By Travis Johnson
Every so often America takes a run at Godzilla and either screws it up royally (that’d be Roland Emmerich’s 1998 garbage fire) or forgets to actually put the big guy in his own damn movie for huge stretches of running time (Gareth Edwards’ recent effort). The Japanese, however, know what they’re doing with their nuclear-spawned monster, and so here comes the 31st official Godzilla movie and the 29th from Toho Studios, Shin Godzilla.
Co-directed by Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Shinji Higuchi (Gamera), the film is a reboot, telling the story of Godzilla’s origin and first rampage across Japan. This time around the monster – the biggest Godzilla ever! – is realised through a mix of puppetry, animatronics and mo-cap CGI – no stuntmen in rubber suits, sadly.
Here’s the official synopsis:
It’s a peaceful day in Japan when a strange fountain of water erupts in the bay, causing panic to spread among government officials. At first, they suspect only volcanic activity, but one young executive dares to wonder if it may be something different… something alive. His worst nightmare comes to life when a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and begins tearing through the city, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.
As the government scrambles to save the citizens, a rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster’s weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side—the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.
In happy news, Shin Godzilla is actually getting a limited theatrical release from October 13, courtesy of the fine people at Madman. Hit up the official site for tickets and session times.
