Something has surfaced in Tokyo Bay. As the Prime Minister of Japan pleads with the public to remain calm, a horrific creature of tremendous size makes landfall in the city, leaving death an... Read allSomething has surfaced in Tokyo Bay. As the Prime Minister of Japan pleads with the public to remain calm, a horrific creature of tremendous size makes landfall in the city, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Then it evolves.Something has surfaced in Tokyo Bay. As the Prime Minister of Japan pleads with the public to remain calm, a horrific creature of tremendous size makes landfall in the city, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Then it evolves.
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Nice and entertaining remake in which the massive and giant monster emerges from the depths to destroy Tokyo
This is a roller-coaster ride plenty of destruction , wreak havoc , action-packed , thrills , chills and breathtaking scenes . Fun moments and frightening entertainment when happens appearance Godzilla carrying out an extreme mayhem , confusion and destruction . As Japan is plunged into chaos upon the appearance of a giant monster, then the cabinet sends a defence force to eliminate the monster but it evolves and starts inadvertently overheating with radiation and this causes the monster to run back to the bay, leaving a risk of returning to the cabinet . Based on the original Godzilla , any other bigger-than-life tale that span almost 60 years would have to answer some serious question about plot repetition . Fantastic design creature , being well and brilliantly made by means of state-of-art digital efects .The motion picture was competently directed by Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi . Finale leaves door open for an inevitable follow-up but still no realized.
Other movies about the Japanese monster, always produced by Toho productions and with rubber suits, miniature sets, are the following ones : the classic ¨Gojira¨ (1955) or ¨Godzilla King of the monsters¨ by Inoshora Honda ,commercially hit in the US , being one of the first post-WWII Japanese film to break American boxoffice including ridiculously primitive FX even in its own day ; ¨Godzilla king of the monsters¨(1956); ¨Godzilla raid again¨(1959); ¨Godzilla vs the sea monster¨(1966) Jun Fukuda; ¨Godzilla on mosnter island¨ (1972) , ¨Godzilla vs Smog monster(¨72) , ¨Godzilla vs Biollante¨ , ¨Godzilla vs King Ghidora¨, ¨Godzilla Vs Monster Zero¨ , ¨ Godzilla vs Megalon¨(1976); ¨Godzilla¨ (1985) , ¨Godzilla vs Megagodzilla¨(1993); ¨Godzilla revenge¨, ¨Godzilla 2000¨....
Much better than the American Monsterverse
That's...different. I like it.
Amazing Epitome of Japanese Ingenuity and Governmental Satire
PROS:
- The acting was great as a whole, comprising of much seriousness and focus, typical of the exigency of a nation-wide disaster, in the top politicians of the diet.
- It is full of political irony, satire of the Japanese government's and bureaucracy's indecision and red-taping. There is great intelligence imbued into movie, and it shows that much research has been done prior to filming. It also shows the way in which foreign and indigenous affairs have been interwoven together in governmental decision-making. I greatly appreciate this as a whole, as the narration is full of meaning and subtlety.
- The special effects of Godzilla were absolutely wonderful, portraying both scale and grandeur in Godzilla's size and style. I greatly enjoyed the four main scenes where Godzilla made its appearance, especially its climax at the latter two.
- The pacing was fast-paced, and little time was wasted. A lot of content had been packaged into a duration of just 120 minutes. While watching, I thought that the film lasted for 4 hours, as there were so many occurrences!
- The style and pace also remains true to the original Godzilla classics. So is the provenance of Godzilla.
CONS
- Ishihara would not have fooled us into thinking that she is a Japanese-American English speaker!
- Overall, it is very dialogue-heavy. This is both a strength and weakness. A strength as there is much character development, but also excessive to the point that it sometimes can be dreary and draggy. This is the greatest setback of the film, and could have been further streamlined. Minus 1 star for this.
CONCLUSION:
- As a whole, I rate it 9 out of 10, and will watch it again.
- Most people who have an appreciation for subtlety and nuance, and also of vivid storytelling will like this film.
- However, those who prefer a CGI roller-coaster like Independence Day 2 or 2012 may be turned off by the extremely heavy dialogue.
A Unique Take on Godzilla
The movie is filled with plain and mostly forgettable characters, however, collectively they make the real protagonist of the film: Japan. The film critiques and parodies a dysfunctional bureaucracy, allowing for some not so subtle irony and other comedic moments using techniques such as extreme close-ups, quick changes in POV's, rapid-fire dialogue to reinforce these while still allowing for suspense when needed. Its overly fast pace is a bit jarring at times, making it hard to concentrate with its many fast and transitionless cuts.
Shin Godzilla feels very much like a documentary, with convincing this-is-really-happening atmosphere. The filmmakers really make you feel like a participant and witness to the events happening throughout the film engrossing you into the universe and adding a huge sense of realism which adds to the political side of the film and the impact of the destruction.
Godzilla himself is also amazing, the combination of puppeteering, animatronics and digital effects create such a unique portrayal of the monster evoking terror and intrigue. Though, the cgi isn't always perfect, but this can be overlooked.
The ending is also a mixed bag, it has a great message of collaboration and ends with an interesting introspection on who the bigger monster is: humanity or Godzilla. However it did feel too cheap and easy which kinda diminished the realistic tone set by the film.
The movie is definitely not perfect but its multi layered symbolism and message are so interesting I couldn't help but be invested throughout the whole thing.
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Hideaki Anno told the actors to speak faster than usual so that they would resemble actual politicians and bureaucrats, citing The Social Network (2010) as a reference and warning he would cut the take if they spoke too slowly.
- GoofsThe drug that the government uses to kill Godzilla is described as something that will "disable his internal cooling system". After the drug is used at the end, Godzilla freezes. If the drug was supposed to disable his internal cooling system, it would have overheated him, not frozen him. But it's a bit more complex than that... In fact, in the movie the drug actually does manage to disable Godzilla's cooling system, but in stead of overheating him this triggers a SCRAM-shutdown (=Safety Control Rods Activation Mechanism) as a kind of involuntarily overreaction-thus freezing him in the procedure. By freezing himself temporarily, Godzilla is able to survive this potentially critical trauma.
- Quotes
Hiromi Ogashira, Deputy Director of Nature Conservation Bureau: Man is more frightening than Gojira.
- Crazy creditsThe Toho logo appears as the 1950s color version to homage Godzilla (1954)'s era.
Godzilla's stomping and roar is heard, which also happened in Godzilla (1954).
- SoundtracksPersecution of the Masses
Written by Shirô Sagisu
Lyrics by Mike Wyzgowski
Soprano vocals performed by Catherine Bott
Alto and Mezzo-Soprano vocals performed by Deborah Miles-Johnson
Tenor vocals performed by Andrew Busher
Bass vocals performed by Michael George
Orchestra by London Studio Orchestra
Details
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- Also known as
- Godzilla Resurge
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $5,960,549
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $458,342
- Oct 16, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $82,095,291
- Runtime
- 2h(120 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1








