Shin Godzilla (2016)

aka Godzilla Resurgence
Directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi
Starring Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, and Satomi Ishihara
119 Minutes
Japan

Godzilla, a genuine pop culture behemoth. Ever since his debut in 1954, he's starred in 31 films, become recognised one of the most iconic symbols of Japan in the west, and went from villain to hero and back again, but more often than not been something in between. Gareth Edward's 2014 american Godzilla, though a highly flawed film, was a great attempt which treated the character with the respect and reverence he deserves, and served the job of bringing him back into the public consciousness. The time could have not been better for Toho, the Japanese company responsible for the franchise in the first place, to reboot Godzilla in his first film produced in his home country since 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars. They did so with a serious statment of intent, getting famed anime postmodernist Hideaki Anno to direct. What they have delivered, is arguably the darkest iteration in the franchise to date, the most horrific incarnation of the king of the monsters, and one the best films in the series since the original.

Notably this is the first time that Toho have rebooted the series completely, with zero links to any past entries. Previous times that they reintroduced the character, they have at least acknowledged the events of the 1954 original as cannon, whilst ignoring everything in between, such as in 1984's The Return of Godzilla. Here though, it is made explicitly clear that this is the first time that Godzilla has appeared. It's a wise creative decision, as it allows the filmmakers to speculate just what it would be like if Godzilla appeared in the present day, with the government being totally unequipped to deal with the situation. This is brilliantly demonstrated in early scenes where Godzilla is captured in a viral video, which most of the government officials pay no attention to and assume the source of the recent destruction to be natural phenomenon. Sure enough, footage of a tail coming out the ocean is seen on the news and government is forced to acknowledge the existence of the creature. The Japanese Prime Minister then holds a press conference to assure the public that there is no way that said creature could come on land, a scene which is brilliantly intercut with the creature coming ashore and causing devastation. Shin-Godzilla works not only as a monster movie but as a biting satire of ineffective politicians and bureaucracy. The older members of the cabinet in film are portrayed as being totally unequipped to deal with a crisis of such magnitude, seemingly more concerned with protecting their own positions at the costs of lives of civilians. There are long scenes of ministers talking other each other and getting nowhere which are darkly contrasted with scenes of Godzilla causing destruction. In a year when more and more people are becoming disillusioned with the political landscape, it joins I, Daniel Blake as a seething indictment of bureaucratic redtape and laissez faire attitudes (as odd as it seems to be pairing a Godzilla film with a Ken Loach film). Just as the original Godzilla was a chilling metaphor for the dangers of nuclear weapons, Shin Godzilla is a political satire which warns of the pitfalls of the political system in a crisis situation, and just like the original, it demonstrates that monster movies don't just have to be dumb popcorn entertainment but can say important things about the world we live in.

Let's talk about Godzilla himself. He's one of the most iconic movie characters of all time, so it stands to reason that a reboot should reinvent him just enough for the modern day whilst staying true to the origins and spirit of the character. Shin Godzilla's way to go about this is to the revisit the franchise's roots, by making Godzilla as much a sympathetic victim of the nuclear age, but at the same time updating him to make him appropriately scary for today's audiences. He's depicted in this film as a horrifying abomination, reminiscent of the works of Junji Ito and Hp Lovecraft. On his first appearance he doesn't  quite resemble the Godzilla we know and love, as he evolves throughout the film until he reaches his final and most recognisable form. Each time, it's quite clear he's in immense pain just from existing. When he roars he stretches his mouth  stretches back unnaturally wide, and several times in the film he excretes a blood like substance from his gills. His final form almost resembles a zombie Godzilla with its exposed muscle and dead black flesh. Later in the film, when he first unleashes his trademark atomic breath, its the most devastating and brutal display of the power ever seen. This is a Godzilla which is, anatomically horrific, totally unpredictable, and dead set on revenge against the race which has caused him to be living such a miserable existence.

Towards the end of its run time, Shin Godzilla begins to lose some its momentum. Though the ongoing debate scenes were great in the early part of the film for establishing the urgency and helpless of the situation, after a certain point they begin to drag on a little two long. The film does leave you wishing for a little more focus on Godzilla, though on the one hand that could be considered a positive in the sense that the film leaves you hungry to see more and not overdosed on action in the way that so many modern blockbusters do. It's certainly a much different story from the 2014 Godzilla which would tease you with Godzilla and then cut away as he was about to do something. Overall the latter part of the film could have used some tighter editing, perhaps bringing the film down to an hour and forty five minutes rather than two hours.

As I mentioned in my revice of Kong:Skull Island, Shin Godzilla is just one example of how the Kaiju genre is more alive than ever in 2017. A film that includes all the amazing spectacle you'd want to see but also transcends the genre and becomes a political satire. It's essential viewing for Godzilla fans, and i'd recommend it to anyone who has even a passing interest in these kinds of films.