterparts, and "Ultraman" definitely takes the ball and puts it into play, right up there with the big, Hollywood produced superhero films. Of course, Japanese film companies usually don't invest too much into films of this genre, as they don't want to invest millions upon millions that American film companies do, because their audience is primarily Japan, whereas Amercian produced films have the entire world in mind when their films are made.Still, the production values in "Ultraman" are quite high and easy to see, especially in how serious they made the storyline as well as the character designs for this film. There isn't too much excessive blood or violence, but it does appear when it's necessary to the storyline. I would have to say that this movie would fall under the "PG" film category if this film were to be released stateside. Unfortunately, there are currently no plans to bring an American theatrical, let alone DVD release of this film. Your only chance in seeing this film would be to rent it from a video store which specializes in foreign films (probably not possible to rent from a place like Blockbuster or Hollywood video) or to purchase it directly from a place which allows importation of Japanese DVDs.This was definitely worth the viewing, especially if you're a fan of the original Ultraman TV shows or movies.

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.)