Shin Godzilla - The General Discussion Thread

[ToxicLove]

I felt the hype for G14 too, especially when that teaser from ComicCon leaked. However, as the premiere drew closer and I finally saw the film, it didn't leave much of an impact. A thunderstorm was promised, and out came a little fart of rain. Granted, that's just me and what I was expecting.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Most the hype I had for Shin was mostly the fact that it was being built up as the film I wanted G14 to be. Except for a few minor gripes it largely met my expectations. For one thing Shin's "reality" felt far more real than G14's "reality".

[MikeSTZillak]

Just curious, is the name "Godzilla: Resurgence" used anywhere beside a poster?

[eabaker]

Most the hype I had for Shin was mostly the fact that it was being built up as the film I wanted G14 to be. Except for a few minor gripes it largely met my expectations. For one thing Shin's "reality" felt far more real than G14's "reality".

Yeah, I felt like Shin gave us much more than movie that G14's advertising promised (but with more energy and cooler photography and editing).

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

I definitely reminisce more about Shin than G14, I liked G14 at the time and now I'm sorta mixed on it, I loved Shin since I saw it at the theater and I still love it. Such a great film, nearly everything about it is sublime.

And the sound design alongside the use of older tracks was great. Couldn't care less if they stuck out, they just added to the film's energy and unusualness.

[UltramanGoji]

I thought we were just talking about the hype and buildup, not the actual films. Shin was definitely the better film but independent of that, G14's pre-release hype blew Shin's away monumentally.

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

I have just rewatched Shin Godzilla for my third viewing; second since seeing it in theaters back in 2016. Unfortunately, I do not see my opinion of this movie trending upwards all that much. After initially Shin Godzilla, I had a couple of major gripes with the film ranging from its portrayal of Godzilla, its excessive use of dialogue/political banter, and explorations of themes concerning foreign presence in Japan. While I believe my third initial issue with this film has been resolved by me accepting the fact that this movie is intended for a Japanese audience, my first two issues have not faded with multiple viewings.

I can understand that the excessive political banter is done on purpose to express the red tape that plagues the Japanese government; however, the con of this is that such discussion becomes the majority of the film. I believe that focusing almost exclusively on politics and following politicians throughout the movie leaves the audience without a character to truly sympathize with and latch on to. There is no chance for character development because there is a need to address the problem of Godzilla. Like many of you, I cannot help but compare this film to the two it most closely resembles: Gojira and Return of Godzilla. Both of those films succeed in having characters that are engaging and are personable, while we do not have the opportunity to learn more about Yaguchi beyond his political ambitions. This is a shame as I cannot engage myself in the majority of this movie because it is nothing more than meetings and the "outcasts" working to solve the issue at hand, Godzilla.

And now we arrive at one of my other issue, Godzilla himself. I can accept that the creative team behind this movie decided to do something radically different with Godzilla, which I applaud. It would be hypocritical of me to bash this Godzilla for simply that if at the same time, I am a big fan of movies with different origins of Godzilla like GMK and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. I will also commend this film for having one of the best scenes in the entire series, being Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo. My main problem is Godzilla's screen time relative to the political banter and what he does during the time he is on. Until the atomic ray scene, Godzilla does nothing more than wander obliviously through Tokyo with little to no reaction. It is a popular theory that many fans gravitate to Godzilla because there is something we see in him that allows us to have a personal connection with the kaiju. This could be standing out in the world to just wishing young could destroy your problems like Godzilla. Giving Godzilla little to no personality in this film prevents the viewer from making that connection like many of us have done with preceding films. In my opinion, it is the driving force behind why we all rewatch this movies and call ourselves Godzilla fans. At this point, I have no issue with his design, his abilities, and his origins; however, I don't think I will be able to make that pivotal connection with Godzilla like I have for other films.

The combination of an impersonal human plot and Godzilla prevent this film from surpassing Gojira and Return of Godzilla. Smaller pet peeves stilled exist for me such as odd English dialogue spoken by the Japanese cast and the usage of old SFX sounds, which take me out of the film whenever I hear them (not as bad as stock footage though). I do believe that this is one of the better Godzilla films out there and I do believe that the creators behind this movie had a deep appreciation for Godzilla. After all, this is my own gripes with the movie and I am sure there are many out there who would disagree with me.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I have just rewatched Shin Godzilla for my third viewing; second since seeing it in theaters back in 2016. Unfortunately, I do not see my opinion of this movie trending upwards all that much. After initially Shin Godzilla, I had a couple of major gripes with the film ranging from its portrayal of Godzilla, its excessive use of dialogue/political banter, and explorations of themes concerning foreign presence in Japan. While I believe my third initial issue with this film has been resolved by me accepting the fact that this movie is intended for a Japanese audience, my first two issues have not faded with multiple viewings.

I can understand that the excessive political banter is done on purpose to express the red tape that plagues the Japanese government; however, the con of this is that such discussion becomes the majority of the film. I believe that focusing almost exclusively on politics and following politicians throughout the movie leaves the audience without a character to truly sympathize with and latch on to. There is no chance for character development because there is a need to address the problem of Godzilla. Like many of you, I cannot help but compare this film to the two it most closely resembles: Gojira and Return of Godzilla. Both of those films succeed in having characters that are engaging and are personable, while we do not have the opportunity to learn more about Yaguchi beyond his political ambitions. This is a shame as I cannot engage myself in the majority of this movie because it is nothing more than meetings and the "outcasts" working to solve the issue at hand, Godzilla.

And now we arrive at one of my other issue, Godzilla himself. I can accept that the creative team behind this movie decided to do something radically different with Godzilla, which I applaud. It would be hypocritical of me to bash this Godzilla for simply that if at the same time, I am a big fan of movies with different origins of Godzilla like GMK and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. I will also commend this film for having one of the best scenes in the entire series, being Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo. My main problem is Godzilla's screen time relative to the political banter and what he does during the time he is on. Until the atomic ray scene, Godzilla does nothing more than wander obliviously through Tokyo with little to no reaction. It is a popular theory that many fans gravitate to Godzilla because there is something we see in him that allows us to have a personal connection with the kaiju. This could be standing out in the world to just wishing young could destroy your problems like Godzilla. Giving Godzilla little to no personality in this film prevents the viewer from making that connection like many of us have done with preceding films. In my opinion, it is the driving force behind why we all rewatch this movies and call ourselves Godzilla fans. At this point, I have no issue with his design, his abilities, and his origins; however, I don't think I will be able to make that pivotal connection with Godzilla like I have for other films.

The combination of an impersonal human plot and Godzilla prevent this film from surpassing Gojira and Return of Godzilla. Smaller pet peeves stilled exist for me such as odd English dialogue spoken by the Japanese cast and the usage of old SFX sounds, which take me out of the film whenever I hear them (not as bad as stock footage though). I do believe that this is one of the better Godzilla films out there and I do believe that the creators behind this movie had a deep appreciation for Godzilla. After all, this is my own gripes with the movie and I am sure there are many out there who would disagree with me.

While I disagree with your opinion, I appreciate your semi-original perspective on being able able to have a relationship as a viewer with Godzilla in previous entries. I think that Godzilla was intentionally portrayed as probably the most barebones he was, in order to effectively make him creepy, and more liken him to the Fukishima disaster. Notice that Godzilla in the film gradually loses his animalistic nature throughout the film. I would argue that actually, for many Japanese people who saw the film, while they could not identify with Godzilla, they could easily identify with the shock of what was going on, and how the government responses gradually changed and evolved over time. Godzilla, unlike other films, is directly the antagonist, and a more force of nature. I can see why people would like it less on that basis.

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

I have just rewatched Shin Godzilla for my third viewing; second since seeing it in theaters back in 2016. Unfortunately, I do not see my opinion of this movie trending upwards all that much. After initially Shin Godzilla, I had a couple of major gripes with the film ranging from its portrayal of Godzilla, its excessive use of dialogue/political banter, and explorations of themes concerning foreign presence in Japan. While I believe my third initial issue with this film has been resolved by me accepting the fact that this movie is intended for a Japanese audience, my first two issues have not faded with multiple viewings.

I can understand that the excessive political banter is done on purpose to express the red tape that plagues the Japanese government; however, the con of this is that such discussion becomes the majority of the film. I believe that focusing almost exclusively on politics and following politicians throughout the movie leaves the audience without a character to truly sympathize with and latch on to. There is no chance for character development because there is a need to address the problem of Godzilla. Like many of you, I cannot help but compare this film to the two it most closely resembles: Gojira and Return of Godzilla. Both of those films succeed in having characters that are engaging and are personable, while we do not have the opportunity to learn more about Yaguchi beyond his political ambitions. This is a shame as I cannot engage myself in the majority of this movie because it is nothing more than meetings and the "outcasts" working to solve the issue at hand, Godzilla.

And now we arrive at one of my other issue, Godzilla himself. I can accept that the creative team behind this movie decided to do something radically different with Godzilla, which I applaud. It would be hypocritical of me to bash this Godzilla for simply that if at the same time, I am a big fan of movies with different origins of Godzilla like GMK and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. I will also commend this film for having one of the best scenes in the entire series, being Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo. My main problem is Godzilla's screen time relative to the political banter and what he does during the time he is on. Until the atomic ray scene, Godzilla does nothing more than wander obliviously through Tokyo with little to no reaction. It is a popular theory that many fans gravitate to Godzilla because there is something we see in him that allows us to have a personal connection with the kaiju. This could be standing out in the world to just wishing young could destroy your problems like Godzilla. Giving Godzilla little to no personality in this film prevents the viewer from making that connection like many of us have done with preceding films. In my opinion, it is the driving force behind why we all rewatch this movies and call ourselves Godzilla fans. At this point, I have no issue with his design, his abilities, and his origins; however, I don't think I will be able to make that pivotal connection with Godzilla like I have for other films.

The combination of an impersonal human plot and Godzilla prevent this film from surpassing Gojira and Return of Godzilla. Smaller pet peeves stilled exist for me such as odd English dialogue spoken by the Japanese cast and the usage of old SFX sounds, which take me out of the film whenever I hear them (not as bad as stock footage though). I do believe that this is one of the better Godzilla films out there and I do believe that the creators behind this movie had a deep appreciation for Godzilla. After all, this is my own gripes with the movie and I am sure there are many out there who would disagree with me.

While I disagree with your opinion, I appreciate your semi-original perspective on being able able to have a relationship as a viewer with Godzilla in previous entries. I think that Godzilla was intentionally portrayed as probably the most barebones he was, in order to effectively make him creepy, and more liken him to the Fukishima disaster. Notice that Godzilla in the film gradually loses his animalistic nature throughout the film. I would argue that actually, for many Japanese people who saw the film, while they could not identify with Godzilla, they could easily identify with the shock of what was going on, and how the government responses gradually changed and evolved over time. Godzilla, unlike other films, is directly the antagonist, and a more force of nature. I can see why people would like it less on that basis.

I can see what you mean with the portayal of Godzilla in this film as intentional. Back in 2016, I actually had the opportunity to receive a lecture from Shogo Tomiyama about Godzilla with my study abroad group and I was able to ask about how Godzilla would be portrayed in this film in comparison to 2014. He told me that this new Godzilla would be much scarier like G54. I am aware of the parallels between Shin Godzilla and Fukushima, but perhaps my knowledge of this event is too limited and as such, that is not a pay-off that I have yet to have with this movie.

[Vandarker]

Hey you guys heard that the USJ Shin vs Evangelion ride is going to feature an exclusive new Ghidorah design and a figure accompanying it?

Added in 1 hour 25 minutes 9 seconds:

"Shin Ghidorah"

[Gojirawars 03]

Hey you guys heard that the USJ Shin vs Evangelion ride ia goinf to feature an exclusive new Ghidorah design and a figure accompanying it?

Added in 1 hour 25 minutes 9 seconds:

"Shin Ghidorah"

That looks insane, actually. Like Showa/Heisei Ghidorah, but more demonic.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Wow, Toho is really letting loose eh? A whole new King Ghidorah just for a limited ride! I love how the Showa manes made a return, can't wait to see any pics of him in action.

[UltramanGoji]

I can’t wait for the usual sites to get some of those in. I’ll gladly pay the likely expensive prices to own that.

[Gawdziller1954]

Hey you guys heard that the USJ Shin vs Evangelion ride is going to feature an exclusive new Ghidorah design and a figure accompanying it?

Added in 1 hour 25 minutes 9 seconds:

"Shin Ghidorah"

Hawt damn!

[cloverfan98]

Hey you guys heard that the USJ Shin vs Evangelion ride is going to feature an exclusive new Ghidorah design and a figure accompanying it?

Added in 1 hour 25 minutes 9 seconds:

"Shin Ghidorah"

Well I'll be a sun of gun! Thats kind of a cool design but as "twisted" as I would imagine a Shin version of KG would be. NEED THAT FIGURE THO.

[Maritonic]

I can’t wait for the usual sites to get some of those in. I’ll gladly pay the likely expensive prices to own that.

Normally I pass on some of these exclusives, but I'm with you on this. This is way too cool to miss.

[_JNavs_]

I agree, wow that is such a cool figure and design. It's like a modernized yet grotesquely beautiful Showa Ghidorah.

[Vandarker]

I like the look of those alien-looking transparent wings

[Gawdziller1954]

I like the look of those alien-looking transparent wings

It's BEAUTIFUL

[DirektorSplennic]

So the design is completely exclusive to a ride I'll most likely never get to go on, and the figure that they made to accompany said ride is absolutely beautiful and is far superior to the MMS KOTM King Ghidorah in terms of a quality figure.

I think I shifted to an alternate reality.