- Directed by Shinji Higuchi, Ikki Todoroki
- Written by Hideaki Anno, Eiji Tsuburaya
- Stars Takumi Saito, Masami Nagasawa, Hidetoshi Nishijima
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 52 Minutes
- Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB3dc_mnw6g
- Get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4j9JGZe
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a modern update to the Ultraman storyline, with multiple Kaiju creatures and aliens battling it out with humanity and each other. The human characters are well fleshed out and interesting, and there’s a lot of talk and human drama with a decent balance of action and giant creatures fighting. We thought it was fun and entertaining.
Spoilery Synopsis
Psychedelic 70s credits roll. We immediately cut to Gomess, a giant, Godzilla-like monster, who attacks the troops, and there’s a full-on battle happening. They defeat the monster, but then they have to battle “Mammoth Flower.” It’s just one monster after another. There’s a whole bunch of giant creatures we’ve never seen before, and they’re designated S-Species, or Kaiju. The DPA, Disaster Prevention Agency, is created.
There’s a new monster in town, Neronga, and this one is both invisible and has some kind of lightning power. The DPA and military work together, since invisibility means lasers have no effect on it. It is overpowered by a power station and then becomes visible. The boss complains that Kaiju only attack Japan; the other nations might let them have nukes to defend themselves, but Japan’s going to have to pay for them.
It’s all looking bad for Japan when something crashes down out of the sky near Neronga. The object is moving in the smoke, and they all see it. It’s a giant silvery robot with glowing eyes.
Neronga zaps the big robot full blast, but it doesn’t affect him at all. When the robot shoots back, Nerongo pops like a grape, as does a lot of the mountainside. We see a guy we later know as Shinji caught in the blast shielding a boy. Then it flies away, and seems to vanish off radar. We see Shinji carrying the boy out of the woods.
We cut to the city, where everyone is talking about Kaiju. Asami is transferred to the department as an analyst. She meets Yumi, Kimio, Akihisa, and Shingi. She’s enthusiastic about being teamed with Shinji, but he’s not excited. They name the robot “Ultraman.”
BOOM– It’s time for another Kaiju, this time, a radioactive subterranean one named Gabora, heading for a nuclear facility. They bomb it with American bunker-buster bombs. It’s only one mountain away from the nuclear waste storage. Shinji runs off in the middle of the battle, and suddenly, Ultraman shows up right outside camp. This creature is radioactive, so if Ultraman uses his beam on it, that would be catastrophic.
Ultraman seems to know this and does everything he can to protect the humans from the monster. Ultraman knocks the monster out with one punch and then flies off with the body. Asami wonders if they can communicate with Ultraman. When they get back to base, Shinji is there waiting for them, and Asami decides to do some research on him.
All the power at the base goes off, and a stranger shows up, Zarab, who talks to them, introduces himself as “Extraterrestrial Number Two.” He has come here to start a friendship with Japan, and he wants to talk to the Prime Minister. Zarab can manipulate computer data and technology, and it soon appears that he’s interested in world dominance. Zarab reveals his motivations; humanity is too dangerous to live.
He also knows that Shinji is Ultraman and takes him prisoner. Soon after, a fake Ultraman attacks the city and army, and he’s very obvious about it, too. The team soon figures out that Shinki has been Ultraman all along. It’s suspicious that his car was found abandoned three days ago.
Zarab gives the government his “Ultraman Removal Plan.” He wants to know where Shinji has hidden the device that exchanges his body with Ultraman’s.
Asami finds the device at the office where Shinji trusted her with it. Kimio knows more about Shinji and Zarab than he’s been telling, and he fills in Asami on the details. Zarab can create illusions, like that fake Ultraman who’s been attacking everyone.
Asami finds Shinji and cuts him loose. She’s not happy that he didn’t tell her his secret. He becomes Ultraman and then fights his evil clone, who turns out to actually be Zarab in disguise. Ultraman cuts Zarab in half, and the battle is over.
A giant-sized Asami appears downtown. She looks right, but she doesn’t speak and seems to be in a trance. Then she starts wrecking things. A voice comes from nowhere and says not to attack her, since there are others out there with Ultraman’s powers. She’s made of a solid version of a chemical, definitely not human.
A man comes into the office, Mefilas, yet another alien, and says he arrived before Ultraman; he’s the voice from earlier. As a demonstration, he makes Asami small and human again. He wants to make humanity giant-sized so they can defend against Kaiju and aliens like Zarab.
Mefilas wants to work with Shinji, but Shinji accuses him of waking up all those Kaiju in the first place. Mefilas doesn’t deny it, but he had good reasons. They have a long talk as Mefilas tries to win Ultraman over to his side. Ultraman is half-human, half-alien, so his point of view is unique.
Shinji talks to the DPA guys about stealing the Beta Box from Mefilas before he can give it to the government. As Mefilas hands over the technology to the Prime Minister, Ultraman grabs it.
Mefilas doesn’t care and shows his true form and grows to giant size. The two giants fight in the middle of a refinery. Ultraman gives the Beta Box back to Mefilas, who promises to leave the planet. They both vanish.
The four DPA people are taken into custody. All the world’s governments want the secrets of Ultraman, but they are soon released. Elsewhere, Shinji talks to Z Ffy, another alien who looks like Ultraman, and he’s brought the Zetton, the ultimate weapon to exterminate the human race. We see that the real Shinji died in that explosion shielding the boy at the beginning, his body is there, but Ultraman basically made an exact copy that he merged with. Z Ffy releases the weapon, which goes into orbit and starts constructing something huge up there.
Shinji comes to the DPA and tells them about the Zetton. The Japanese government comes in and says they’re in charge of Ultraman now, which is news to Ultraman. He quickly convinces them to back off.
Shinji has no choice but to beat Zetton himself. He flies up into orbit and starts blasting. That goes badly, and Shinji ends up in the hospital. The humans mostly give up and wait for humanity to be exterminated.
The group finds a message left by Shinji. He’s left instructions on how to build their own Beta Boxes to grow huge. Taki comes up with a plan while Asami talks to the comatose Shinji, who finally wakes up. They are going to use the Beta Box technology to destroy Zetton directly.
Zetton is finally set up and ready to do its thing. Taki explains the plan, but it involves sacrificing Ultraman to save the Earth.
Ultraman flies into orbit and attacks Zetton at exactly the right millisecond, which sends them both into another dimension. Zetton is gone, but so is Ultraman.
Z Ffy talks to Ultraman in the afterlife. He’s had second thoughts and wants both of them to go back to the Planet of Light. Ultraman just wants to experience being human for real. At the very least, he wants Shinji to live, with or without power.
On Earth, Shinji wakes up surrounded by his friends.
Brian’s Commentary
I was never an Ultraman fan growing up, so my exposure to his story is limited to knowing who he is, but not much more.
Gabora, that underground drill-creature, was a pretty amazing design. Actually, most of the creatures here were really well done, although obviously CGI.
There’s no real connection here between this film and “Shin Godzilla,” although it similarly focuses on the government’s reaction to the monsters and creatures. There’s a lot of talking, but a lot of monster action as well.
Overall, it’s pretty decent, and we were entertained. Be warned, there are a lot of subtitles, as it’s a very talky film.
Kevin’s Commentary
I thought this was a hoot. Like Brian, I wasn’t very familiar with Ultraman before this. A lot of the classic era kaiju movies go on and on with giant creature battles overdone to the point of tedium – this one didn’t do that. It entertains and moves well, with a good balance of the big action and humans doing stuff. I liked it quite a bit.