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Notes -
I'm very late on this, but I recently watched Shin Godzilla (on a flight to Tokyo, if you can believe it) and thought it was very good. Spoiler warning for an 8 year old movie. While the plot in the first 2/3 consisted mainly of meetings, meetings about meetings, and debriefs of meetings about meetings, I thoroughly enjoyed it. First, it served as a satire of the endless bureaucracies that exist in politics. One scene that stood out was when the Japanese Prime Minister announced publicly that the disturbance within Tokyo Bay was geothermal in nature 20 seconds before news footage showed the tail of Godzilla breaking the water. Some of the characters even comment on the endless red tape surrounding the event. Second, it served as a suspense building tool. Whereas we already know what's to come (if only by reading the title), the characters are woefully unaware of their situation and therefore completely unprepared. Several notable scenes that were particularly well done are:
The meetings in general early on in the movie. The meeting scenes, especially the ones with dozens of participants, are blocked, shot, and acted very well.
When Godzilla first makes landfall and is shown in full. The grotesque expression and design were very striking, as well as the gallons of blood that flowed from the gills. Something about the eyes is both disturbing and oddly cute.
When Godzilla reaches his 4th form and rampages through Tokyo while the classic theme (originally the Japanese Defense Force theme in the original Godzilla movie) played. This scene really reminded me of the original Godzilla movie. There's a sense of dread, awe, wonder, and doom that has not been present in a Godzilla movie for a long time. This is definitely something that the Legendary Godzilla movies are missing. Godzilla is so often portrayed as a defender of Earth nowadays that it's easy to forget that he started off as a physical representation of the power of the atomic bomb. I have not yet seen Godzilla Minus One yet, but I'm hoping for a similar feeling in that movie.
The Atomic Breath Scene.
All in all, a very welcome addition to the Godzilla franchise and probably one of the best movies possible to bring Godzilla into a new Era. Based on reviews of Godzilla Minus One, it looks like the Reiwa Era is off to a fantastic start for Godzilla.
My Top 5 Godzilla Movies (in no order):
Godzilla
Shin Godzilla
Godzilla vs Destoroyah
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Godzilla: Final Wars
Honorable mention to Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
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