A wonderful installment from Toho. They’ve abandoned the guy in a suit, embraced CGI, added a real story with real character arcs and real acting, and it works. I thought Godzilla (2014) was pretty good, but this one may be the best Godzilla movie yet.
Action is great, we’ve never seen this level of ferocity from Godzilla. The effects are sinister, though even this CGI incarnation of the monster features a somewhat rubbery and floppy tail. A nod to the man in the suit? As good as the action was, I feel like we needed one more Godzilla action sequence somewhere in the middle of the film.
CGI is not perfect, but it’s impressive, mostly because we can see everything in wide shots and appreciate the grandeur of the monster and destruction. No crappy hHollywood-style editing to take us away from it all. Wonderful sets, and some of the wider CGI shots interestingly maintain the look of the model miniatures so iconic of the original films. Again, an intentional nod?
Performances are all pretty good, no one truly over the top as you often see in Japanese movies. Kamiki is good as the hero, though he maintains the slightest smirk throughout. Can’t tell if that’s just his face or a crack in his acting.
Some plot questions… In this story, it’s not totally clear where Godzilla came from, nor does that seem to be of interest to any of the characters. How come that isn’t brought up even once? And why doesn’t Shikishima tell anyone about his encounter with Godzilla at the first opportunity? One would assume that he would spread the news so that mainland Japan could better defend itself and save lives.
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