For a character that has been around for six decades, it's possible that Godzilla is more popular now than ever. Here in America we've seen the giant lizard rebooted to tremendous response in Gareth Edwards' movie, which will have a sequel and a monster showdown with King Kong in the future. Toho, producers of the original movies, had the biggest live-action movie of the year in Japan when they released Shin Godzilla this summer. Now that film is headed our way and a trailer that is pure chaos has arrived to show us how it's done.
Co-directed by Hideaki Anno, creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Shinji Higuchi (Attack on Titan) this looks like the biggest, most stylish Godzilla movie we've ever seen. In a lot of ways it's cut similarly to Edwards' film, meaning that Godzilla is mostly kept hidden until just the right moment. But I think the Japanese movies have always done a better job of capturing the madness that ensues when Godzilla, or one of his many foes, starts stomping through Tokyo. In this case Anno has chosen to use a variety of approaches in depicting the chaos, and I can't wait to see the whole thing in full.
"Shin" in Japanese has many meanings, including "new" and "core", so here's a synopsis for what is essentially a reboot: 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.
Shin Godzilla opens stateside for a limited run on October 11th.
