Review: Part ‘Ultraman’, part ‘Grandizer’; ‘Super-Inframan’ is labelled as the first
Chinese super hero movie ever. A great mix of kung fu, rubber monsters and 70’s special effects, Super-Inframan is a must see Tokusatsu (Japanese super-heroes) movie and a super kitsch Sci-Fi action classic.

If you are a fan of old Japanese TV shows like ‘Kikaida’, ‘Kamen Rider’, ‘Ultraman’ and the Japanese animation ‘Grandizer’, you will be on familiar ground, as Super-Inframan is heavily inspired by these TV series. Story wise, as you can expect, the plot is very thin and is from today’s standards not very intricate or surprising. However, the simplicity of the story is not really a bad factor as it is obvious that the film is aimed at a younger audience. The excitement really comes from the action scenes and the many strange monsters that Infra-Man has to fight, and successfully hides the simplicity of the Good Vs Evil premise.

It is really surprising to see Danny Lee as something other than a policeman. In his early twenties, Rayma was one of his early roles, and quite different from the type of characters he became known for in later years. Even if we don’t see that much of Danny Lee’s acting, as there are not too many deep dialogues and Infra-Man is a costumed character, he still turns in a fine performance. Professor Liu Yingde, played by Wang Hsieh, is probably the most interesting character. He is stereotyped as the ‘old man with the brains’, able to create all kinds of crazy inventions and weapon devices. Super-Infra-Man is indeed an extraordinary combination between Rayma’s body and super-transistors! And who else could have created the Lightning Punch, the only weapon that can destroy Princess Elzibub, other than a senile old genius?

If you think that the good guys are hard to take seriously, wait until you witness the range of evil misfits ruled by Princess Elzibub. She and her minions are extremely laughable but they bring so much fun and entertainment that they really are the highlight of the film. The monsters look so unintentionally stupid that you can almost see the zipper behind their back. When they get a close up, you can easily distinguish the details and imperfections of their rubber suits. On the other hand, the designs are interesting, and discovering their unique special abilities is a good part of the fun.

This Chinese production achieves better fighting and action scenes than both the original and newer Japanese series’. In the Japanese Kaiju and Tokusatsu series, the fights are usually not very impressive as their movement’s looks are sometimes unsynchronised and the choreography very poor. In this case, take the old Shaw Brothers dynamic action style and dress up the actors with rubber suits and you pretty much have a good idea of how the fighting looks. Back flick, high kick, butterfly twist, punch and kick combinations, mixed with fantasy super-powers such as laser beam and power-up boosts, Infra-Man’s powers are enough to satisfy the most eager action fantasy fans.