Shin godzilla
Coalition of chaos
released OUT NOW! 2017 | 12 | Blu-ray/dVd
Directors shinji Higuchi, Hideaki anno Cast Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, satomi Ishihara, ren Ôsugi
Godzilla is a huge part of western pop culture. Whether you watched the ’70s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, stepped on the big G’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or bought tickets to the movies, you could be forgiven for thinking he’s an American creation.
Shin Godzilla is here to tell you that’s very much not the case, returning the character to his roots to create a film that’s probably more rewarding if you’ve got a working knowledge of the modern Japanese political system.
It’s basically In The Loop with an occasional monster, as Godzilla’s existence is used to satirise governmental bureaucracy, cutting from shots of an evolving kaiju to conversations between superintendents, supervisory committees, scientists, bureau chiefs, ministers and cabinet secretaries, as they struggle to deal with the situation. Godzilla, once a nuclear allegory, here becomes a symbol of wider natural disaster.
If that all sounds a bit stuffy, it really isn’t – who knew you could get so much tension from red tape? For long-term fans, it’s heaven: a reboot that respects the past while bringing the character firmly into the modern world.
Extras Three very technical featurettes showcasing test footage, effects breakdowns and pre-vis sequences (66 minutes); trailers. Sam Ashurst
The Japanese word “shin” has a variety of different meanings, including “new”, “true”, “god” and “evolved”.