Shin Godzilla

I watched a movie and it was Shin Godzilla, co-directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, starring Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, and Satomi Ishihara, released in 2016. It is the 31^st installment of the Godzilla franchise from the Toho Company in Japan. It is not like any previous Godzilla film. On the dvd it says it is a “reboot” but I don’t see it as such. Have you ever imagined what it would be like if Godzilla was treated like a natural disaster? This movie treats Godzilla as such in a modern setting, showing the minutia of how much red tape there is during a natural disaster and how far we are willing to go to fix this natural disaster. I will admit, this is not what I was expecting as far as a Godzilla movie goes but it does follow within the mythos that is Godzilla. However, there is more focus on how Godzilla effects people rather than just seeing him rampage through the city like in times past. Some were critical of this (I got a message on my social media about it). I see that criticism. The greatest of all Godzilla films is Gojira (1954), the Japanese one, not the American one, and that established Godzilla as a force of nature, born of nuclear testing. He wreaked terrible havoc on Tokyo and the devastation caused was an allegory for the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. Godzilla is the embodiment of nuclear destruction. The later films, I'm not really sure about since they represent the time they were made, to a certain degree, but the military and people still treat him as a threat. I can understand where fan's criticism comes from; you come for Godzilla and get a lot of talking and very little Godzilla. I can relate in that is what disappointed me about the  Godzilla (2014) Legendary Pictures put out. However, that didn’t seem to bother me so much in Shin Godzilla.

As for Shin Godzilla, there is some interesting and creative ways to try and stop Godzilla that are really fascinating to watch. It is about teamwork and what the greater good is for. There are sections where it is frustrating to see where the government breaks down because of personalities and/or policies. Many of the countries are portrayed in a lighter tone, with some digs here and there but that’s understandable. Ultimately, it comes down to the choices they have to make to stop Godzilla from destroying and killing so many people, which in itself is interesting since it is a living organism and the question becomes even more difficult than say if it was a hurricane or earthquake (which they address in the movie)and how to rebuild from that. It also brings up other questions of whether to destroy Godzilla as a pest or keep it alive for testing since it is a new organism, which is similar to the Gojira (1954) in that respect.

Godzilla, for the most part, is very different from what you expect but it works better in the context of the story. There is evolution of both Godzilla and how the people in the Japanese government try to contain it. That gives much more depth to how much is at stake as the movie progresses and that adds a fresh perspective on the Kaiju drama. The Godzilla effects are well done and you (or at least I couldn’t) tell the difference between if it was CGI or suit actor (it was motion captured!). The design of Godzilla was familiar but very different from before, which is nothing new since Godzilla has gone through design changes since 1954. There is a different way Godzilla defends himself from attack though again, this change goes more in line with the kind of story we are dealing with. The crumbling buildings and devastation looked pretty spot on as well.

All the elements are there in this Godzilla installment: people running, Godzilla rampaging through the city, the government talking about how they will contain Godzilla, personal sacrifices of main characters (no romance though) and ultimate resolution. It is a Godzilla a film and I commend Toho for doing something different rather than rehash something over and over. Each Godzilla film is different (have you seen Son of Godzilla or Godzilla v. Hedora?) and though it might not be liked by many Godzilla fans, I think it stands on its own as a thought provoking piece much like the 1954 Gojira.