Whats That Coming Over The Hill?

Lets start this post with a little factoid relating to the topic at hand shall we. The name Gojira (thats Godzilla to us non Japanese speaking folks) is a portmanteau of the words gorira (gorilla) and kujira (whale) and is an apt name for the King of Monsters as it was as a cross between these two creatures that he was originally described.

Now before we get into the meat and bones of this post, which is to review Shin Godzilla (aka Godzilla Resurgence) I have to admit that my first taste of the character was by way of the 1980s cartoon series that saw Godzilla team with a group of humans to battle a vast array of evilness, a cartoon that was in my young eyes epic despite the fact that it gave us the godawful Godzuki. Not that I minded it at the time of course as not unlike Scrappy Doo teaming with his uncle Scooby in my childish wonder I did not see these additions as anything but great, of course my opinion has changed now that I am an adult and know better.

The actual genesis of Godzilla however dates back to 1954 and the creative minds of Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsubaraya. It was in that same year that the creature made his first film appearance in a movie titled simply Godzilla and over the next 50 years the Toho company would produce a total of 28 movies for the big bad fire breathing wrecking machine. As a side note I should point out that many things have changed over the years regarding both Godzillas size and skill set so I realise that he may not always have breathed fire but I digress.

It wasn't only in Japanese cinema that Godzilla would make waves (no pun intended) as just 2 years after his debut Hollywood would get in on the act (even back then originality was not their strong suit) and release Godzilla King of the Monsters, although I should point out that the director of the Japanese original Honda was also involved in the first 3 American movies to be made starring his creation.

Most movie goers however will have had their first experience of Godzilla on the big screen by way of Roland Emmerichs 1998 Godzilla, a film that did for the monster what Josh Trank would do years later for the Fantastic Four franchise. Hell I consider myself a geek (even being crowned the King of Geeks at one point) but even I will admit that I have never seen any of the Japanese releases, but then I prefer my cinema to have a J Horror vibe about it.

Toho would release 6 of their movies after Emmerichs abomination but would then go quiet following 2004s Godzilla Final Wars. In fact the next time we would see the monster on screen would be 2014s Godzilla which was directed by Gareth Edwards. Now I use the term seen on screen loosely as for the majority of the film you hardly see Godzilla at all as the film centres more around the two MUTOs (massive unidentified terrestrial organisms) than it does the beast we actually all paid to see. Add to that the huge marketing campaign that clearly hinted at a big role for Bryan Cranston (who was hot off the hit series Breaking Bad) when in fact he died after the opening act and it was fair to say that most of us felt cheated.

Not that this deterred Hollywood however as there are currently two more Godzilla movies in development, the originally named Godzilla 2 and more intriguingly Godzilla vs King Kong who himself is set for a return to our movie screens next year looking so big and bad that he could eat Peter Jacksons Kong for breakfast. Toho weren't going to take this lying down of course and so they began work on the 29th movie in their franchise which is a reboot of sorts and is of course the aforementioned Shin Godzilla which saw its release this year.

So to the plot of the film. We begin with the discovery of an abandoned yacht in Tokyo Bay which is attacked by an unseen force before quickly shifting to the local government having to deal with the collapse of the Bays Aqua Line which is caused by an unknown entity. At first the whole thing is put down to be an online hoax but it soon becomes clear that there is some sort of massive creature causing the destruction, this becomes undeniable as it swims inland through rivers and smashes the hell out of everything in its path. Fear not though as experts all agree that the animal is far too big to be able to make landfall as it would not be able to support its own weight, true to form however the experts actually don't know their ass from their elbow (its a British saying to mean clueless) and Godzilla does enter the city.

Now there are two things to note here. Firstly this is no CGI Godzilla like you have seen in the last two American films, no this is more of the man in a rubber suit variety (although it is actually motion capture but does look like the old school style of monster that is synonymous with the Japanese Godzilla movies). Secondly the creature that first comes out of the water is more fish like and moves around on its belly although it soon evolves to be able to stand upright before running off back to the ocean. Now I have no idea if this has been done before in the Japanese franchise (hang my head in shame) but I for one think that it is a very cool idea that is played off brilliantly in this film.

Back to the story and its not long before Godzilla returns to land although he is now looking more like you'd expect and is twice the size that he was the last time we saw him. This spells trouble for the fine people of Tokyo and the surrounding area as he just knocks down buildings left and right as he makes a beeline for Tokyo itself. During this time we also discover that Godzillas existence is the result of American under water contamination (which ties in with the original creation of Godzilla which was due to Japanese fears of Nuclear weapons following the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and the good old U S of A offer military assistance to the Japanese providing they get first dibs on studying the animal afterwards.

So the collective forces hit Godzilla with everything they've got which goes about as well as you would imagine when Godzilla fires off atomic rays from his mouth and dorsal fins absolutely decimating everything in his way, turning the surrounding area into a fireballed wasteland. Luckily enough after kicking the crap out of the best mankind has to offer Godzilla enters a dormant state in order to recharge himself, this gives us the opportunity to theorize that the best way to defeat the monster is to freeze him, although the Japanese have a limited window to put this to the test before the Americans will drop an atomic bomb on Godzillas head (art really does imitate life it would seem).

As they put their plan into action Godzilla reawakens and a desperate race against time begins as the American bomb approaches but thankfully for the people of Tokyo the cooling plan works and Godzilla winds up being nothing more than a bloody great big statue in the middle of the city which I guess will have to be rebuilt around him. The Americans head home but make their stance clear that if Godzilla reanimates they will not hesitate to blow Tokyo to smithereens. The closing image of the film is many small Godzilla like creatures splitting off of the monsters tail.......dun dun dun!!!

So that was Shin Godzilla a movie that I realise may not be for everyone but should be essential viewing for anyone who is a fan of monster movies and anyone who was disappointed with Edwards' entry into the franchise.

There will be those who don't like the aesthetic of the monster (my wife thought it looked ridiculous) but as a both a nod to the original source material and a continuation of the Toho style I think it really works well. Mixing this old school monster with modern day explosions and effects is a master stroke and was what I was most looking forward to when it came to my anticipation for this film and again it really doesn't disappoint. In fact I came away from watching Shin Godzilla with the desire to go back and watch the old Toho movies as with this one film they have converted me to the Toho way and they have me eagerly awaiting the next entry into their franchise which has been hinted at possibly seeing the light of day as early as next year.

So to scoring Shin Godzilla which I can hand on heart state is one of my movies of the year, right up there with Civil War and Deadpool and certainly better than Bvs and Suicide Squad. With that in mind I have to give it 8.5 to 9 out of 10 which I'm sure will raise some eyebrows but I genuinely enjoyed it that much. Go on, do yourself a favour and check out Shin Godzilla, what have you got to lose?