Shin Godzilla (2016) - Review
Originally published July 2017If you know me personally, you know that I love me some Godzilla. It's one of the few things that I've enjoyed since childhood that still genuinely entertains me, albeit, not necessarily for the same reasons. The original Godzilla in the 1950s is quite a serious affair about a living disaster, wreaking nuclear havoc upon Japan in the form of a giant monster. The metaphor is obvious and the tone is somber. While Godzilla is mostly a puppet or a man in a suit, the movie is effective in trying to illustrate the horror that a nation felt on the receiving end of the nuclear bombs dropped at the end of WWII. The sequels, however, gradually shifted in seriousness and tone. It didn't take long for the giant monster's franchise to become goofy and fun, with some really bad movies under its belt. While the first movie can be respected and held with some reverence, the sequels and reboots that followed Godzilla's 50-year franchise are best viewed through ironic glasses. Since the American Godzilla film that was released in 2015, which had a serious tone and dedication to the melancholy, did well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel, Toho decided the time was right to bring their monster out of retirement in Japan with their latest reboot to the franchise: Shin Godzilla.
Toho has produced over 30 Godzilla films in the past half a century and has rebooted him several times with a redesigned look for a new generation of people to flee in terror at the sight of a giant lizard that breathes fire. Since there haven't been any Japanese-made Godzilla movies in about a decade, it was exciting to hear they were going to bring him back with another reboot. However, when I watched Shin Godzilla recently, it slowly made its way toward the bottom of my Godzilla movie list. Despite my ironic and nostalgic love for the big lizard, I haven't seen every one of the movies Toho has produced. Yet, I bet I would enjoy most of them over this one.
Image: Toho Studios
Pros
Godzilla looks scary and menacing for the first time in a while, even with the tiny arms
He is as indestructible as ever
The disaster-control drama is convincing and frantic, as it should be
Dedicated to being grounded in a reality that can include Godzilla
Cons
Too much like Neon Genesis: Evangelion in a lot of places
Godzilla's abilities are a bit much (what the hell is up with his tail's surprising ability?)
The climax and method of disposing of Godzilla is lame
"American" characters don't speak English that well
Can't tell if this movie is trying to insult other countries or just boost Japanese pride
Bias Disclaimer
Since I mentioned that I'm a fan of Godzilla, I feel it's necessary to get my bias out of the way first. I didn't like Shin Godzilla, even though it's probably an objectively better movie than most of the other Toho Godzilla films. The actual review is below this section, but I wanted to work out my reasons as to why I didn't like Shin Godzilla by giving my personal attachments to the franchise before actually going into detail about the film. If you don't want to read that, skip ahead.
Let's start by saying there's no other monster for Godzilla to battle in this movie. It's become something of a traditional expectation that, when you're going to see a Kaiju movie, you're going to see some monster battles. Godzilla was the first to really popularize this concept. Since this will only be his third movie where he is the only monster (not counting the '98 film), it's surprising they would choose to make him the sole threat. I was tempted to put the fact that there is no other monster for Godzilla to fight in the Cons list, but since they were clearly trying to reinvigorate the attitude from the original film (and succeeded for the most part), it seemed wrong to call that a negative.
Image: Toho Studios
Godzilla's continued success over the years has been the fun of watching him annihilate other monsters of similar size. It's part of what made the American film from 2015 tolerable. But, when you look at each of the movies in which Godzilla is the lone monster, the focus and the tone are very different. The original is a horror movie and the era helps accomplish that horror, for good reason. Shin Godzilla and Godzilla (1985) are also very dedicated to the serious nature of the situation. They are not trying to be the fun jaunty experience I've come to expect of his more cheesy movies. Does that make them bad? Not at all. It just makes it more difficult to keep me entertained for 2 hours as I watch a bunch of people in a room talk about Godzilla until the next big event happens.
I'm not sure what the general public or other Godzilla fans want out of a Godzilla movie, but to go for a completely serious tone about a giant monster is risky. Godzilla's movies have rarely ever been action-packed. Normally it's just 90 minutes of people in lab coats describing some new false scientific theory to military and political leaders who then sit and debate about what to do. Occasionally, there's some destruction of buildings, aliens, and some monster fighting sprinkled in, but that's the gist of the experience. In that regard, most of the movies are somewhat boring to watch, unless you find other things to entertain yourself, like the cheesy fun stuff, bad special effects, or hilarious dubbing. Thus, when the decision is made to have Shin Godzilla be serious, there needs to be a change in the formula. There are a few, but not enough to really shift the movie in a meaningful direction. That's not to say I don't appreciate the effort. It just didn't pull me in as much as I or the filmmakers wanted.
Plot and Thoughts
Shin Godzilla (aka Godzilla Resurgence) does a few things differently right away. For one thing, it wastes no time at all with the destruction. It's not the first movie to have a monster show up and blow some things up, but it's the first to do it in such a weird and surprising way. Things are breaking, getting smashed, exploding, and none of the government officials know why. There's a brief period where one guy hops on to the theory of it being a giant amphibious creature, while everyone says "no way," until he's proven right. It's somewhat pointless because we know it's Godzilla, and it's a cheap method of characterizing him as the guy we look to for the answers in the film. He's our protagonist and he's going to be the one thinking outside of the box, so pay attention to him.
Image: Toho Studios
So (surprise!) he's right, it's a giant monster. But is it Godzilla? It sure doesn't look like him at first glance. It just looks like some half-formed baby crocodile with gills, a super long tail, and short front legs crashing into things; it's as though he didn't stay in the egg long enough. Well, the film clears that up with a new theory eventually: it is Godzilla and he is a creature that is evolving at an exponential rate. After his initial destructive tantrum in Tokyo, he disappears for a while and comes back looking a bit more familiar. It's a good look for him even though his arms are still tiny and his tail is stupid-long. It's an interesting redesign, and, with the bloody skin texture that he has going on, he's pretty menacing and intimidating.
And when it's on, Godzilla causes a lot of destruction. They build him up as a truly unstoppable force in this because there a very few things that hit him with any significant impact or reaction. When the military does finally shoot him with something that seems to pinch a bit, he retaliates dramatically. Godzilla has some new abilities that I don't totally agree with, but they cause a lot of destruction nonetheless. I won't go into detail about what he does, since it seems that the movie wanted it to be a revelatory moment, but I will say that it's a little too "anime-y" for me. It's the whole thing of "We gotta top this ability with yet another ability that is even more powerful than the last." In this way, Shin Godzilla works itself into a corner. With it trying to top itself by just making Godzilla more and more powerful, by the time we get to Super-Saiyan 4 Godzilla, who has proven that nothing can harm him, the heroes' brilliant solution for getting rid of him ends up feeling stupid and boring. They blow up a lot of stuff to do it, but it all just ends up feeling like "That’s it?"
Image: Toho Studios
Part of the disappointment comes from the fact that the effects aren't that great. Godzilla looks good, despite being the first Toho Godzilla to be 100% computer-generated, instead of a guy in a suit. However, the other effects and the way the special effects look are all in that B-movie range where it's just not that exciting. Toho's special effects have always been in just the "okay" range and unable to compete with the big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, so their big climax isn't exciting enough to justify the rather boring strategy they use to beat Godzilla.
Surprisingly, some of the best part of Shin Godzilla is the stuff that is normally the most boring in these movies. The way the Tokyo officials handle the disaster feels genuine and frantic in a way that is convincing and captivating. The pacing of the scenes and the acting are surprisingly good and carry the film. All the people have their own agendas, but they're not necessarily out for each other's jobs like the typical political clichés. They all share the same goal of stopping Godzilla, and how their conflicting views and goals align is somewhat interesting. Perhaps one of the reasons this is a strength is because the film was directed by Hideaki Anno, who directed the iconic anime Neon Genesis: Evangelion. Evangelion was a show that shared a lot in common with the Godzilla formula. For one thing, it involved political and military officials having to think quickly as giant monsters attacked. The characters of Evangelion are mimicked in Shin Godzilla with their efficiency and skill. This makes it much more exciting to watch than the traditional stale discussions on how to kill a kaiju with a bunch of guys in lab coats pointing at a chalkboard. At times, however, the style of Evangelion is a bit overbearing. I was getting flashbacks to the anime with the various artistic shots that were all too familiar, including the many train and train station shots.
I was also a little confused about the political tone the movie was taking. While it would make sense for the original Godzilla movie to be somewhat negative towards America—for obvious reasons—there is a lot of disdain for the US in this movie. I don't necessarily disagree with the criticisms they bring up, but I wondered if there was something else they were trying to say with how much they kept begrudgingly mentioning the American interference; the only "American" they seemed to like was the one who couldn't speak English very well.
Image: Toho Studios | I don't believe her American accent.
The whole American sub-plot just felt like an unnecessary distraction and added a countdown plot device that was pointless: stop Godzilla in 24 hours or we nuke Tokyo. Considering how often they bring up WWII in Shin Godzilla, I'm surprised that they would think the US would be so willing to drop yet another nuke on Japan to stop a giant creature that is made of radiation. It's as though US politicians wouldn't consider the ramifications of doing something so symbolically $hitty as nuking Japan a third time. Besides, we don't need this timer anyway; Godzilla will likely destroy Tokyo within that time on his own. No other destructive forces need to be involved.
TL;DR (Conclusion)
Shin Godzilla is a capable movie made by people who clearly had experience making entertainment centered around disasters. There are some particular pieces of the Shin Godzilla puzzle that make it outshine other films in the historic franchise with some good direction, solid pacing, and a dedicated cast. The problem is that Shin Godzilla still wasn't much fun to watch. It's so serious and committed to being serious that the parts where it gets ridiculous hurt its credibility. The climax in particular tries to ramp up the action and make the movie fun, but after spending 90 minutes feeling the same dread as the people in this world, I don't want fun anymore, I want a conclusion. Hopefully, the next time Godzilla comes back, the mood will lighten, the anime influences won't be so strong and the Americans won't be such jerks.
Image: Toho Studios
Do you agree or disagree? Tell me what you think in the comments!
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