The movie tells about Shunichi Maki (Tetsuya Bessho) who flies a F15 Eagle fighter in the Japanese Air Force. However he wants to resign, because his son, Tsugumu (Ryohei Hirota), has a serious blood disease. So he wants to spend more time with his son and his wife Yoko (Nae Yuki). On his last flight Maki collides with a red meteor but remarkably he survives.
After a month Maki gets kidnapped by an organization called BCST and he�s taken to its secret base. The scientist of the organization, Sara Mizuhara (Kyoko Toyama), tells him that a horrible creature has escaped from their lab. They�ve nicknamed it �The One�. According to her Maki is changing to some kind of a monster, too. Could Maki and The One be somehow connected to one another?
Japan�s own superhero Ultraman is known across the world. Many TV shows and movies have been made about the Japan�s silver giant from the year 1966. Mostly they have been aimed towards the children and overall younger audience.In the year 2004 Tsuburaya, the company behind Ultraman, announced to start a whole new Ultra N Project. It was made up from three elements: the TV show Ultraman Nexus, the movie Ultraman: The Next and the project�s mascot Ultraman Noa. The element connecting these three was very simple to pronounce: a darker story. Nexus and Next weren�t aimed towards the kids, but to the teenagers and the more adult audience. Because of that the Ultra N Project was expected to be successful.
However, everything didn�t go as planned but almost rather the opposite way. Since all the latest Ultraman shows were shown on Saturday mornings on TV for the suitable time for the kids, the more darker Nexus didn�t get as much viewers than the shows before it. Also Next didn�t make as much money as was expected. In other words the N Project became a financial failure although it had critical success.
Despite this Ultraman: The Next is successful in almost all respects. The most important reason for this has got to be the fact that the movie is darker than its predecessors [like Ultraman Tiga (1996) or Cosmos (2001)]. This helps the story surprisingly a lot. Especially for the character of Maki, for example his son�s blood disease, his kidnapping and that he�s used to lure The One into a trap without his permission. But there are some things in the story that are left unmentioned. A clear example is the full name of the secret organization. We know it�s called BCST, but what does it stand for? But anyway, if I would put the movies Ultraman: The Next and Godzilla: Final Wars, which was made in the same year, into a comparison, my winner would be completely clear. �GFW�s� story is missing some important details that the story of Ultraman has got. Luckily. Even though �GFW� is an OK movie in my opinion, Next really shows how a Japanese tokusatsu (scifi) movie should be done.
Kazuya Konaka has been both the director and the special effects director for many of the earlier Ultraman shows and despite their reputation he got chosen to direct this movie too. And he�s done a good job in the directing of this movie. Actually almost the entire staff is made up of several familiar faces. The producer Kiyoshi Suzuki has been working in almost all of the Ultraman shows since the first one. The screenplay writer Keiichi Hasegawa has been working in Ultraman Tiga and Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah (2002) among others. Yuichi Kikuchi has been in special effects department in many of the Ultraman shows and also in three Godzilla movies.
When it comes to the actors, all I can say is: Great job! Tetsuya Bessho, who can be recognized from Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), does a very good job performing Maki. This role is almost like created just for him. He knows how to bring up his character�s feelings in the right situations. He understands that you have to do anything to protect your family. Kyoko Toyama interprets the role of Sara Mizuhara in a very skilled way. She�s got just the correct kind of attitude needed. Sara can be quite rude and you can expect that kind of acting skill from Toyama. Kenya Osumi is almost like born to play the mysterious Takafumi Udo who isn�t what he seems like from the first look. He isn�t the movie�s villain as a human but his �true self� on the other hand is. Nae Yuki and Ryohei Hirota are like from a real family in the movie. Their characters, Maki�s wife Yoko and child Tsugumu, are concerned about Maki when they really have to.
The movie�s title character is something we�ve never seen before. Ultraman�s portrayal is absolutely splendid. Especially the suit is very memorable. It doesn�t look so artificial than its predecessors. It�s more steel and organic in style. Ultraman maybe isn�t so colorful as always but he doesn�t have to be. This movie may actually show what Ultraman could really look like. The silver giant just looks so realistic.