It's Not A Perfect Kaiju Movie, But It's A Pioneer For The Godzilla Franchise's Modern Era

Shin Godzilla took the world by storm in 2016, and the directing duo Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno delivered a one-of-a-kind experience. The film’s boldest choice is its primary flaw, but that critique doesn’t overshadow the art itself. Anno’s script never latches onto a single human character and the direction follows suit and remains at a distance. But all of that is in service of what all the original Godzilla movies have in common — making the monster the main character.

The commitment to not having a human centerpiece makes perfect sense. One of the most consistent urges in any fantasy adaptation is wanting a person to be the focus. There’s a lack of faith in a monster leading a film. Perhaps because it’s easier to have someone deliver exposition, or the studio doesn’t think the audience will be able to handle a protagonist who doesn’t look like them. An example is the Transformers franchise, which centers humans, but Transformers One is just as good without having to unnecessarily diverge from the source material.

Shin Godzilla Doesn’t Have A Human Main Character

That’s A Good & Bad Thing

In Shin Godzilla, no single performer gets an arc — only Godzilla technically serves as the main character. The protagonist is safety and the monster is the antagonist. On the one hand, this is a tool used by most of the original films, but we don’t spend enough time with Godzilla to make him a focal point. The film’s first act makes you think the Japanese forces trying to stop Godzilla will eventually thin out and reveal someone the movie will focus on. But that doesn’t happen, and the result is a film without an onscreen focal point.

Even the close-ups lack a certain gravitas because no one character is developed. This results in funny moments that are ultimately empty. And yet, Shin Godzilla‘s plot does not suffer from these choices. The film has more of an adventure arc. We are always moving forward, and we are always watching Godzilla evolve. The minor wins add up to a total victory. Pacing is not an issue with the film. Rather, Shin Godzilla is so propulsive that it breezes past every actor without centering itself.

The CGI is tough. While the budget of the American Godzilla movies dwarfs that of the Japanese production, Shin Godzilla has a few things working against it. Godzilla grows from a grotesque blood-spewing squirrel to the iconic skyscraper-sized monster. The design of the infant Godzilla is freaky in the best way, but the visual effects are all over the place. The scenes take place during the day, and the wreckage looks as fake as the monster. Separately, Adult Godzilla looks great, as do the lasers he shoots. The best of these are night scenes where the computer-animated elements are more hidden.

The wreckage looks fake – Godzilla looks great

The current Godzilla landscape is quietly thriving. Though it didn’t start with Shin Godzilla, no film did more to pioneer Godzilla as a critical darling this decade. 2014’s Godzilla was a financial success, and that universe is still alive and well, but the surrounding fanfare is more mainstream. Years later, we would get Godzilla Minus One and with it the confirmation that the Japanese films should be the standard for Godzilla films.