movie review

Shin Godzilla (2016)

the most beautiful moment in life- 11/29/23

Overview

Shin Godzilla (2016), also known as Godzilla: Resurgence, is directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi and produced by Toho. At first this seems like a regular Godzilla film, however, there is a reason why it won seven awards at the 2016 Japan Academy Prize. After 12 years of no Japanese Godzilla releases, Toho brought Godzilla back to its homeland, Japan. This film takes Godzilla back to its origins of being a monster of nature and a true monster instead of an ally of humanity like how America portrays Godzilla. Hideaki Anno, one of the directors, is also known as the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion which is a japanese mecha anime. You can very much see Annos influence through the portrayal of this iconic kaiju. Shin Godzilla updated the original origin story of Godzilla from the allegory of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in exchange for the origin of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tohoku earthquake (a 9.1 magnitude earthquake) and Tohoku tsunami.

A huge part of this movie is the political commentary. The movie contains a lot of criticism of the amount of bureaucratic red tape that surrounds the disasters and other horrible incidents. Most of Shin Godzilla, Id say even 75%, is bureaucratic meetings between government officials. These government officials are incredibly inept in dealing with Godzilla. These officials are incredibly indecisive and nervous to take action, which causes many casualties and horrific incidents. There is an issue of the governments inability to act quickly and resolutely in an unprecedented and fast evolving crisis. And when the government DOES respond the government chooses the easy route instead of preparing for this horrific beast and what it can cause.

Shin Godzilla has an underlying theme of the weakness and ineptness of humanity when confronted with this massive creature. The core message of this movie is that nuclear weapons will destroy us if we are not careful. Tomoyuki Tanaka, a producer of the earlier Godzilla films, describes the Godzilla films like this: The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the [atomic] bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind. Another huge section of the plot is focused on the scientists that are trying to convince the U.S to not drop a nuke on Japan to kill Godzilla. This role of atomic and nuclear usage is very akin to the horrors of World War II.

The Evolution

Now, one of the major aspects of this movie is the original idea for what Godzilla is. Shin Godzilla is an aquatic prehistoric creature that fed on nuclear waste. In the film, the name given to this beast, Gojira, is explained to mean incarnation of God in the language of Odo Island. The word Shin means new/true showing that this is what Godzilla is truly meant to be. Shin Godzilla goes through 5 different forms as it mutates and evolves throughout the movie.

First Form

Although the first form is not completely seen in the movie, we do see the creatures tail flail through the water. Shin Godzillas first form has a thinner and longer tail with a red body instead of the regular black or green. It does have the iconic dorsal fins. The concept art portrays this first form as almost a tadpole, with its fins and bulging eyes. The radioactive waste thrown into the sea, allowed this prehistoric creature to self mutate and continue to evolve.

Second Form

Shin Gozillas second form is one that we fully see. As Godzilla flops on land, we can see it has new small T-Rex limbs. Even now that the kaiju has legs, it is unable to walk as its legs are weak but continue to grow stronger as it evolves. Since it would most likely crush itself if it tried to walk this early, Shin Godzilla slithers around. The beasts neck and head have enlarged and lengthened considerably compared to its tadpole form. As this creature slithers around, the slits of gills on the neck are seen sloshing blood onto the ground. Godzillas eyes are wide and bulging and its mouth is constantly open. The red skin tone from its first form changes to a ugly mottled yellow and green color.

Third Form

As the military finally takes action, Shin Godzillas evolutionary fission starts to take action again. Now, the T-Rex arms become slightly longer and more claw-like. Finally being able to stand up, Godzilla is way larger and finally starts to resemble the iconic design with a darker colored skin tone. The third form still has the bulging eyes but has developed a ragged mouth with tons of sharp teeth. The dorsal spines now light up a bright red from Godzillas heat generation. However upon evolving, the kaiju returns to the sea and rests as its body cools down from evolving so rapidly.

Fourth Form

The fourth form of Shin Godzilla looks the most like this iconic kaijus design. The arms and head are more developed. Godzilla has doubled in size, with massive legs and a muscular body. The scariest part of this form is when Godzilla uses his atomic breath; which is where Godzillas jaw unhinges and the bottom jaw separates into two sections as the breath goes from orange fire to the horrifying purple of the atomic breath. Shin Godzillas spines are also able to fire multiple purple atomic rays. Other elements of the fourth form are more glowing vein-like structures all over Godzillas body and the large looming tail which can also shoot an atomic laser. This atomic breath levels out an entire section of Tokyo. However this incredible use of energy causes Godzilla to enter an almost hibernation-like state. The haunting image of this giant beast standing still among the destruction it's caused is so chilling.

Fifth Form

Now, many people who have seen Shin Godzilla may be confused. 5th form? What are you talking about? Godzilla gets frozen right? Well, you are kinda right. In the very final shot you see Shin Godzillas tail which seems to have a mass of black skeletal humanoid-Godzilla hybrids reaching away from the tail. This image. Scares. The. Shit. Outta. Me. Its so fucking haunting omg. So, this suggests that Godzillas next form would be a more humanoid one to continue to adapt. Also there is the point to consider that a deleted scene shows Godzillas skin and gore having a MIND OF ITS OWN. SO MAYBE GODZILLA WAS MAKING AN ARMY?! I dont really know and we wont truly ever know as Toho denied having a Shin Godzilla sequel. The mutation ability that Shin Godzilla has is in my opinion one of the scariest parts of the movie as it is hinted that Godzillas evolution has no limits and can perhaps continue indefinitely. Ugh gives me shivers.

Now! Onto some of my favorite parts that don't require a whole paragraph!

OMG I seriously love the government aspect of this movie, its so interesting and a wonderful look at politics and humanity.
THE EVOLVING ASPECT AHHH. Its so fucking cool and is insanely scary. The horrific nature of an unstoppable mutating beast is just; bone chilling.
The roar. AHHHH. It's so good at being so scary but also making it look like once again that Shin Godzilla is in constant agony. The fact Toho used the 1954 roar for the third form and a Gojira movie from the 60s as the roar for the fourth form? Ugh perfection *chefs kiss*
The atomic breath scene. The operatic music with haunting vocals. The purple glow of the breath. It is just a masterpiece of cinema.
"Perhaps its time we did as we wanted." UGH SUCH A GOOD QUOTE. Finally, the Japanese government is taking its own course of action instead of being led by other nations.
We love France helping out :D
"Gojira has been completely silenced." Silenced. What a terrifying way to put it. Because he isnt dead! He is frozen but not dead. And the fact that the bomb timer will start off where it stopped if he comes back? Literally things of nightmares.
"This country rose up through scrap-and-build. It’ll be done again." SCREAMING AND CRYING. This is so good. Like, wow. I cant even begin to describe how this quote makes me feel.
"Do as you like." Now this quote is big on the use and dangers of nuclear weapons. As the guy who predicted Godzilla knows that humanity will simply *do as [they] like* to take care of this beast.

Conclusion

I. Love. This. Movie. It is my favorite Gozilla film, one of my favorite monster films, and one of my favorites of all time. The dynamic themes, the soundtrack, the characters, the depth, the Godzilla design!!! I can go on and on about things I love from this movie. It genuinely makes me so happy and is a movie I will gladly watch over and over again. This Godzilla concept and design is 100% my favorite and I hope *pleading* that Toho will make another masterpiece like this. *Looks hopefully over at Godzilla: Minus One releasing December 1, 2023.* Anyways. This is it for my first movie review. Thank you for reading and go watch this horrific and thrilling movie!!!