I’m just going to admit, I may not be the definitive critic for this. I have never seen any Ultraman shows or films before, on top of that whole niche thing of being a blind film critic. So, this ting could totally deviate and break every Ultraman rule, and I would have no idea. I’m just approaching it like Ultraman just starts today, with this film. Which this film also doesn’t want me to do.
Ultraman Rising definitely has that vibe of “you should know what this is”, from the very start. It isn’t debilitating, and you can watch the movie, but this is a changing of the guard movie, and not an origin story. We start off with a Japanese family, with a father playing with his son, who seems to idolize Ultraman already. Then, a Kaiju strikes, and dad has to go to work. This little boy eventually figures out… dad is Ultraman.
Jumping forward, the son, Kenji, is now a major baseball star in America who decides unexpectedly to move back to Japan and play baseball there. He’s incredibly cocky, narcissistic, and our hero. We learn that he has both lost his mother, and inherited Ultraman, while also being estranged from his father. After a brutal fight with a Kaiju, Kenji is left to take care of a giant Kaiju baby in his secret Ultraman bunker. Like the bat cave, but not. This proves to be a challenge, and eventually he has to have his dad’s help. There’s also a plucky reporter poking around, and the government doesn’t like Ultraman or Kaiju and would like to put a stop to all things giant. This narcissist has a lot on his plate.
This film could have been a lot more fun than it is, but again, I’m not sure if this is just par for the course for this series. As an outsider, I’m used to seeing these exact tropes, and I’m kind of looking for how the franchise stands out beyond things that are like it. I’m not really sure the story itself is interesting enough to bring new fans to Ultraman, unless they just really adore giant things fighting. Sadly, and I know Ultraman has been around for a while, there are other things out there that did this better.
Every beat feels like we saw it in another movie. Like there aren’t any movies about a kid trying to hide a monster/alien/fantasy creature in any ET, How To Train Your Dragon, Lilo And Stitch formulas. he’s got a bunker, like Batman. A love interest that is a reporter, like Superman. He is inheriting his hero stuff from his father, kinda like a dozen coming of age stories where the powers start showing at a certain point. And the giant freaking robot punching Kaiju thing is also something we’ve done with Pacific Rim. Every aspect of this film has been done better for people who aren’t built in Ultraman fans.
That being said, formulas are formulas for a reason. They typically work on some level, which is why so many filmmakers play it safe, and don’t deviate. It might be better to be derivative, instead of completely failing to deliver on a big swing. there’s a difference in being struck out, and at least getting on base. Ultraman is on base.
The audio description is Ok. The voice cast is English, so it isn’t part of the audio description, and the track just has to describe the characters, the actions, and the fights. I think it works best in the non-Ultraman/Kaiju fighting sequences than it does in the Kaiju scenes. I always wanted more. It took me a while to figure out what this baby looked like, how much taller it was than Kenji, and it is such a big part of the film that it should have been a much bigger focus.
If Netflix wants to make more Ultraman films, I would suggest breaking the mold. There’s a reason they are doing it this way, and not bringing over the Japanese catalog, or letting a Godzilla Minus One style film happen. Ultraman, despite its age, needs to establish why in this day and age of so much comic book, superhero, anime, fantasy, nerd content that this should be a thing. It has to justify itself again, much like any older franchise would. Universal has struggled with this concept in the perpetual relaunch of their Dark Universe.
Final Grade: B-
