Shin Ultraman (2022) - Electric Kaiju Review Hullabaloo
It's Kaiju Time!
*Takes off glasses, massages nose bridge and exhales deeply. Eyes closed*
Shin.
Ultraman.
How to review legendary Tokusatsu director Shinji Higuchi's superhero send-up without sounding like I've spent the last month licking a barrel of hallucinogenic toads? The backstory to the character alone goes all the way back to the 1960s!
Feck it! I can't.
Might as well just go in, all "nasty laser beams" blazing.
So strap yourself in, it's going to get weird.
Back in the SSSP...
Present day Japan, Kaiju (giant monsters such as Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, and so on) openly exist, and randomly pop up around Japan causing all manner of amusing chaos and destruction to varying degrees.
A counter-Kaiju organisation known as the S-Class Subspecies Suppression Protocol (SSSP) have the challenging task of tracking and taking down assorted Kaiju as and when they appear, evacuating residents, minimizing damage (where possible), and handling the clean-up/aftermath of defeating gargantuan be-horned and be-tentacled monsters. (Japan does love a good tentacle...)
One such gargantuan be-horned and be-tentacled monster (whose face erupts into some class of toothsome flower, fyi. And has sporadic bouts of invisibility. For reals.) is currently rampaging in the Japanese countryside.
The SSSP are on the case, but one member, Shinji Kaminaga (Takumi Saitoh), decides to take matters into his own hands when he spies a tiny yellow hatted youngster gormlessly wandering around the danger zone.
As Kaminaga disappears from the scene, a mysterious and massive silver humanoid extra terrestrial appears in his place. This Ag humanoid saves the day (and tiny yellow hatted youth) and attracts international attention.
Is this new "Ultraman" benevolent or malevolent? Where do his political loyalties lie? And why does he appear when Kaminaga disappears? And can the parade of shifty (and hokey looking) aliens that appear preaching peace, but vilifying Ultraman be trusted?
(What I really want to know is is his metallic skin a super hero onesie, or is he actually in the nip!? It is an awfully revealing ensemble!)
Kaminaga's feisty new SSSP work partner (or "buddy") Hiroko Asami (Masami Nagasawa) is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. Here's hoping she too doesn't become super, super massive and decide to run amok in down town Tokyo as the world's first Salarywoman Kaiju! *wink*
Mighty Morphin' Ultraman
Shin Ultraman is a loving parody of the appallingly hilarious B-Movies that have been (dis)gracing screens for five decades, and is just one in a long series of reboots, spin offs and crossovers. However, as Japan's sixth top grossing film of 2022, it is in fact the most commercially successful instalment in the long-running franchise.
Utilising an old-school 60s soundtrack, complete with retro sound effects. The self-aware dialogue smashes through the fourth-wall Kaiju-style, with piss-take framing for nearly every scene - comedy gold.
It's not all larfs and giggles though. Pointed dialogue explains that Kaiju are but a result of humanity's poor treatment of the planet, their environmental karma as it were. Kaiju spring forth from their subterranean slumbers as Mother Earth's natural defence mechanism against the abuse inflicted upon it by man. (Very dramatic!)
Graphics for the abundance of save-the-world showdowns are psychedelic comic-book genius, with side-splitting character design for the over-the-top dastardly villains. And give those actors an Oscar - because everyone plays their part in deadpan earnest.
While Shin Ultraman may rib Kaiju flicks of olde, there is genuine heart and humour throughout, and a sense of parental protectiveness of the genre. They may royally send themselves up, but we may not. All we are to do is sit in amused awe and admire the genuine artform that is Kaiju and Tokusatsu.
Seen in Lighthouse Cinema as part of Japanese Film Festival Ireland, I can't recommend Shin Ultraman enough. Self-serious snobby films will always be circulating, however a film that keeps its audience laughing with endearment from the opening scene to the close is a rarity.
Perfect for fans of Punk Samurai and Electric Dragon 80.000V
★★★★★
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