Released today on Netflix, Ultraman Rising is the latest instalment in the long running Ultraman franchise. Backed up by an all star voice cast, join Ethan as they explore if this movie ‘Rises’ to their expectations!
Clocking in a little over two hours, Ultraman Rising debuted on Netflix today. Written by Shannon Tindle, Marc Haimes and Directed by Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima, Ultraman Rising tells an all new story featuring a new cast of characters with some familiar Ultra homages along the way.
The plot, in brief, is as follows:
“Baseball superstar Ken Sato returns to his home country of Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, but quickly finds more than he bargained for when he’s forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe, a newborn Kaiju. Struggling to balance the roles of teammate and new father, Ken must confront his own ego, his estranged father, and the conniving Kaiju Defense Force to rise up and discover what it truly means to be Ultraman.”
Since the movie only just released, it would be rude of me, to say the least, if I told you in depth about every little thing that goes down in this movie. That said, while I’ll be trying to keep my thoughts as spoiler free as possible, to be completely devoid of spoilers is a pretty giant task. Proceed with caution, fi you haven’t already watched Ultraman Rising for yourself.
RELATED: Why I Love Ultraman
The Bad
Starting off with the negative points about the movie, since it’s preferable to end on a more positive note, honestly everything I thought I might put here as I was watching the film they resolved. I thought I would be taking issue with gripes such as “the adorable baby kaiju doesn’t have a name” – she gets a name, and one perfect to the plot, too. “There’s no been a ‘rise’ sequence” – it took a while, but they did it. It happened and I clapped alone watching the movie in my room.
Really, the only negative points about the movie I have left are all the semantic ones that are more on me, like not really liking baseball or not being a parent. While this didn’t impact my opinion of the movie, I might have been allowed an even greater appreciation for Ultraman Rising if I was/was into those things. This isn’t neccesarily an issue with the movie itself, that’s a me thing, but I wonder if some of the impact of these extremely central points were lost on more of the target audience, or whether it’s just me. That said, no movie can cater directly to the life experience of every one of its viewers and if I’m having to pull out semantic ‘me issues’ for things to put in this section of the review, it must be pretty great.
The Good?
I had to pause twice to cry and I had a family member remark to me after I had finished watching that they could hear the sounds I was making while I was watching this movie. Oops. I’m normally very quiet when watching something so that’s a huge testament to the level of feels that this movie Ultra punches you in.
Before we get into anything else, I NEED to praise the visuals of this movie. The use of colour is amazing. Ultraman Rising does a great job of capturing the sense of scale that repeatedly took my breath away. This movie is honestly beautiful, a masterpiece, and I wish Netflix would let me take screenshots so I could give myself the first world problem of what beautiful shot should I make my laptop wallpaper…
For example, this shot, below, direct from promotional material, shows our protagonist, Ken, witnessing new Kaiju to the franchise, Gigantron, attack the city during the middle of one of his baseball games. This single capture alone not only manages to epitomise the scale of Gigantron but even with his back turned, you can see Ken’s reaction via the jumbotron in front of him. You can really tell how much thought and care went into each shot of the movie. No screen real estate was spared in adding as many extra details as possible. Ultraman Rising is a movie is full of beautiful shots that will stay with me for a long time to come. My imaginary baseball cap is off to the brilliant animation team at Industrial Light & Magic, as well as the directors and anyone else responsible for this masterpiece.
The Conclusion:
In an article I wrote last September, I ended by saying the following about how Ultraman Z embodies why I love Ultraman:
“While it tells grand sci-fi stories about giant aliens battling giant monsters, it always does so with heart and humanity.”
That tidbit could just as easily have been written about this movie, too. Ultraman Rising is self referential enough to recognise that Ultraman is not about fighting, it’s about heart. This movie demonstrates loudly and proudly that the core of the Ultraman franchise stems from the interpersonal relationships between characters, no matter where in the galaxy they hail from.
I think most Ultra fans would agree that this is a great movie. For that reason, I think this is what I’ll recommend people check out when I’m trying to convince them to give Ultraman a shot. On top of being very faithful to the core ideals of the franchise and full of little details longtime fans will appreciate, it also manages to thread that needle and be very accessible to newcomers. For a movie released directly to Netflix, that fine line between servicing the fandom and bringing in new audiences was essential and I cannot commend this movie enough for succeeding in that regard.
Also… the baby kajiu is the most adorable little thing. Worth the price of admission alone.
To sum up Ultraman Rising: the action is awesome, the visuals are breathtaking and the characters are warm and engaging. I hope that Netflix and Tsuburaya Productions take a chance and let this amazing creative team tell the rest of Ken’s story. A certain mid credit scene suggests they might! I know I will be there, excited to cheer on Ultraman. I hope you all will be there too.
Did you enjoy Ultraman Rising? Did you bawl your eyes out? Do you think we will see a live action Gigantron in Ultraman Arc? Leave your comments down below! As always, I’ve been Ethan: Writer, reviewer and Ultraman that’s Rising to this occasion for The Toku Source. See you all next time!
