Review of Shin Godzilla (2016) by Tal G — 08 Apr 2018

This was a very unusual experience.

I got to the halfpoint of the movie thinking pretty bad things about this movie, but then it just snapped itself into shape and convinced me that it's actually a great movie.

Incredibly intricate, patient, meticulously planned, just a monstrous production (in a good way). The plot was actually impressively mature and intelligent for a Godzilla movie.

The realistic tone started off a bit shakey and irritating, but eventually, at about the 1 hour mark, it coalesces into this brilliant tone.

The buildup worked perfectly to show some of the most beautiful and ferocious Godzilla action probably ever put on screen. Godzilla itself starts out as this hideous, honestly laughable creature, but turns into one of the most impressive depiction of this monster ever made. That one scene in the middle of the movie floored me. Masterpiece.

The destruction porn throughout the movie is actually incredibly well animated, and the coordinated army assaults on the monster are pretty awe-inspiring. The cinematography during the less human focused scenes is actually beautiful and creative.

The downsides of this movie are the sluggish start, the nauseating amount of bureaucratic info dumped at the viewer in rapid fire succession in the first half of the movie, with irritating fast cuts and densely (pretty realistically) delivered dialog. I mean what can I say, watching government officials planning things is a bit boring. Oh, almost forgot to mention the actress that awfully played the part of an ambassador from the US. She overacted, played it like it was a soap opera, delivered some of the worst dialog in the entire movie. Her English (considering she's an American ambassador) was embarrassing. Fuck.

You just gotta survive the first hour of this movie (if you're struggling), and the rest is golden.

Very impressive movie. Anno is great.