62
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyVarietyDecidedly odd, even by Japanese standards, this mockumentary about an electrically charged, skyscraper-high superhero saddled with misfortune, bad press and even worse TV ratings is tears-down-the-face funny and a genuine, jaw-dropping oddity.
- 90Village VoiceVillage VoiceI hurt myself laughing at this amazingly inventive mockumentary, and because it's so good, I refuse to give away much more than an insistent recommendation.
- 80The New York TimesNathan LeeThe New York TimesNathan LeeThe most impressive special effect here is Mr. Matsumoto's hilariously restrained performance, a tour de force of comedic concision in a movie bloated by increasingly surreal developments.
- The film has slow sections that test the viewer's patience. But it also touches on themes of family, heroism and nationalism, and the finale, which has plenty of surprises and rewarding references for fans of the genre, is worth the wait.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenThe effects are reasonably well-created, though hardly transparent. The last 15 minutes of the film spins out into unimaginable realms. Fans of this kind of stuff will leave smitten; those accompanying them to the theatre will have a pretty good time too.
- 50New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoAt nearly two hours, Big Man Japan is clever (in a sick sort of way) but overlong. It needs judicious editing -- more mockumentary, fewer superhero antics.
- 40L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyBetween such shots of inspiration, Matsumoto’s mock-doc framework seems a lazy stock device, interviews playing more dead than deadpan and failing to exceed an over-familiar comic-pathetic attitude toward the lives of functionaries.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierWhen a movie is this strange, it's gotta count for something.
- 40SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirMatsumoto isn't the first Japanese director to go all meta on the superhero tradition (consider also Takashi Miike's 2004 "Zebraman"), but this work of improbable lunacy may well max out the genre.
- 25San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleBut the film written, directed and starring stand-up comic Hitoshi Matsumoto has, like most superheroes, a tragic flaw: It isn't funny.