Watched: 08/16/2025
Format: Amazon
Viewing: Third, I think
Director: Shinji Higuchi, Hideaki Anno
Shin Godzilla (2016) is currently enjoying a theatrical re-release because, I guess, why not? Godzilla Minus One was supposed to be in theaters for a week, and wound up playing for months and making crazy bank compared to original estimates, and then landed a much deserved Academy Award.
Yes, Shin Godzilla is also in the process of being released on 4K disc, and, looks, kids.... there's something your favorite blogger would sure like to open on Christmas morning.
I will never not tell this story, so here goes: PaulT, Jamie and myself went to a mid-day screening of Shin Godzilla at the old Alamo Ritz, I think in January of 2017. We were excited, the place was almost sold out in the middle of the day... it was a whole scene. Then the movie started and a piercing tone hit the theater.
They paused the movie and the manager came out and said "has anyone seen this before?" A few hands went up. "Is this supposed to be happening?" No. "Ok!" So she disappeared. We hung out for a while.
Apparently the distributor had sent out their digital copies with 1k tone and there was nothing the Drafthouse could do. So I think we got out money back and went to Shakespeare's nextdoor for a beer.
Anyway - I've seen the movie since. But not since seeing Godzilla Minus One. Or spending COVID lockdown watching every single live-action Godzilla movie.
First - this one isn't for the kids. It's a movie that happens to have a Godzilla in it as a stand-in for any disaster, but in this case, it was pretty specifically the Fukushima nuclear accident that hit Japan in 2011. I think Shin Godzilla is a genuinely really, really good movie when it comes to the challenge of bureaucracy and systems built to ensure safety by way of democratic processes, something I'm pretty familiar with after spending a lifetime in state-funded higher education, State government and, recently, local government. That a single decision must pass through up to five levels and reach a "final decider" to do the obvious, and that person is hopelessly compromised by politics, optics and party machinery has real world consequences.
And sometimes there are no good decisions. Taking action itself can be something that will take down a career and/ or open the door for disgrace, just as doing nothing allows the disaster to continue on and worsen.
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| Your faithful blogger and his better half, who is a Godzilla nut in her own right |
Alas, I am no expert on what happened with the Fukushima plant accident, how Japan responded, etc... but gathering that the intended audience of Japanese viewers saw this and gave it seven Japanese academy awards is a testament to how this movie was understood and spoke to the audience. Here, I mostly understand it from my limited view - but one that deeply empathizes with wishing to take obvious action instead of forming committees.
The real hallmark of the modern era of Godzilla movies, to me, is that the human stories and acting are... really good. Shin Godzilla was a revelation when it came out, showing a path forward for how to deal with Godzilla, and it was the first since 1954 that made me genuinely care about the characters as much as with any drama - albeit in a sort of bullet-point way. It's not like we know anything about these people beyond their job duties and functions. The things at stake include the fate of Japan and then the world, we're not worried about someone's romantic inner life.
In this way, Godzilla Minus One works better for me as a Western viewer - G-1 takes the lessons of Spielberg and applies them to Godzilla in the best way, which we've written about a few times. But it doesn't mean Shin Godzilla doesn't work as both a drama and commentary about what's needed to deal with a crisis (ie: dropping your ego and working toward action with those who can solve the problem, not political flunkies).
Anyway - I dug this movie quite a bit. I understand it echoes some anime projects I've never seen, and that's neat. Inspired from anime or not, visually, this movie kicks ass. The ideas for how Godzilla continues to evolve/ morph its shape to suit its needs, and act as the force of nature Godzilla was originally presented as in Gojira from 1954 - but now even bigger and more frightening. This is horror incarnate walking through a densely populated area - Godzilla is something no one understands and is visually as terrifying as the effect the creature has as an unpredictable force and a god of death.
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| "wait... I just want to be your friend..!" |
No, I can't say exactly what's going on with the human/ Godzilla hybrids sprouting from Goji's tail in the last scene. Wish I could say something definitive, but... my best guess is that our heroes stopped the predicted splintering of Godzilla that was why the US wanted to nuke Tokyo in the first place. And probably something about "but aren't humans the real monsters?"
The cast is led by Hiroki Hasegawa as Rando Yaguchi, who surely deserved a nomination (a quick Wikipedia check tells me he got one) as the clear-eyed functionary who pulls together the team that will ultimately resolve the Godzilla problem, at least temporarily. His counterpart is played by Satomi Ishihara, an American of Japanese descent with American political aspirations who initially sees Godzilla as a move she can make that will boost her profile, but comes around to wanting to save Tokyo and stop a third bomb from being dropped on her grandmother's home country.
The US is almost a shadow figure in the movie - and it's informative to us Americans to see how we're perceived as the imperial force lumbering about in Eastern countries (the first time I really encountered this was in the Korean film The Host, and I was like... oh, right...). When we send people to help, it's with a distinct focus on what benefits the US and not Japan. In this case, as prior cases, Godzilla is a direct result of American nuclear activity - this time from just dumping nuclear waste into the ocean (which I think mixes their metaphors, but okay). The US then tries to obfuscate their culpability and solve the problem, ultimately, with a nuke on the heart of Tokyo.
That said, some of it feels a bit naive regarding US politics, and if you want a front row seat to what it must sound like when American actors are supposedly speaking flawless non-English languages in a movie, the English in this movie is not exactly without accent - except when they do the usual Toho bit of hiring some randos who seem like they came from a community playhouse.
All-in-all, I'm far more likely to put Godzilla Minus One in the hands of someone over 15 looking for a great Godzilla movie, but Shin Godzilla would be what I'd follow with. I do think this movie is truly worthy of the awards, and am glad it's getting this second run of consideration in theaters in the US.
And let us take a minute to salute Satomi Ishihara.
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