Absolutely brilliant

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

If you can only watch one of the "new generation" Godzilla movies, this should be your choice. It has the heavy impact message of the original remade for the modern day with believable characters (and if you've lived in Japan like me you'll know what I mean) and an interesting take on the genre. The plot -- humanity vs an unknown force of nature -- is a good one that far exceeds the typical "popcorn action plot" of monster-vs-monster movies. My only complaint is that the CGI for the initial appearance of Godzilla could have been done better. However it's a minor, fleeting annoyance.When it comes to Godzilla movies, Japan does them best. Watch this to see why.

Some of these reviews are just crazy! This movie is slow and weird, more like a weird giant monster movie without the "Godzilla" feel to it at all.The CGI was impressive in some parts, but the animation was horrible! Even when they got it right, they got it wrong. When I first saw the monster I was thinking "please, oh please don't let this be Godzilla!" It was like some gross dead fish thing crawling up out of the ocean operated like a cheap Chinese dragon on New Years -- literally. Godzilla's eyes were gross, fishy, dead, cheap, toy-like, and his body severely malformed. Through the movie, Godzilla transforms nonsensically from this mindless, dead fish thing into a manga comic god of some kind. It can shoot laser like beams from cracks in it body with supreme precision without looking or trying. I could go on and on with how gross it was, matched by silly, goofy animation.I think that the movie was trying to say that Godzilla was not a typical giant monster, but rather a demon from hell composed of deformed corpses of demons, apparently sent from hell to bring more hell upon the earth, not as punishment or as a life lesson, but as the opposite. It was like it was in complete agreement with mankind's self-destruction and was here to aid humanity in this process.They stop the creature basically with glue which they say is blood coagulant, but obviously it is not. It is some kind of weird glue that freezes. They have to pump more of it into Godzilla than the total volume of the monster. So embarrassing to watch!Obviously the real monster of the show was the Japanese government which was portrayed as frozen in extremely anemic bureaucracy. These guys would take years of mindless rules and procedures to write the rules and procedures of how to screw in a lightbulb, minus the instructions and forgetting entirely that the entire point is that the lightbulb actually needs to be actually replaced.The acting was okay in some parts, it really did feel like the ministers and the people in charge were a bunch of boring, old hasbeens in a retirement home. By far the best actor/actress was Mikako Ichikawa who played a reoccurring bit-part of Hiromi Ogashira, Deputy Director of Nature Conservation Bureau. Some of the acting would have been better if they were either more comedic, or were not in the movie. Note to actors: Sorry guys, comedy takes a lot of work, and you appeared to be busy with other things that day you were on camera.It was a true relief when most of them apparently where killed by the monster and replaced with some old guy who was just there and not much else. This is by no means satire, more like, "hey we are going to ruin this movie for you until you just can't stand it."The UN is portrayed as some kind of mysterious god which must be obeyed or risk blasphemy. The USA is portrayed as itching to drop atomic bombs on the monster for the fun of it. Apparently the US is not aware of Tokyo at all.Some weird, inept "reporter" like woman comes out of nowhere and makes a point that she is Japanese at heart even though she is going to be the US president. Pointless, absurd, weird, but at least there is a pretty face on the camera for some reason. She is presented in such a worthless, weird way. I could not help thinking that someone said "hey, you want to be in the new Godzilla movie?" and she says "yeah, sure, what do I have to do?" and he replies, "just show up whenever you want to and read the lines if you feel like it, no acting or anything required." So insulting! So embarrassing!This movie is just no fun. Everything you like about Godzilla is completely missing -- except the music which shows up at the end, after the movie is over. The movie ends in the middle, the last conversation said nothing and should have been edited out. What a complete drag!I am certain that the monster's design was based upon a combination of something the cat coughed up and some nuclear disaster memorial.

Being a longtime fan of the series, this was a breath fresh of air than the usual focus more on the action sequences with the beast(s). This is methodical, thinking man's journey into what could happen if a natural(or unnatural) disaster would occur. What really made me enjoy this even more is the tension filled discussions on how to take down this monster; along with Japan's history of war & natural disasters. Great script, superb CGI, and a killer soundtrack rounds out this seldom mentioned diamond in the rough.

Those who watch this film expecting Godzilla to just blow up buildings will be disappointed with this film, however, those who wish to see a smart, challenging and satirical flick will get more than what they asked for.Most of the movie unfortunately takes place in meeting rooms with mostly uninteresting characters, which is the point. These scenes speak of how many politics in Japan just have a lot of meetings without taking action and immediately try to resolve the situation. Just like their nationwide earthquake that killed thousands of lives a few years before the film's release. The mostly bland characters emphasize how many of Japan's politics don't try to do or say anythings different and are just a bunch of "yes-men".The wooden characters were the only problem I had with this film. Everything else was perfection. The special effects are unbelievable. Godzilla is one of the best CGI effects in cinema, I could not believe that wasn't a man in a suit. It was so realistic.The score is pure bliss, the camerawork is gorgeous, the lighting is much better than the mess of a climax of the 2014 film. The final shot of these mutant Godzilla-like humanoids is perfect, they climb up his tail towards the tip of it. This is all up the fan speculation but I and many others like to think that this once again shows the humanity is the real monster. This is further supported by the song "Who will know" and the main poster of the film (not one currently shown on the IMDb website). "Who will know" takes place from the point of view of Godzilla, and from that we learn that he's afraid of us, of what we could do. He feels as if he has no choice to wipe us out as it is all he knows how to do. Most of the posters of Godzilla show him destroying something or fighting a monster of roaring in a very proud manner. Shin's main poster just shows a dark image of Godzilla looking down with a red background, that's it. He kind of looks depressed as if he doesn't want to do this but he also feels as if he'll die if he doesn't since humanity would probably find out about his existence one way or another. (I'm probably just looking way to deep into this).Most Godzilla fans have already seen and loved it so I would recommend this to anyone looking for a political satire or a film that depicts us as the enemy. Those who want to see Godzilla do cool stuff, you get that its just after some time of people talking about how should stop him. Just decide for yourself. But as for me, I dare say: Shin Godzilla is perhaps even better than the original. I know plenty of people will disagree but I overall just had more enjoyment watching it and loved the deeper messages than the original. It doesn't take much to realize why this won the Japanese Academy award for 2016's best picture last year.