Ultraman Zero THE MOVIE: Super Deciding Battle, Belial's Galactic Empire - Movie Review

More movie reviews for your enjoyment! Yeah, yeah, I know, other stuff. But given that this year is also Ultraman's 45th Anniversary, of course there's going to be plenty of movies. I think there's another one coming later, as this movie is the second in a trilogy. But you don't care about that, you want the review!

Plot
Continuing from the first movie, Ultra Galaxy Legends, this movie follows Ultraman Zero as he goes to stop the reign of Ultraman Belial, a rogue Ultraman who has taken time between movies to commandeer an entire army and is destroying planets. Pretty standard for toku fare, though there's some other stuff with humans that's kinda sorta important. Of course, given that this is a space odyssey, everything is huge. As I said in my A-Z review, I really like it when movies take the stakes of what is normally found and turn it up to 11, and this movie succeeds.


Characters
Zero takes on a human host in this movie, and he's pretty okay, I guess. The way Ultramen work is that their consciousness is basically portrayed through the person, so there's not really any time for the actual human to get development. Zero does, though, and he grows from the anti-hero persona established in the first movie which is pretty cool. Ray is absent from this movie, though they were left on their ship. There's also Ran's (Zero's host) brother, Nao. His voice is a little grating sometimes but he's a big part of the movie too. The princess Emerana or whatever is alright, though she wasn't particularly memorable. These movies are about the Ultramen, anyway. This movie introduces characters who are sort of like them, but not completely. Glen Fire is fun, and he is fittingly hot-headed. There's also Jean-Bot and Mirror Knight, and everyone gets their own little highlight in the movie. Their designs are also very cool. There's a few others such as the pirate brothers who ham it up well. Ultimate Zero is good for what it's worth and Kaiser and Ultimate Belial are particularly threatening.
If you want a more Ultraman-dense movie, though, I'd go with the other one.


Music
Builds tension when it needs to, and the few vocal songs are good. Nothing too standout besides the ending, but hey. Works.


Visuals
This movie has some very impressive CG. Maybe Toei is budgeting what with their shows going on, or maybe Tsuburaya just has more money...but whatever the reason, this movie is a very believable space battle. It never feels like the settings are just movie sets, and there's nothing that looks fake. All-around high production values.


Action
But of course, tokusatsu is about the action - and this movie delivers on all fronts. It's not as technically impressive as Sakamoto's direction in the first movie, as he's not directing this time. I think I prefer this movie's action scenes a little more, though. The hand-to-hand stuff is very good here and the fights never feel like guys in suits. All very well handled. Each character has their own unique style as well which is a large part of why the movie works.


Overall
I don't know how discussion-heavy the movie is, but it's all-around very cool and edges out Ultra Galaxy Legends by a small but noticeable amount, at least personally. This one looks to be the best of the three, and given that I tried to spoil myself as little as possible beforehand, there were a lot of cool surprises. A very good Ultra movie as well as a great sci-fi movie. Recommended.
Score: 9/10


Let's hope the third doesn't suffer from second sequel syndrome, though if this trilogy is anything like Star Wars, it should be fine. I have faith in Tsuburaya even if Belial is ultimately destroyed at the end. Here's hoping! Reviews of All Riders and 199 Heroes will be here once they are made available overseas, hopefully soon enough.