Title: Shin Godzilla Director: Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi Writer: Hideaki Anno Cast: Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara, Ren Ohsugi, Akira Emoto Year: 2016 Min: 120 An underwater menace in Japan is discovered. At first authorities scoff, at the idea that's a lifeform, but they soon realize that it is. As it reaches land, it grows and mutates into an even larger monster. America gets involved, even sending their beautiful liaison Kayoko (the gorgeous Satomi Ishihara). It gets its American and Japanese name, Godzilla and Gojira (meaning god incarnate), respectively. The Japanese military strikes do nothing to stop Gojira. In fact, it reveal it's powers. The Americans are ready to implement a nuclear attack to kill it. Can the Japanese find an effective way to stop the King of Monsters before they get nuked?
Shin Godzilla(AKA Shin GojiraAKAGodzilla Resurgence) is the 31st (29th as far as Toho goes) Big-G movie and a reboot of the series. Unlike earlier entries, some of which acknowledged the first film, this one acts as if this is the first Godzilla is attacking and appearing. Which is fine by me as continuity is mostly non-existent in this franchise anyways.Japan hasn't given us a Godzilla movie since the awesome Godzilla: Final Wars, and with the US giving their own Godzilla flick in 2014, it seemed long overdue.
It's a solid film, but one that definitely has it's faults.One of the major problems are the characters. There are a lot of them, but none are really developed save for Kayoko. And, even she is not much more than pretty American/ Japanese ambassador who is dedicated to her position but wants to help Japan. There is a lot of talking and introduction of these characters, and most of it is done via subtitles. These are on top of subtitles telling us where we are and the actual subtitles telling us what they are saying! It's a bit overwhelming, more so when they are on top of Japanese subtitles! This means we have like 3-5 subtitles on screen! Of course, this should not deter you from seeing it dubbed, as Godzilla movies are always dubbed awfully, in the US.
That being said the acting is good, but I just didn't care about anyone. There is a lot of talking by the characters. Now, on one hand this adds a welcome sense of real world feel to the proceedings. But, it really hurts the third act, as the moviejust stops to have more talkingand exposition. Perhaps some editing was in need, or at least that is how I feel.
The FX are all CGI. Some of it is not that good, especially the first version of Godzilla, which looks rather silly with googly eyes. But, a lot of the CGI is good. Especially the actual full grown Godzilla, which is amazing! Whenever he is onscreen and attacking, the movie is rocks. The destruction scenes are utterly devastating. In fact, he has not been this terrifying in ages. Godzilla is utterly menacing, as the movie has a closer horror movie feel than the series has had in a long time, with some truly chilling shot of him. The final shot in the film is one the best in the entire series. Be warned, thogh, there is not a lot of Godzilla in the movie. This ain't a tease fest like the 2014 US flick, but Big-G sleeps a lot. This is alternated with a lot of the Japanese government talking about what to do about him. But, hey when he is onscreen, it fucking rules.
Shin Godzillamaybe hurt by its flat characters and uneven pace, but it is definitely worth seeing for Godzilla fans. The adding of a real world feel adds to the upped horror factor. And, there are enough surprises in the movie to make up for the lack of other monsters. Let's hope this is the beginning of a new batch of Godzilla flicks from Toho. In the meantime, if you love monster movies, in particular Godzilla movies, you gotta see this one.
Godzilla first attacked Japan in 1954 (though in this movie, it's the then current monster that did, not the classic look), and then returned in 1996. Both times he was drawn to energy. During the attack many die including the leader of a squad. A female who survives vows to destroy Godzilla.
Due to the Big G's hunger for energy, energy is banned from being used. This prevents the King of Monsters fromattacking again. But, our plucky heroine is determined to kill him anyways, with some genuis' help. They work to modify a black hole making satellite to blast him away. But, their experiments mutate an ancient dragonfly creature. Many are unleashed and kill innocents. They feed off of Godzilla, who has found a secret entry plant and is headed back to Tokyo. Anyway, the giant, car sized bugs help to bring life to their much, much larger queen, Megaguirus to full life. As the monsters battle in Japan, our heroes attempt to send them into black hole forever.
The 24h entry in the franchise and second in the millennium series (the first being Godzilla 2000), Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus is decent enough. It's mostly just serviceable, with some of its faults really hurting it.
The plot is a little reminiscent of Godzilla Vs. Destroyah, but it is no where near as good. It's interesting to note that they come together on the Sony Blu-ray double feature. While, both feature the acts of those trying to do good by stopping Godzilla and how those actions create bloodthirsty monsters, it's mostly overlooked here. Thus making a much less morally interesting narative.
Instead we are made to care for boring characters. The acting is good; I just don't a flying fuck what happens to anyone or feel like cheering them on. And, that's a problem cause they're in a big chunk of the movie.
The CGI is also terrible. The giant dragonflies look fucking awful. It definitely makes them less scary and threatening when they look like crappy Playstation 2 graphics. This sucks cause when they first appear and kill a couple it's a messy horror movie moment dammed by shitty graphics.
Thankfully the pratical effects are solid. Godzilla looks great and so does Megaguirus. I also like the minature work. The climatic battle is fun and rousing. Sadly, though, the ending is some real corny crap. But, stick around post credits for one cool, final post credit scene, and no it does not involve the Avengers popping up.
Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus is a flawed but decent entry. Boring humans and shitty CGI combine with missed potential to hurt the movie. Still, there's some cool monster stuff at the climax to make it worth a look. It's entertaining enough but just could've been much better.
With Godzilla Resurgence coming next month to the US for a very limited theatrical run, I thought it would be fun to review a couple of movies from the series. Here is my first one:
Godzilla appears with glowing rashes and attacks. It turns out that he is having a nuclear meltdown, and if he blows up the Earth will die with him. A way to stop our reptilian hero from going nuclear must be found. And, speaking of found, at the same time G-Force is searching for the younger Godzilla creature, Junior. Who unlike the ridiculous Minilla actually looks like a young Godzilla creature. Meanwhile, the Oxygen Destroyer from Gojira, that killed the first Godzilla, has mutated some prehistoric crustaceans into nasty monsters. Eventually, they combine into one giant monster called Destroyah, bent on killing and, well, destroying everything it's path, including our soon to go ka-boom, Godzilla.
Advertised, at the time, as featuring the death of Godzilla, Godzilla Vs. Destroyah is one of the most emotional in the series, as well as one of it's finest. Most of FX are top-notch, with some solid creature costume work and miniatures. The actual Destroyah monster is massive and one of the series most righteously evil and intimidating looking monsters. He comes off as a legitimate threat to the Big-G, and you feel like this fucker could seriously hurt or even kill him. And, that is no small (pun not intended) feat. The smaller Destroyah creatures are a little more fake looking, but aren't enough to distract from the movie, itself.
Admit ably, the scene involving those monsters lifts A LOT from Aliens. I would like to think this is meant to be an homage and not a blatant rip-off. Regardless, that and other action scenes are very rousing and exciting. The extended climatic battle between the monsters is especially awesome. It's one of the most violent in the series with spraying and dripping blood, both of the green and yellow colored variety.
The acting is good, and thankfully the humans story here isn't that bad. The characters are fine as is, and while none of them are particularly memorable, it's not like movie suddenly sucks when the monsters aren't onscreen. Besides, the two girls searching for Junior help to add a good amount of human heart to it all.
Exciting, kick ass, and with some good amount of heart Godzilla Vs. Destroyah is a great entry in the long running franchise (the 22nd to be precise!). It stands heads and shoulders above many others in the Big-G's film career and was a great way to end this part of the series, as one was not made again till five later with Godzilla 2000. Sony released a blu-ray of it, packaged with Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus just a few years ago. The disc looks damn good and has great sound that will make the bass on your sound system rock. This gives you yet another reason to watch this awesome monster mash.
