“Shin Godzilla” Review
After watching “Godzilla Minus One” I did a little bit of reading and there was a lot of talk about how “Shin Godzilla” was just as good and was one of the best in the franchise and had brought it to new heights. Unfortunately I don’t feel that’s the case, as there’s some pretty big gaps between what they’re trying to do and what ultimately ended up in the film. The first and largest issue I have is that the film is clearly trying to make a statement about the inefficiencies of the Japanese government and how frustratingly slow they can be at responding to things in an effective manner. Those may be valid concerns, but maybe a Godzilla film isn’t the best film to make that statement in, especially one that’s portraying the initial encounter with a massive monster that can knock over entire city blocks with the wave of his tail.
What it does have going for it is a fantastic representation of how the military would handle the situation, all the way up to asking the US to bomb the shit out of the monster until it’s turned into dust. There’s some cool science fiction explanations about why the bombing doesn’t work, as well as some extremely cool special effects during Godzilla’s defense from the aerial assault with a new (to me at least) power for the king of monsters.
It’s still a fun movie and well worth your time, it’s just not as good as Minus One.
