Superhero Media: Shin Godzilla

Ever watch a Kaiju film and wish it was more of an Art House feature? No? Just me and Hideaki Anno? Good thing he made Shin Godzilla specifically for me then! All kidding aside, the writer of Neon Genesis Evangelion created what is not so much a remake, but a stand-alone contemporary re-imagining of the original 1958 Godzilla. Whereas the original film was a metaphor for the devastation of nuclear weapons, Shin Godzilla tackles the problems of Japanese bureaucracy and the complications of modern government. When a mysterious blob detaches itself from the sea floor, the Japanese government is unable to respond in a timely manner as it sprouts legs and waddles across Tokyo, causing havoc and killing people in a mindless rampage. None of the experts have any ideas, or even willingness to attach their names to a potential failure, and with no documentation to instruct emergency services, officials flail and people die before the monster slips back into the water and vanishes. Politicians congratulate each other on a job well done, but one young Junior Secretary is concerned. 

Things move from bad to worse quickly when the monster, dubbed "Godzilla" by an obscure academic, resurfaces and starts changing into an unstoppable engine of destruction. When the Japanese fail to address the attack successfully, the USA invoke their treaty and move to drop a nuclear bomb on Tokyo, much to the horror of the Japanese. Thankfully, the young Junior Secretary is able to assemble a group of iconoclastic thinkers, wade through the red tape and deliver a solution in time to both save the country and make his career. Shin Godzilla is clearly a political statement in the way that most Kaiju cinema doesn't really try to be, with obviously scathing critique of the culture of Japanese government and particularly the "political class". Now, I'm not super up on Japanese politics, but I still identify with the idea of action being stalled by indecision and an over-adherence to policy, even in the face of crisis. Again, I doubt many people will be drawn into that sort of thing, in case you were more after Godzilla beating down another giant monster. 

Probably the strongest non-political aspect of Shin Godzilla is the design of Godzilla himself, which keeps many of the classic elements of the character, but mixes in a nice dash of body-horror. If you have a strong stomach and the time, take a look at some of the design drawings and model work (all on Google), I'm particularly impressed with the human-Godzilla hybrids growing out of the tail. I really cannot come up with a better epithet to describe Shin Godzilla than "Art-house Godzilla", as the film is really going for something highbrow; not just in spite of the presence of a giant, radioactive lizard, but because of what the character has come to represent. I don't often have the opportunity on this blog to discuss complex cinema, as it's rare that it falls into a relevant genre, so Shin Godzilla was a really refreshing watch for me in-between some of the crap I sit myself through. If you can cope with something a little more esoteric and cerebral, Shin Godzilla is really worth your time.