Movie Review: Shin Godzilla

So, I watched Shin Godzilla just because I wanted to see why Hideaki Anno was delaying the final Neon Genesis movie for all these years. I got something close to Neon Genesis, not in terms of psychologically troubled teenagers or religious symbolisms, but rather the familiar scene of a giant monster attacking a Japanese city while the military is trying to stop it. I kept seeing the whole thing as a live action version of Angels attacking Tokyo 3.

Not that it was, outside of its superficial similarities, since it was actually closer to an allegorical version of the nuclear plant crisis that struck Japan in 2011. This instantly makes the movie interesting as a product of its time, as well as staying close to the feeling of the original. The initial Godzilla was about the nuclear disaster of Hiroshima, the new Godzilla is about the nuclear disaster of Fukushima. At the same time, it feels like a Hideaki movie since it seems to be superficially about giant monsters attacking a city, when in reality it talks about the problems his country is facing at the moment.

What makes it even better is that for a military-heavy movie, it is not pandering the growing patriotism in the land of the rising sun. There is no super giant robot, which only the superior Japanese scientists can build, to defeat Godzilla. There is no super army, which only the superior Japanese military can put together, to defeat Godzilla. Even the initial xenophobia coming from the evil America, which constantly intervenes and plans to nuke poor innocent Japan, so it can harvest the cells of the monster as a new form of power source, is eventually replaced with a cooperation amongst all nations against a common threat. You are not going to jerk off to military propaganda by watching this film. It’s promoting teamwork instead of overpowered Japanese teenagers wasting armies of evil foreign nations.

This is why it will never have a global appeal in the likes of something like Kimi No Na Wa. It is anti-escapism, very focused on Japanese politics, and on top of it, it’s not even that action heavy to be seen as a brainless Michael Bay film. Also, no high schools, no time resets, no steamy romance, cute girls doing cute things, or giant robots blowing up giant monsters. Who the hell is going to like that, am I right?

As far as the plot is concerned, the pacing is slow to the most part, which is done deliberately for portraying the problems of inactivity. The politicians spend a lot of time in talking instead of doing something about the crisis, showing the problem of bureaucracy. The military spends a lot of time in confirming an order before executing it, showing the multiple safety protocols it needs to go through. Even Godzilla moves slowly through the cities, making him a looming terror you can outrun but also not something that will depart from your city after an hour. The slow build-up keeps the tension permanently high without ever lowering the stakes, which is something I love and is a trademark of retro movies and series. Something which was sadly lost in our age, because smartphones lowered the attention span of the newer generation to less than that of a goldfish. Retro wins, modern sucks.

And it’s not like the movie is boring or something. It takes awhile for shit to hit the fan, but when it does, boy oh boy, it’s an amazing spectacle of helicopters, tanks, airplanes, and even battleships, bombarding the hell out of a skyscraper-tall lizard that is smashing its way through multi-stored buildings. Amazing visual effects, very realistic depiction of military operations.

And guess what, Godzilla is not a sitting duck either. He looks really stupid when he first appears, which made me facepalm with how dorky and non-threatening he acts. But that wasn’t even his final form, as he mutates into a far more terrifying beast later on, and uses special attacks that level entire city squares if you piss him off. There is still entertainment as a movie about mass destruction, while not forgetting to show the horror of people running away from this monstrosity, losing their houses, and many of their loved ones. There are casualties and there are repercussions for mistakes. I love it!

And if you want me to be a bit negative about it, here are two things I didn’t like. The protagonist is a secretary in the Japanese government and he is acting a lot like a naïve shonen hero in some manga for kids. He is too idealistic and emotional for his position as a politician, which was a bit immersion breaking. And the final operation to take down Godzilla worked out too perfectly, when in reality the debris would have made it impossible for the trains or the trucks to get that close to the monster. I also highly doubt Godzilla would just leave his mouth open for so long while being stuffed with tons of coolant.

Other than these two rather minor issues, it’s a great movie, highly recommended.