Shin Ultraman

[lhb412]

If you're reading this you no doubt already know: movie reboot of the '66 series. Anno writing and producing, Higuchi directing. Big hit in Japan already.

Very excited to eventually see this thing. Listened to the soundtrack a few times already (great new tracks and I love the reorchestrations of the OG themes).

[DannyBeane]

I have greatly been looking forward to a stateside release. Hopefully it gets picked up!

[lhb412]

The fact it's playing festivals (with Higuchi accompanying it) makes me think it's actually being promoted and shopped around for eventual distribution and not, you know, pre-bought by Netflix who'll dump it without any promo and effectively bury it despite being theoretically the most accessible venue.

[lhb412]

A placeholder page for Shin Ultraman starting Jan 11 has appeared on AMC Theaters. Let's hope we get an official announcement soon!

[Benjamin Haines]

Fathom Events is releasing Shin Ultraman to North American theaters as a limited engagement! The subtitled version will be shown on the evening of January 11 followed by the dubbed version on January 12. Tickets go on sale December 9.

Official webpage: https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Shin-Ultraman

Hopefully this bodes well for an eventual home media release.

[lhb412]

Can't wait! I really held out hope for seeing this movie for the first time on the big screen. It seems my patience has been rewarded (which doesn't always happen)!

I wonder who did the dub?

[sentaison]

Wow! MZ is back! And we have a new Ultraman film here in the U.S. next week. I'm definitely catching the subbed version Wednesday, probably go to the dub on Thursday and hope it's not too bad!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Welcome back, sentaison! Glad you've returned to MZ.

I won't be able to catch Shin Ultraman in theaters so I'm looking forward to reading the reactions from you and lhb412. I've already read plot spoilers so please don't hold back!

[lhb412]

Very excited for this next week. It just so happens I was going to take some time off in January as a sort of belated holiday break, so I'll be able to catch both showtimes!

[lhb412]

... I am overwhelmed, and slightly giddy. I can't believe the thing I saw even exists.

I don't think I can give a more elaborate appraisal right now. I've gotta see it again tomorrow. Seeing it a second time I'll better be able to parse this dense thing, and without having to read subs I'll notice stuff I didn't because being so dialog heavy made for a lot of reading!

I will say this one thing; I thought the more slow-paced, less action heavy second half of Shin Godzilla let some air out of the movie after such a sharp, zippy first half. Shin Ultraman does something similar, but this time I think that worked out great. The first half is full of cool stuff, but it's also just like getting a bunch of episodes of Ultraman in sequence. The calmer second half allows the film to come into focus, which felt necessary.

[sentaison]

Wow! I'm with you lhb412. This was better than I expected, and I've been reading good reviews from the professional movie pundits over the last few days. The movie does great callbacks to the classic series without trying to be sentimental. While a lot of the story will be familiar, the way it's told and the characters reactions and conversations are new. The effects are good, though not perfect. The Zarab and Mefilas redesigns were great, and Mefilas plan was a great divergence from the tv version.
My favorite line from the film is the one concerning Pagos, Neronga, and Gabora. I won't spoil it.

Solid five stars and I can't wait for the physical media release!

Sadly I won't be able to catch the dub version tomorrow. Hopefully it will be included in the blu ray.

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm glad that you guys liked Shin Ultraman so much! A company called Cleopatra Entertainment just announced that they've acquired the home video and digital rights with plans to release it this Spring.

http://cleopatra-entertainment.com/cleopatra-entertainment-acquires-the-u-s-rights-for-iconic-japanese-superhero-film-ultraman/
"After its theatrical campaign concludes, Shin Ultraman will be released by Cleopatra Entertainment in the Spring of 2023 on VOD Platforms and also as a Deluxe Home Entertainment package in the Blu Ray and DVD formats."

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?studioid=1744

I've never heard of this company before, and their blu-ray.com page is filled with what appear to be independent productions. Is this movie in good hands? I would have felt better if Funimation/Crunchyroll or Shout Factory had gotten it.

[lhb412]

^ Hey, if a smaller company wants to put it out it's fine by me. Tsuburaya's already commissioned a quality subtitle track and a (pretty good!) dub, so the big things that a distributor could screw up are already taken care of!

I've compared Shin Ultraman to the Wachowskis' Speed Racer in that it takes an entire series from the '60s, boils it down to a concentrate and does essentially the entire series worth of stuff in one 2-hour movie. And both benefit from a rewatch, as on first viewing they seem like multiple episodes edited together, but on closer inspection the way everything links together is clearer. On second watch I marveled at how many beats from those 39 original episodes were included, sometimes in pretty different contexts. In addition, elements of Ultra Q and Ultraseven seep in at the edges, in addition there's the paratext of things fans have talked about for the last 55 years included in the dialog (is Ultraman naked?).

For a jam-packed, breakneck paced film with 5 separate monster battle scenes in it I really admire the economy of the thing. How many shots do we need to establish a plot point? Do we need to actually see this special effect, or can we imply it? How can we frame a shot in a spare space and make it intersting? Within the framework of a film with roughly the same budget as several Toho Godzilla films made in the '90s and '00s that look so flat, that are shot in such a lifeless way, well, it's very impressive. Showing a few shots if people going about their lives getting a haircut or whatever when they've decided not to tell the public that the world is about to end and they can't do anything about it is such a simple, powerful thing to show and having many millions of more dollars to show the scope of that idea would not have helped it's telling at all. Epic, bold, weird, but also incredibly economical. You could've easily made this three hours and I don't think it would've made it better.

Effects were consistent, often inspired, and occasionally a tad awkward. The more organic monsters suffer a bit more, but the alien-ness of the aliens turns their digital nature into an aesthetic. I would have loved more tactile, practical effects. That being said, my favorite effect is the subtle stuff: the birds flying and debris blowing around between Ultraman and the camera. I'd love to see those types of things coupled with practical suitmation on a large scale one of these days. So, mixed but mostly positive on the effects, but the overall design and esthetics? Fantastic.

Also, the theater was half full both times, but because this was for the dub a lot of people brought their kids! Both times folks seemed really jazzed about it, discussing it after and whatnot.

Dub was pretty good, I quite liked the Captain and Zarab's voices. Weird decision to make the Ultra's native accent British. When Ultraman is talking to Zoffy in human form he's retained the American accent of the rest of the film, but when he's Ultraman he and Zoffy are two jolly Brits. I understand it's to get across the difference in formalism between the human and Ultra dialog in Japanese, but I think it's a bit too bold of a choice to spring on an audience. Still, it shows that the translators were thinking deeply about getting across the meaning of the original dialogue and honestly I applaud when translators take bold swings in order to capture the spirit of something that just doesn't translate in the simplified world of just subtitles.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ There's nothing wrong with smaller distributors but companies like Mill Creek, Discotek and Media Blasters have track records for licensing Japanese titles. Cleopatra's blu-ray.com page suggests this will be their very first release of an Asian film or possibly any foreign production. Will they even know to go with Tsuburaya's existing English subtitle translation or will they only offer English SDH dubtitles? A lot of Cleoptra's releases aren't yet reviewed on blu-ray.com, and those that have been reviewed don't inspire a lot of hope regarding A/V quality:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Baphomet-Blu-ray/289855/#Review
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Verotika-Blu-ray/261320/#Review
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Street-Survivors-The-True-Story-of-the-Lynyrd-Skynyrd-Plane-Crash-Blu-ray/265562/#Review
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Black-Room-Blu-ray/176268/#Review


All of the positive buzz for Shin Ultraman after the Fathom Events screenings has me even more hyped to see it. I've held off on pirating it so far because I've been hoping for a quality home media release this year. Hopefully Cleopatra can pull it off.

[lhb412]

^ of course, they could screw it up! But honestly; I'm just happy that we're getting a physical release because my main fear was it would be dumped on a streamer! I'm cautiously optimistic. A more high profile movie might be this company's bid for becoming a bigger deal. They might become another Well Go USA, but for genre stuff.

Anyway, I'm still buzzed about this movie. I was just as hyped for KOTM '19 and I was very let down by that film. It's great to have my expectations met, or maybe even exceeded?

[Benjamin Haines]

June 13 is the street date for Cleopatra Entertainment's North American blu-ray disc release of Shin Ultraman: https://mvdb2b.com/s/ShinUltraman/CLO3973BR

[lhb412]

Exciting! Apparently we're getting separate blu-ray and dvd releases.

Sadly light on extra features, but that seems to be parforthecourse with Toho features.

[lhb412]

Bummer, guys: Cleopatra Entertainment screwed up the subtitles here.

It seems they had the hearing impaired track and were only partway through editing before it was slapped on the disc. All onscreen text translation was left off (which is totally necessary for the plot) but notations for sound effects are left it ([Zetton beeps]) as well as other artifacts from it being an SDH track, like notating who's talking when the character's lips aren't visible. Formating notations for italicization (<i>) are left it.

This is obviously a mistake. Maybe they accidentally selected a copy of the track from very early in the editing process? Anyway, I can't recommend buying this until it's corrected.

[Kailem]

Damn, that sucks to hear. I've held off on "viewing it by other means" because I want the first time I watch it to be from an official release, but it sounds like I'm going to have to continue to hold off until this is hopefully corrected.

Alas it doesn't seem like Madman has kept up with their Australian releases of movies like this, otherwise this would be another easy import like Shin Godzilla was back when that came out. Or, y'know, a proper UK release might be nice too....

[Benjamin Haines]

How unfortunate. I was afraid they'd do something like this.

I just went ahead and downloaded Shin Ultraman. It will probably take me the rest of this summer to finish watching Ultraman Cosmos, including the second and third Cosmos movies. If Cleopatra Entertainment hasn't done anything to fix their release by that point, then this fully-subtitled download will be how I watch Shin Ultraman.

[lhb412]

Hopefully Cleopatra Entertainment fixed this. If not? The company Raven Banner (a boutique label specializing in horror) will be putting it out in Canada. Might wait for that. Raven Banner goes all out with fun packaging, so if you want it to look cool on your shelf that may be the way to go anyway!

[lhb412]

According to a Twitter poster (providing screenshots) the on demand version has the proper subs.

[lhb412]

Hell, yeah! Cleopatra is fixing the issue! From blu-ray.com user Starsteam:

(quote)

Thank you for your recent order for Shin Ultraman. We are aware of the English subtitling issues and will have replacement discs available for both versions shortly.
Please include proof of purchase and version (Blu-ray or DVD). Make sure to include your full name and address in your reply as well. Once confirmed, we can send you a replacement disc.
Thank you for your patience and support. Please allow us 7-10 business days to process and send you your replacement disc.

Email to support@cleopatrarecords.zendesk.com

(unquote)

... still might get the Canadian version if they do a snazzy collector's edition!

[Benjamin Haines]

Good on Cleopatra for taking action!


Here's hoping they'll use the same subtitle script from the theatrical and VOD releases, rather than just fixing the formatting issues with their English SDH dubtitles. I'm still going to hold off on buying this until that's confirmed.

[Kailem]

That's good to hear they're going to be fixing it. To be honest I was kinda just expecting it to be busted and that was just that!

I'll definitely hold off on placing an order for it though, and/or maybe see if the Canadian version has similar issues with the subtitles, just to try and limit the chances of potentially getting one of the earlier ones with all the mistakes. That and I need to know whether or not it's region-free anyway. But still, good news!