ULTRAMAN (2019) season 1 CGI animated series review

Overall verdict: 6.5/10

Ultraman in name only 

The Good: Amazing designs and artwork, timeless hero's journey narrative, great Japanese and English voice acting, great tone of mystery and intrigue, decent character development

The Bad: cliched character portrayals, simplistic storyline, inconsistent CGI animation, unoriginal premise, overall "safe" feel to the episodes

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ULTRAMAN is a “broad strokes” sequel to the original ultraman tv series from 1966 but outside of familiar names, it serves more as a reinvention than a sequel. We follow main protagonist Shinjiro who has inherited super strength and speed from his father, the host of the original Ultraman. He is made to join up with the Science Patrol, an organisation who serves as law enforcement for alien activity on earth. Aliens now live among humans, and with the backing of the organisation, Shinjiro dons a power enhancing armour to become Ultraman, defender of justice. But balancing super heroics with teenage school life is no easy feat as Shinjiro’s personal values and idealism are continually put in conflict with what he is required to do.

Ultraman is a safe, familiar series that checks off on as many typical superhero story tropes as possible. Perhaps such familiarity may help it to reach out to a western audience already familiar with comic book superheroes. Inherited special abilities, powered armour right out of an iron man comic, different heroes with stereotypical personalities, deliciously devious bad guys, and our main character is a high school teen to boot.

Shinjiro as a character is clichéd to say the least. There is nothing that really sets him apart from the typical high school comic book hero protagonist we have seen so many times. He’s got a good heart, idealistic outlook, wants to help people, comes from a single parental figure family etc. Again, safe. Similarly, most of the characters are not given much depth beyond archetypes. Their personalities are simple, uncomplicated, with straightforward motivations. There is even the annoying cutesy acting idol girl that serves as a sort-of romantic interest for our protagonist. To call her irritating and superfluous to the plot is an understatement.

The episodes themselves do not particularly stand out, at least for the first half of the season. Each retain that element of mystery from the original Ultraman series that appealed to me. At the same time, the show crafts a nice identity feeling like a cross between MEN IN BLACK and a cartoon like IRON MAN ARMOURED ADVENTURES. The story is played mostly straight with clear good guys and bad guys. Again, very safe. Only around episode 7 does the series start to pick up.

After the clichéd comic book hijinks of previous episodes, deconstructive elements start to be incorporated from episode 7 onward. Idealism does not always solve problems, creepy looking creatures are not always bad, good guys may have darker agendas and your greatest supporters may turn against you at any moment. You could say that this is when the show finally grows up out of the whole “superheroes are for kids” thing.

The animation was a mixed bag for me. It never seems to decide if it wants to mimic the style of 2D animation, or embrace 3D CGI animation. Cel Shading is applied inconsistently with human characters and some alien characters benefiting from the toon shaded look. Other aliens, the armoured Ultraman forms and especially the backgrounds seem to be in regular 3D CGI which clashes with the cel shaded human characters.

There is something uncanny and lifeless about the way the human characters move and talk. The way their mouth flaps are timed or how they tend to hang open when there is no dialogue. This again was likely an attempt to mimic 2D traditional animation with 3D CGI but with less than stellar results. Then there is the framerate issue. Whenever characters move, it alterates between the overly smooth movements of 3D CGI, and what looks like a laggy video game.

In aiming conservatively, ULTRAMAN will no doubt have wide appeal for how safe it takes itself. Visually, it is unrecognisable as an Ultraman show, lacking much of the franchise’s trademarks like giant Monster battles. Taken as it is, it is a decent anime series. Just decent. The narrative risks come too little too late and leads up to a disappointing finale that only serves to tease a next better season. It is adequate but in no way as ground breaking with its themes and narrative as, say, SSSS GRIDMAN or the GODZILLA anime trilogy.

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Entertainment: B+
Art: A-
Animation: C+

Story: B-

Voice Acting (Japanese): A 

Voice Acting (English): B+ 

Characters: C+

Music: C+

Replay value: B-
"Brains": B-

Dark Phoenix (2019) movie review

Overall verdict: 6/10

A decent though disappointing sendoff for the First Class

The Good: A more personal portrayal of the phoenix force manifestation, great acting, decent action, excellent music, good closure for the "First Class" cast

The Bad: bland directing, lacks narrative focus, lacks thematic depth, inconsistent execution of story, cannot decide if it should be a character driven drama or a team based action spectacle.

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DARK PHOENIX ends the Fox Studio’s X-MEN franchise with a train wreck. No this is not a critique of the movie's quality. An actual train wreck is the centerpiece for its climax. I for one did not find this movie to be the "train wreck" so many claim it to be. But it does have its issues.  In DARK PHOENIX, set 10 years after the events of X-MEN APOCALYPSE, Professor Xavier has marketed the X-men as publicly visible superheroes. On a mission to save a space shuttle, one of the X-men, telekinetic Jean Grey, merged with a mysterious cosmic entity. She becomes erratic, unsure of herself, impulsive; qualities shared by this movie as a whole.

This movie is unsure of itself. It seems unable to decide what it wants to be. The overall tone is befitting of a smaller, character driven piece centering either on Jean’s slow descent into madness grappling with her new abilities, or Charles Xavier’s pride before the fall where some of the questionable actions he did in the past have come back to bite him. I appreciated this serious darker tone very much. 

Another aspect i loved was the portrayal of Jean and the phoenix, contrasting with how they were portrayed in X-MEN 3: THE LAST STAND. In X-Men 3, the phoenix was this sort of hollywood split personality; a completely different side of Jean that she has no control over and is unaware of until it is too late and the personality of the old calm Jean is completely subsumed by the more violent, vengeful phoenix personality. 

In DARK PHOENIX, Jean is completely aware of what the phoenix force does. There is no split personality, no excuse for any of the horrors it unleashes. All of it is Jean, whether it be due to losing control, or just lashing out in anger. We see how the power tempts her and how she slowly gives in to the temptation. 

The performances by the cast are great, particularly Sophie Turner as Jean, and James McAvoy as Xavier. Every cast member brings their utmost professionalism to their role, imbuing the dialogue and interplay with heightened emotion and gravitas. Sadly, the performances seem wasted thanks to the erratic focus of the movie. In giving more focus to the overall x-team and even a mid movie reintroduction of Michael Fassbender’s Magneto, DARK PHOENIX instead tries to market itself as this big team based action spectacle instead of a character focused piece. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it also didn’t fall short in that aspect.

After past movies with big action set pieces, a pitched naval battle, killer sentinels in the future, and worldwide destruction, DARK PHOENIX movies too slowly for an action movie and only delivers two bland action set pieces; one on an uptown New York street, and another on a moving train. And even with the latter, most of the fighting takes place in the train itself.

Contributing to its blandness is Simon Kinberg’s inexperience with directing such a movie. His camera angles, how he sets up action and even how he films a dialogue seems so cookie cutter like someone ticking off a checklist. If it weren’t for the polished cinematography and special effects, the way DARK PHOENIX is shot reminds me of a tv show. Conversation? Cut back and forth from each character’s close ups. A fight? Jostle the camera a bit to make it seem more intense. There is hardly any creativity or distinct style at play in how the movie is shot. Hans Zimmer’s musical score does a commendable attempt to elevate the movie but his energetic synth and orchestral blend can only do so much.

This movie, in a word, is just “serviceable”. It has too little of emotional depth and intensity to be something like LOGAN, and at the same time it had too little visual and action spectacle to be a big ensemble blockbuster like X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. It does give some closure to the character arc of Charles Xavier, so if you are fan of James McAvoy’s portrayal since X-MEN FIRST CLASS, as I am, then this was a satisfactory sendoff. Other than that, while this is better than the previous live action portrayal of the Dark Phoenix story, it is only a middling entry at best in the 19 year old franchise

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Entertainment: B+

Story: C-

Acting: B

Characters: B

Music: C

Replay value: B+

"Brains": C-