This movie was the last chapter in the Ultraman Cosmos series, which had to be pretty popular, considering its abnormally long 65 episode run and three movie sequels. I'm not familar with the Cosmos series, but it didn't stop me from enjoying this movie.
But perhaps that was because its main focus was on Ultraman Justice, who was introduced to the UltraFranchise in the last Cosmos film. But I'm getting ahead of myself. As the movie starts, ex-Cosmos host Musashi has achieved his dream: create a rocket to send a bunch of friendly monsters to a vacant planet so that they can live in peace. Then Ultraman Cosmos appears fighting off some Big Robots, but even with Musashi reuniting with him, Cosmos is not match for them, when Ultraman Justice comes to the Big Robots' aide. Cosmos' timer stops, he and Musashi die, and the robots destroy the shuttles.
And that's the last we see of Cosmos and Musashi for a half an hour or so. A group of characters from the series slowly meet and seek out Musashi and finally bring him back to life, but I found this to be the least interesting thing in the movie, but those familar with the series will probably enjoy the reunion.
While that happens, we observe Juli, Ultraman Justice's host, as she walks among humanity in its seemingly last moments. She's working with an alien force that wants to wipe out humanity before it becomes a menace in 2000 years. Juli is motivated by bitter memories of having given a monster 200 years to mend its way, only it didn't change, and she was forced to kill it. She meets different manners of people, including stereotypical biker gangs and members of the current anti-monster team who try to convince her that humanity's worth fighting for.
But what warms her cold heart is a cute girl and her pet dog. (Luckily the girl isn't as annoying as some children stars that seem to lurk in these UltraMovies.) The main thrust of this film seems to be Juli's moral dilemma, her struggle to discover why Cosmos found humans so worthy of his protection. I was reminded of the Silver Surfer's plight, when he revolted against his master, but I digress.
But the rest of the movie's pretty much pure action. After Juli watches the friendly monsters try in vain to stop the Big Robots and save the little girl's dog, she realizes that Cosmos was right. So, she changes into Ultraman Justice, reveals the new Crusher Mode, and start kicking butt. Justice has trouble defeated the Big Alien Ship that Transforms into Big Robot, but by then Cosmos is revived, and together they destroy it with some teamwork.
With everything patches up between the Ultramen, they fly off to stop the huge Death Machine that's decending over Earth. All seems hopeless until...
You get the idea. For the most part I really enjoyed this movie. I wished the movie could have focused more on Juli's relationship with the aliens, some arguments/discussions about what they're doing that could have better illuminate Juli's inner conflict, or even a conversation with Cosmos, who speaks to Musashi while they float in some other dimension. Also, Ultraman Legend should have gotten more screen time, that Death Machine blew up way too soon.
Did I ruin the ending? Ooops. Anyway, the fights and special effects are typical of Ultraman movies, like the Tiga/Dyna one. Fukiishi Kazue did a great job as the first female alien host of an Ultraman and makes the movie worth watching just for her. Not that all the Ultraman battles didn't help. (This movie boasts the first battle between two good Ultramen.) Cosmos fans will probably enjoy the "reunion" scenes more than me, but may also be put off that Cosmos isn't in it as much.
But me? I love this film, and wish that Ultraman Justice (and Juli) had gotten their own series. A-
No comments:
Post a Comment