Shin Godzilla

Director- Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi

Cast- Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara.

Country of Origin- Japan

Discs- 2

Distributor- Funimation

Reviewer- Tyler Miller

Date- 10/25/2017

The Film (4.5/5)

Suddenly one day, The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line is floods over and starts spreading to the nearby cities. Fearing disaster, The Japanese government come together to figure out what’s going on. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa) suspects that the flood was started by a mysterious giant creature. He is soon proven right when a giant sea monster comes ashore. After the monster evolves and destroys a huge chunk of Japan, a crack team of misfits and scientists are pulled together to stop the beast that they have now named Godzilla!

SHIN GODZILLA is one of the most daring and unusual entries in the long running Godzilla series from Toho studios. It marks a drastic change in style and hosts a wide variety of bold choices that makes it one of the most unique monster films in years. Due to the success of the 2014 American Godzilla movie, it seemed fitting for Toho to release its new take on the creature for a monster happy audience. But it’s choice of creative team was at once inspired and risky. Luckily the bet paid off.

With the basis being a complete reboot/ Remake, the script completely deletes all the previous films and gives the film a fresh start. Inspired by the recent disasters of the Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear crisis, the movie focused on the horror of such events and how the Government is stuck in Red tape to protect itself. 

It a daring move, Toho selected maverick Anime director Hideaki Anno to write and co-direct the movie. Anno is most famous for his anime juggernaut NEON GENESIS EVENGELION, A show that mixed Kaiju action, mech battles, and crippling depression to form one of the most polarizing and influential animes of all time. Anno being a massive Kaiju fan mixed his visual style of detail obsessed closeups, labels, and striking staging with classic Monster thrills. Also handling the script, he wisely avoided the theory heavy and depression deconstructing of EVA. Co-Directing with Anno, is Shinji Higuchi, who recently had a hit with the live action ATTACK ON TITAN films, handling special effects. The movie is mixes standard suit techniques with new CGI that Higuchi smoothed out in AOT.

The big worry on everyone’s minds was the first full on CGI Japanese Godzilla instead of the famous suitmation. While a suit was used in some key parts, The CGI stands out well and doesn’t feel cheap. It’s expertly layer and feels like a living breathing creature. As for the rest of the style, Anno’s script also pushes grim humor, genuine horror, thrilling action, and almost DR. STRANGELOVE levels of political insanity. A run ragging gag throughout the film is the maddeningly obsessive subtitles and labels that appear on everything from key members of the Japanese Government (a trick famously used by Kinji Fukasaku in his Yakuza epics), to weapons. Giving us exact types of Missiles, guns, and garment. To add to this, when various men die, the subtitles correct themselves with people being raised in rank.

And of course, one of the coolest highlights of the production is mixtape score by Shiro Sagisu. He mixes ques from Various older Godzilla films, EVA, and some haunting new tracks, to give this movie a one of a kind soundtrack. Speaking of refences and music, SHIN GODZILLA is packed to the edge with cameos by famous genre actors, visual winks, and even older sound effects from the Golden age of Toho. The only big complaint that could be pointed out that does lessen the film is a hammy and awkward performance by Satomi Ishihara, who plays the American aid to the team. Her first language is supposed to be English, but her trouble with the script, one liners, and over all valley girl attitude was a poor direction choice by Anno.

Audio/Video (5/5)

Funimation’s Blu-ray is a feast for the eyes and ears with one of this year’s best-looking releases. There’s two main audio tracks included. First up is the 3.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD mix. The track is near perfect, with a rich sound mix that highlights the layered audio, of new effects, with retro mono and bombastic score. There’s no hiss or pops. Also included is a decent English dub track that is 3.1 Dolby TrueHD as well. Since the film is dialogue heavy, this track may help some viewers with the complex subplots. Not my first choice but a fantastic job all around. English subtitles are included with both.

The 1080p HD is simply amazing. The black levels are smooth, the picture is sharply focused, and of course the spectacle on display looks near perfect. 

Extras (2/5)

Funimation does gives some extras, but there too far and in between for my taste. The main extra is a 30-minute Godzilla vs the Nerds interview with key members of the US promotional staff discussing the film and geeking out over it. While it’s a fun piece, I just wish we could’ve got more global trailers and behind the scenes footage. Also included is a trailer gallery for some of Funimation’s other releases.

Overall (4.5/5)

Toho and the partnership of Anno and Higuchi and given us one of the most stunning Monster films in recent memory. This reimagined Godzilla is truly a creature of horror, and the layered plot gives viewers something to rewatch repeatedly. Funimation’s disc may be light on extras, but the presentation is out of this world. If you’re a fan of Japanese cinema or Godzilla, go pick this up asap. Highly recommended!