Review of Shin Godzilla (2016) by Charles B — 11 Oct 2016

I really enjoyed "Shin Godzilla." It was what I expected -- a film that was a social commentary where Gojira was a Maguffin more so than a constant antagonist on the screen. Honestly, it was a refreshing change from the hackneyed formulaic stories that Hollywood endlessly streams us.

To begin with, "Shin Godlzilla" is NOT a film paced for American audiences, nor should it have been, as this was a film not targeted to Americans. If you go expecting to see an action film following Todd Klick's "Beat by Beat" (which nearly ALL American films do nowawadays) you will be disappointed. If you go to witness a film where the director and screenwriter Hideaki Anno make an introspective examination of Japan, you'll love it.

There are, of course, several scenes where Gojira does what Gojira does best -- threaten Tokyo and destroys large parts of it. Toho Studios did an excellent job with the special effects, and they rendered Gojira lovingly.

Physically, Gojira was true to the original movies, which had a man in a rubber suit, but at the same time, he was not so much a man in a rubber suit that you thought were watching a film made by Ed Wood's grandson. The detail of the buildings, bridges and streets Gojira destroyed were realistic, and didn't project their provenance of digital animation. Altogether, it seemed very real while at the same time, it FELT like a Gojira movie.

By the end of the day, however, it was the social commentary that made the film. Hideaki Anno looks closely at the Japanese government, and shows it locked up by its bureaucracy and rendered nearly impotent by the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan of 1960. The United States wants to end the threat of Gojira by using a nuclear weapon on Tokyo, and the Japanese government agrees, because it can't stop the Americans and the UN from doing so.

That leaves our plucky heroes to save the day -- outcasts, radicals and "pains in the bureaucracy" -- and Japan itself from a third nuclear bomb being dropped on their country. That's the heart of this film, and that's the true heart of Gojira himself, a monster that's the byproduct of the nuclear age. And that's what makes the cultural phenomenon of Gojira belong only to Japan, as Japan is the only country which has had nuclear weapons used against it.

This is a thoughtful film set against the backdrop of an action-disaster movie. When Warner Brothers releases their next Godzilla movie, "Shin Godzilla" will seem quaint and quiet in comparison to the 3D iMax spectacular the American effort will surely produce, but at the same time, it is equally certain that "Shin Godzilla" will be a better movie that holds up best to the test of time.