Film Review: Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy The Movie 5/5 stars ✩✩✩✩✩
Written by Rex E. ‘25
Director: Koichi Sakamoto
Starring: Shota Minami, Koji Moritsugu, Jiro Dan, Mamuro Miyano
Summary:
When the Evil Ultraman Belial breaks out of his prison and freezes the planet of the superhero race known as the Ultras, a small team of the remaining Ultras, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Mebius, eventually Zero and Rei, a half-human and half alien Reinonics with the power to control kaiju, plan to defeat Belial from taking over the universe with his 100 hundred monster army and free the Ultras.
Analysis:
Normally when it comes to movies, I give five stars for three categories:
- 1) It is a high-end and well-made movie and is one of the greatest films ever made, which makes me highly emotional or makes me think.
- 2) It is one of my personal favorites and I want more people to know about it.
- 3) It is just incredibly entertaining.
This movie, along with arguably the majority of Ultraman and tokusatsu in general, is the third category. Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy (2009) is the finale to the Japanese television program Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle Series, which was released in 2007 and ended in 2008 and is roughly the 29th show in the Ultraman franchise. It centers around the idea of an Ultraman series without Ultraman. The movie acts as a finale to the show; however, you don’t need to have watched the show to enjoy the movie. You don’t even have to be familiar with the Ultraman franchise to enjoy it.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Ultraman franchise, it is about a bunch of red and silver superheroes from another planet who can turn into humans and fight giant monsters. It started with Ultra Q and Ultraman in the ‘60s and is most famous for its giant monster battles and connections with Godzilla, as many kaiju are reused suits from Godzilla movies. It would go on to have several movies, shows, toys, games, manga, & comics along with two animes, while also influencing Pokémon, Neon-Genesis Evangelion, Power Rangers/Super Sentai, and more.
This movie is a good introduction to the franchise because it features several Ultras and kaiju from the franchise but does not require you to know too much about them that is not explained in the intro or you can’t put together what the movie gives you. The film itself is incredibly entertaining and filled to the brim with fight scenes be it monster, alien, or Ultra; if it can fight, it will.
The highlight of the film is the final battle in the monster graveyard, or the 100 monster army as it is called in canon, with over 100 different kaiju and mechs, five Ultras, a spaceship flying around, and Belial at the head of it all. Mega Monster Battle is highly recommended.
