Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie (2009) User Reviews

Hands down one of the best of the Ultraman Movies - Pure Eye Candy Fun

[jmaruyama · 7/10 · 25 April 2010]

Sakamoto Koichi's crowd-pleasing and ambitious film "Daikaiju Battle-Ultra Ginga Densetsu The Movie AKA Great Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy The Movie" is a nostalgic, fun movie that is pure eye candy and primarily made for the benefit of fans of Tsuburaya Production's landmark Ultraman series of the late 60s and 70s. While children will love it on a strictly visual level, their parents (especially the Dads) will probably get even more sentimental over all the classic Ultra heroes and monsters and marvel at this, their best movie adventure to date.

"Ultra Galaxy The Movie" is the theatrical film tie-in to Tsuburaya's hit TV series of the same name which aired from February - December 2007. Based on Bandai Entertainment's arcade/video combat simulation game "Daikaiju Battle: Ultra Monsters" the story revolved around young hero Rei (Minami Shota) who was secretly an human hybrid of the Reiblood Alien Race and who had control over the "Battle Nizer" a control device in which he can take command over various "kaiju" (monsters) and use them in battle, similar to the anime "Pokemon" series. Rei would use his Battle Nizer to control the likes of such fan favorite Ultra Monsters like Gomon (from the Ultraman series) or Litra (from Ultra Q series) and use them as allies in fighting a host of other recognizable Ultraman alien villains and kaiju. While short on story, part of the fun of the series was in watching the various monsters duke it out in "Battle Royale" fashion against each other each week (somewhat similar to Tsuburaya's failed old 70s series "Ultra Fight"). The series spawned a sequel called "Ultra Galaxy Dai Kaiju Battle Never Ending Odyssey" (Dec. 2008 - January 2009) which fleshed out more of Rei's past.

"Ultra Galaxy The Movie" however does not focus just on the monsters but brings in the famed "Ultraman Brothers" back to the big screen as well. Director Sakamoto along with writers Kashaihara Tatsuro, Kobayashi Yuji and Okabe Junya craft a very ambitious and thrilling story which truly makes this the greatest of the Ultraman stories to date.

The story introduces audiences to the corrupt renegade Ultraman named Belial(voiced by "20th Century Boy's" Miyasako Hiroyuki), who has gained control of the "Giga Battle Nizer", a cosmic device in which he can control the spirits of 100 of the Ultraman Brother's greatest fallen opponents. Belial was imprisoned centuries ago by Ultra King (voiced by former Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Jyunichi) in a cube-like satellite orbiting the "M-78 AKA The Ultra Hoshi/Star" home planet to the Ultra Brothers. Belial is released by the chameleon alien Zarab and uses his new found freedom to steal the "Plasma Spark" which is the life battery of M-78, causing the planet to instantly freeze over. Original Ultraman (Kurobe Susumu), Ultra Seven (Moritsugu Koji) and Ultraman Mebius (Igarashi Shunji) survive the onslaught and go seek the help of Rei, who as a "Leonix" (having the DNA of the Reiblood) is the only other alien who possesses a Battle Nizer and can control other Kaiju. With the aid of Rei's ZAP Spacy comrades, the team are also joined by alternate time line hero Ultraman Dyna (Tsuruno Takeshi) and Ultra Seven's rebel son Ultraman Zero (voiced by Miyano Mamoru) who was under the training of Ultraman King, Ultraman Leo and Astra.

Like Toho's similar all-star hero spectacle "Kamen Rider Decade: All Rider vs. Dai Shocker" (which was released at about the same time), "Ultra Galaxy" features cameos and appearances by virtually every single Ultraman hero. Granted, while the main focus of the film was on Original Ultraman, Seven, Mebius, Dyna and the new Zero, other Ultraman heroes also got their spotlight including Jack, Ace, Taro, Leo, Astra, Zoffy as well as lesser heroes Ultraman 80, Yurian, Ultraman Great, Ultraman Hikari and Ultraman Powered. It was also great fun to see some of the anime Ultraman in the flesh as well (Ultraman USA -Scott, Beth, Chuck, The Ultraman and Ultraman Kids) Unfortunately no Adromelos or Zearth.

While Ultraman Belial is truly a menacing force he did seem a bit too powerful an opponent. His look reminds me a lot of Venom from "Spider-Man 3" and his powers seem akin to Freddy Krueger from the "Nightmare On Elm Street Movies" (not dream but matter manipulation). He didn't really seem that interesting a villain apart from him being the first true evil Ultraman (not sure if Shadow or Agul count).

The "100 Monster" army of Belial was certainly a who's who of recognizable alien and monster opponents from all the various Ultraman series (Baltan, King Joe Black, Z-Ton etc) but they were pure cannon fodder for the heroes to slaughter through and didn't give much of any fight.

While some of the CGI effects by Okabe Junya and Koyasu Hajime are indeed stellar and are perhaps the best seen to date on a Tokusatsu Movie they aren't quite matching the work of top SFX studios like Weta or Industrial Light and Magic although they are indeed top notch. Some of the design details seemed a bit too reminiscent to the "Star Wars Prequels" and "Superman" (M-78 looks very much like Krypton).

The stunt work by action coordinator Noguchi Akihiro (Power Rangers series) definitely is inspired by Hong Kong wushu cinema and involved a lot of "wire-fu" and martial arts combat.

"Ultra Galaxy" is indeed a very slick looking film and seems very much crafted to appeal to jaded audiences abroad especially the in US. Sakamoto's previous experience with the Tokusatsu genre both in front of and behind the camera on shows such as "The Power Rangers" series has given him a very straight-to-the-punch style of directing and it does make "Ultra Galaxy" a tight and brisk moving film.

I truly enjoyed this film and as a Tokusatsu/Ultraman World fan was very impressed by Sakamoto's attention to detail and he really delivered a good looking and fun film.

Ultraman Zero's first story

[gilangbae · 7/10 · 27 June 2022]

This film is generally good and interesting, this film has a very good CGI, yes of course because this film is the result of Tsuburaya's collaboration with Warner Bros. This film also presents a good fight, I really enjoyed it while watching this film.

Ultraman Belial as the main antagonist also looks very strong here, he was able to defeat all Ultraman in the Land of Light to get the Plasma Spark. He's a very bad character. But I think why there are some oddities that I found from this film:

1. First what I think is odd is that there are only two Ultraman guarding the prison that imprisoned Belial, these two guards were also easily defeated by the alien Zarab who used the Giga Battle Nizer weapon.

2. Second after Belial managed to escape, he was ambushed by several Ultramans including Ultraman Taro. In the end almost all of the Ultraman lost and only Taro was left. But why when fighting Belial, Taro jumped at Belial and pushed him until they fell into the Land of Light. Belial is a dangerous enemy, so Taro should have prevented Belial from entering the Land of Light

3. After entering the Land of Light, Belial was immediately attacked by many Ultramen including Ultraman Mebius, Ultraman Hikari, and the Ultra Brothers. But they all lost, which is weird why Mebius didn't join Hikari or the Ultra Brothers to become super ultra. It's true that Mebius was thrown into space, but he will be able to merge from the start of the fight.

I'm not saying this film is bad, this film is good I really enjoyed watching it. What I like most is the return of the old Actors, including actor Takeshi Tsuruno who plays Shin Asuka. It's just that next time Tsuburaya has to be more careful in compiling the storyline, so that there are no more irregularities like this.

My favourite superhero film of all time

[CC_The_Martian · 10/10 · 4 April 2016]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the best superhero movie of all time. Years and years ago an Ultraman named Belial attempted to gain access to the Plasma Spark, the artificial sun which serves as the power source for the Ultraman homeworld known as The Land of Light. He failed and was banished but not before bonding with a powerful alien entity called Reiblood and then returning to attempt to steal the Plasma Spark, he failed again and was this time imprisoned, years have gone by and now Ultraman Belial is free, he plans to steal the plasma spark, destroy the land of light and gain access to the monster graveyard, the inter-dimensional realm where the souls of all the monsters ever defeated go. Now bear in mind, there have been over a dozen Ultraman shows and they all had weekly monster, all those monster all in one place, and all revived at the hands of one evil Ultraman, This is as epic as it sounds. This movie gets everything right, let me go through it: Production design: This film has some great sets flawlessly blending CGI and real sets, I dare you to tell which is which in a lot of the bigger scenes, the overall look is an easy a-plus. Music: The usual kick-ass battle music we've come to expect from this franchise but with gravitas in scenes where it's needed. Fight choreography: Here is where the film easily shines over any western superhero film, I mean yeah the fight scenes in the MCU movies have been able to blend CGI and live fighting almost flawlessly but here it's all wirework and martial arts with a little CGI for power attacks, just enough to make it look good. The two best scenes are the attack on the land of the light and the showdown in the monster graveyard. The attack on the land of light is when Ultraman Belial attacks the land of light in order to seize the plasma spark, but in order to get there he has to fight his way through a whole army of Ultramen. I love this scene for two reasons, firstly the Ultramen included in the fighting firmly establish 'Ultraman: The Legend Begins', 'Ultraman Beyond' and 'Ultraman Powered' (all foreign crossovers) as being in cannon, clearly demonstrating that the creative team knew what they were doing and had a deep love of the Ultraman universe. The other thing I love is that all the Ultramen Belial has to fight through have each had whole TV series to build up their credibility, each has had a whole series of us watching them fight monsters on a weekly basis, sometimes battling more then one on occasion and some taking on evils that threaten the existence of the entire multiverse. And yet Ultraman Belial is able to fight his way through by fighting them three at a time, This is the best way to establish how unstoppable the villain is and why to this day Ultraman Belial is one of my favourites villains of all time, this and his design is appropriately hellish and the guy doing the voice sounds appropriately maniacal and gleeful. The other fight scene I like is the showdown in the Monster Graveyard, this scene is almost a reverse of the assault on the land of light, here the few Ultramen who survived the assault on their home face off against Ultraman Belial and a whole army of monsters, it's urgent, it's dynamic, it is awesome. Acting: the acting in this movie is great, it's actually a bit more toned down then in other movies which people could accuse of being melodramatic, making it a more accessible movie for others. Characters: this movie is a grand anniversary and reunites over forty years worth of Ultramen, though some get taken out early no one feels sidelined, the only problem I have is that there is a crossover with another series about a group of humans flying around with a spaceship and one of them has a machine with which he can summon monsters but they don't take up too much screen time and their presence is explained so I don't mind them, they also pick up Ultraman Dyna (who's from the Ultraman Tiga universe but let's not get into that) just to add one of the alternate universe Ultramen to this reunion. Story: I am actually really impressed that this story works so well, having to fit in so many characters and yet it manages to make them all fit, the script could easily have felt like fan service designed to be the ultimate Ultraman crossover but it actually feels like a decent story. And so here it is, my favourite Superhero film of all time, serving as a great introduction to Ultraman, a great tribute to years of Ultraman lore, a great tokusatsu film, and a kick-ass superhero film.

Ultra-Cheesy Fun

[Animus · 5/10 · 4 August 2019]

The movie is hysterically bad, partly because of the acting (or overacting), partly because of the effects and party because of the translations to english. Everyone overacts, human and alien alike and there is a lot of unnecessary shouting of things. The effects aren't bad per se but It's pretty obvious that the film had 1 actual set (the spaceship) and the rest of the movie is all green-screened. It lets the heroes and villains do a lot more wire-fu type fightning and they probably needed the set money for costumes - and there are a lot of costumes on both sides. The translation get the point across but there is a lot lost in the process and sometimes it leads to amusing dialogue.