The CGI is passable, the acting is passable, the fight scenes are decently choreographed, and the filmmaking is exquisite. However, almost everything about this film has a caveat.
As someone who'd watched all the original Showa series, the sound effect/art homage decisions were extremely welcome. Unfortunately, as with the rest of the film, nothing is ever perfect. Instead of giving the fans a completely faithful Ultraman with all the shticks we've learned to love like the color timer, the grunts, the human-like exhaustion-staggering, they decided to cut all of that in favor of a "shin" (new) design claimed to be based on the original concept art of the late designer for the original Ultraman. This new design, unluckily, isn't memorable or aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. I simply don't understand how they can have such immaculate attention to detail on the references of the original sound effects, poses, special moves, and art splashes, yet completely undercut what matters most in the visual design.
The story is surprisingly unpredictable. Although it utilizes many tropes, every time I thought the film was about to have its penultimate final fight, the fight ends abruptly and suddenly there came a bigger threat. This is what I appreciated about the story. And yet, again, the shortcomings are impossible to ignore.
The characters are incredibly bland and one-note. Neither the characters or their relationships were built up properly. The film doesn't even attempt to give a reason as to why the SSSP team would have an attachment to Ultraman's extremely unlikable human host, and yet they do anyway. The film does however like to shovel blatant exposition down the viewers' throats to move the story forward.
Of all its faults, the cinematography was pretty great. There weren't spastic unnecessary cuts in the fights. Even in the most boring of scenes, there was always something to appreciate about the unique angles the scene is shot at.
