Ultraman

As I was watching the midair climax of the movie (which is a lot of fun, by the way), I couldn't help but think that the music sounded very familiar. It was starting to remind me very much of Anton Bruckner's 8th Symphony in c-minor. No sooner had I made this inner note to myself when the soundtrack actually started *quoting* the 8th, note-for-note! OK, OK, I know this has nothing to do with the movie, which is probably my favorite Ultraman so far... but I like commenting on musical trivia like this. (Another odd Bruckner quote comes in the opening credits of Victor Halperin's "Supernatural" from 1933, which uses a few bars of the Third Symphony in d-minor.)

Eji Tsurabaya, you've'e done it again. this movie is great, tonnes of action packed scenes with great special effects done by the same from the 2002 Godzilla movie, and if you saw that then you probably wern't disappointed. and again the return of every ones favourite Japanese super hero. ULTRAMAN him self. takes on a giant monster thingy. (its the only way to describe it) the movie caters for both an adult and a child audience and even a teenage because i enjoyed and I'm only 17. and if your thinking this is some how related to or a rip off of power rangers, your wrong, this pre dates power rangers by a few decades and as for the music, the music is done by the one and only, legendary Japanese guitarist and one half of the super band "B'z", Tak Matsumoto's score just really makes you go all hyper and alone adds action to movie. any way I'm not gonna leave any spoilers the movie is a fun family feature, or great for a night in with mates, maybe a girl friend (though they don't tend to like giant monster movies such) or even alone and is overall a great movie.

This movie blew me away! I know this is based on an old series! But somehow they managed to keep it fresh and new for viewers who are not familiar with this series! The pace is fast and the story is quite good! The story about a loving father and husband who turns in to Ultraman is done in a proper manner! He gradually accepts his fate in becoming a superhero! You will care for this man and his family! And the most important thing is that this movie delivers on the action front! The giant lizard like monster is out to destruct everything in his path and you will see that he does! Buildings blown away by his fire breath! Crushing,pounding men! You will see Ultraman fighting this giant monster in the ultimate battle! Even when you know that they still are men in suits it doesn't look cheesy! In combination with CGI it looks better than ever! For me all kaiju movies should be like this. Ultraman is a classic!

This movie is amazing it has decent writing, awesome soundtrack, and awesome redesign the only downside of this movie is the CG i know this movie is a 2004 movie but still it could have been handled better

with all of its flaws it still a great toku movie for me, it's kinda sad that this movie didn't do well because of it's darker tone and serious story.

ULTRAMAN THE NEXT [2004] was created as part of Tsuburaya Production's "Ultra N Project", which also consisted of the TV series ULTRAMAN NEXUS [2004-2005] and live stage shows involving the character "Noa".

The film follows the middle-aged Shinichi Maki - a father and pilot with an increasingly ill son. During a drill one evening to track an unidentified object over Japanese air space, Maki's jet crashes into a large glowing meteor, where he meets a mysterious figure. Unlike the more recent Heisei era Ultraman shows - such as the amazingly childish ULTRAMAN COSMOS [2001] - the film takes a more serious family-entertainment tone, as with Tsuburaya's classic shows such as ULTRA SEVEN (1967).

The special effects lead by Yuichi Kikuchi (GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA [2002]) are well polished, looking far better than GODZILLA FINAL WARS [2004], yet ironically costing about a third less to produce. The same goes for the soundtrack - composed by Japanese rock artist Tak Matsumoto - which is far nicer to the ear than the "rock n' roll" music Keith Emerson produced for Godzilla. The storyline is quite simple, yet touching and meaningful at the same time.

It's an overall solid production, and one I would certainly recommend.