Shin Godzilla’s plot sounds familiar enough — a giant lizard attacks Tokyo — but it’s the film’s substance and nuanced delivery that set it apart from every Godzilla film produced by Japan’s Toho film company save Gojira, the dark, cautionary Japanese movie that introduced the monster in 1954. The series has made a complete cycle with Shin Godzilla (“Shin” is a multiple entendre, giving the title several meanings including “New Godzilla,” “True Godzilla” and “God Godzilla”). And for the first time in more than a decade, a Japanese Godzilla film will enjoy a release in U.S. theaters. It plays at two suburban Cincinnati theaters at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday (Oct. 11-13).
This newest film is a reboot of the series, acting as if no Godzilla films have occurred and the thought of a giant mutated dinosaur has never crossed anyone’s minds. In Japanese with English subtitles, it’s showing as a limited-engagement presentation at two area theaters. There actually is a man in a Godzilla suit (Mansai Nomura) in the movie — the costume was used for motion capture; convincing CGI effects are layered atop the suit to add depth and detail, which lend a more realistic set of movements to Godzilla’s attack on Tokyo.
Previous Godzilla films have the tendency to rely on the genre tropes of science fiction and fantasy films. Each new title would introduce monsters made only for the sake of fighting Godzilla, therefore subverting the anti-nuclear weapons message of the original 1954 film and relegating Godzilla to a simple champion of tournament fight. Entertaining, but shallow.
Shin Godzilla pits the titular beast, which is more a force of nature than a character, against humankind. The stakes are high and many people are killed by Godzilla in this film — it’s an apocalyptic disaster movie, not unlike Dante’s Peak or Deep Impact.
The human cast of Shin Godzilla is a delight to follow as they try to prevent Tokyo’s downfall. Rando Yaguchi, played by Hiroki Hasegawa, is the emotional center of the film. He is a government official who marvels at the ineptitude of bureaucrats in a time of true crisis. Taking a stand against the inaction of the Japanese prime minister (portrayed by Ren Ohsugi), Yaguchi teams up with an American diplomat played by Satomi Ishihara as Tokyo appeals to the world to help destroy this monster without obliterating the entire island.
Made in the emotional wake of the Fukushima nuclear reactor crisis of 2011, Shin Godzilla is a movie people are meant to discuss after viewing. It’s not a throwaway “popcorn film” meant to fill theater seats and be forgotten as soon as the credits roll. Directors Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, who have both worked on monster movies before, bring an elegance to Godzilla that hasn’t been seen in more than half a century.
It’s undeniable the current global climate begs for a swift reminder of how very little our squabbling may seem to a god that rages on Earth. Godzilla is portrayed as a punishment for the sins of our species. If the 2014 American reboot of Godzilla made people say, “What are we going to do?” when they see Godzilla, Shin Godzilla’s terrifying beast makes us ask, “What have we done?” This is an intelligent film that knows how to manipulate its audience’s emotions and does so with frightful alacrity.
There are no psychic brainwaves or icy lasers to save the city from Godzilla’s wrath this time around, only the weapons of mass destruction that helped to create the beast. In Shin Godzilla, slaying the dragon means sacrificing Tokyo. We as an audience are able to see men in positions of power make ill-informed decisions that affect the lives of an entire population, while only thinking about their popularity with pundits. We see sycophants catering to their superiors and quietly hope they’re eaten first.
The film asks if it’s better to make a drastic decision because it’s what you believe what must be done, or if you make a decision based on the whims of history. There’s much that audiences will discuss aside from the film’s exemplary special effects, especially the significance of the shocking final image in the film.
If you find yourself intrigued with Shin Godzilla, it’s essential to support this film in theaters and see Shin Godzilla while we can. Not that a radioactive fire-breathing dragon that stands nearly 400-feet-tall is hard to miss. Grade: A
SHIN GODZILLA screens 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday at Rave Cinemas in Florence and Milford.
This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2016.