Shin Godzilla

On an average day, something emerges from Tokyo Bay…something big.  As Tokyo becomes the target of this monsters rampage, the government scrambles for a solution.  Guns, missiles, nothing can destroy this “God Incarnate”.  With the world seemingly at the mercy of this beast, one lone government official leads a rag tag team of thinkers and experts who will stop at nothing until they have found a way to kill it.  The question is: once it has fallen, how much of Japan will be left in the destructive wake of the monster known as “Godzilla”?

This past summer, the King of the Monsters was reborn once again…in the place that knows how to do him best.  While the 2014 US release of “Godzilla” is far superior to the disaster epic that is the “Godzilla” from 1997, the film is not without it’s flaws…mostly Godzilla is almost non existent and most of the movie was Kick Ass running from Monsters at Point A to Monsters at Point B…oh and horribly wasting the talents of Bryan Cranston (who was basically around to deliver solid dialogue for the trailer).  Even with some solid moments, it didn’t feel like a Godzilla movie.  Well barely two years later, Japan has rebooted their crowned King with a familiar team and a bold, if not a little familiar itself, direction.
 

Let’s start with the direction.  The film is co directed by Hideki Anno and Shinji Higuchi.  Almost 20 years ago, these two worked on a little known, Giant Robot Apocalypse Anime you might’ve heard of…no big deal, it’s just NEON GENESIS EVANGELION!!!  Which means, this movie was tailor made for these two to tackle.  Anno brings a lot of his storyboarding and visual flair to the flick.  So many wide shots of conference rooms, tanks shelling from the riverside and lasers blowing up buildings in spectacular fashion, this may be a Godzilla flick, but it’s also the closest we’re getting to an Evangelion movie besides Pacific Rim.  And you can tell Anno and Higuchi are having a blast.  It is a Godzilla production after all.  Plus they get to make it with a clean slate and free reign too.  Should give a special shoutout to Shiro Sagisu, who did the musical score.  He also collaborated with Anno on Eva and his score is operatic and epic in every way a Godzilla score should be, even bringing back the classic Godzilla theme.  Most importantly, I laughed when I heard one of his Evangelion themes used a couple of times in the build up to a dramatic moment.  A bit on the nose but it was fun nonetheless.
 

Yep, as I stated this is a reboot for the franchise in Japan (it’s 3^rd I think).  Rather than give us a monster vs monster slugfest, we are instead treated to a story about Godzilla when he was first introduced to the world.  We’ve still got the “nightmare of atomic weapons” commentary (man do we and it hits hard sometimes…in the right way).  But to see Japan witness the rise of the “God Incarnate” through social media, including the use of “found footage” and shots of twitter pages, as well as POV shots, especially passing right alongside the towering Godzilla (GOD I WISH I SAW THIS IN IMAX!!!) makes this very much a modern day take and a very real experience.
 

And what of the big guy himself?  Well overall he looks like Godzilla should.  He looks more like a tower than ever before and his bellys been trimmed a little bit.  His movements may not look like much in the trailers but seeing him in the finished product, he’s pretty frightening.  His tail looking a bit more…phallic than usual aside, this Godzilla is probably the scariest ive ever seen.  His eyes look beyond crazy, like the stuff of nightmares…especially when we…well how do I put this…you know what, im gonna actually leave the rest of this bit alone cause it was an interesting surprise for sure and I want people who haven’t seen the movie to be amazed (or confused or angered or both) when they see what I don’t wish to describe.  Also, though he does get more screentime than his 2014 counterpart, Godzilla’s moments are few and far between.  But when he is on screen, they make the most of it.  The action scenes were thrilling and when Godzilla got to show off some of his more legendary qualities, man did he get the applause I never expected.  The King of the Monsters got to tear s*** up good.  It’ll fill your heart with emotion at all the destruction…and make you cheer loudly seeing Godzilla do his thing almost uninterrupted (unlike the 2014 flick when we finally got to see him fight and the camera kept trying to pull away like it didn’t want us to see it).  Also, im not sure how much practical effects were used here but the CG and motion cap on Godzilla was pretty stellar.  It felt now but also was well within the spirit of the rubber suited bad asses who came before.

As I also said above, Godzilla isn’t battling a monstrous opponent, Man is his enemy.  Leading the pretty extensive cast (which is thrown at you so quickly I swear I thought there was going to be a test to name at least 10 of the 50+ names thrown on screen) is Yaguchi, who’s more than willing to look at the situation more, let’s say open minded than most of the Japanese government.  In fact, he is the one to theorize that the disruption in Tokyo Bay might be a monster and not an earthquake or volcano.  Yeah, it’s a gratifying moment to see the old hacks STFU when Yaguchi gets proven right.  Besides Yaguchi, his beautiful American/Japanese counterpart Kayoko, and the Prime Minister, it’s hard to remember anyone elses name in the film.  We get tons of tags: “So and so, department of so and so”.  But not too many are really needed and it can kind of confuse the audience.  I did like Yaguchi’s team a lot.  These guys freak out, but not in a “ALL IS LOST” kind of way the PM and his staff do continuously.  They’re optimistic, hard working and desperate to stop Godzilla.  But they work better as an underdog team, using their smarts to outwit him while the government lobs millions of bullets at the big guy with no effect (go figure).  One stand out is a cute biology expert who is glued to her computer more than half the time and speaks in a monotone voice.  She reminded me a lot of Rei Ayanami from Evangelion and Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya.  The scene where everyone calls out Yaguchi on his lack of sleep and his bad smelling shirt was great if only because even that girl had to admit in her monotone that they weren’t kidding about the smell.
 

The cast of hundreds aside, there are a couple of nitpicks to be had.  This is THE MOST rapid fire edited feature I have ever seen, especially in the first half.  Shin Godzilla almost played like a feature length trailer, never staying on a single shot for more than a few seconds.  It can be a bit disorienting and hard to keep up with.  Also, some of the lulls between Godzilla carnage can be felt.  The story is interesting, especially when things get dire for the Japanese people in the final act.  But some of the momentum is lost along with keeping up with the ever expanding (and surprisingly diverse) character roster.  It can take a bit to recover but it does…just expect a lot of old folks talking about something they don’t understand and scares them quite a bit for about five minutes before cutting to a random shot of Godzilla stomping across the city.
 

Shin Godzilla is the Godzilla movie the new millennia has been waiting for.  There’s focus on a good cast, a deep message that you understand, and a destructive summer blockbuster on full display and I’m so happy I got to see them all.  Even if you haven’t seen too many Monster movies (I’ve only seen a couple of Godzilla movie actually), or even if you didn’t like the 2014 flick, I still think you’d get a kick out of this movie.  It’s made by people who understand the monster genre, the history of Godzilla and know how to present it all almost perfectly.  As much as I want him to get to work on Evangelion 4.44, I definitely want Anno back at the helm of another Godzilla film in the near future.  Will we see him tackle an old foe down the line?  That remains to be seen but I am more excited for a sequel to this film than the 2014 movie any day.  
 

The King of the Monsters is back…Hail to the King, baby.
 

9/10