Godzilla: Revival For the second time, after a deafeningly wretched attempt by Hollywood to create its own, American version of Godzilla, Japan and Toho Studio are forced to literally resurrect the monster king, restoring his image in the history of cinema. The next reboot of the franchise was decided to make bold, daring and almost authorial, inviting Hideaki Anno to the screenwriters-directors.
It turned out that in the modern world of cinema is called the term “art-buster”, combining clear deep author’s thoughts with an abundance of special effects created in the frame and the general scale of the picture. Moreover, both fans of the director and people completely unfamiliar with his work should remain satisfied, moreover, perhaps, even among those who do not like his anime activity clearly, enthusiastic cries about the new Kaiju picture should be found.
Previous eras have always built on the very first film of 1954. Anna decided to introduce Godzilla to the public for the first time and in his own way. The attack is on modern Japan, so that the connection with the atomic bomb is lost, but the topics of nuclear pollution, waste dumping, mutations and other environmental problems still sound quite acute.
Godzilla is going back to her roots. Now this is really a disaster film in the genre, where the monster acts as a natural disaster - that is why any ammunition is symbolically bounced from it and various rockets do not cause harm, the real destructive power of the elements cannot be stopped.
In addition, the monster is a metaphor for punishing humanity for its mistakes and terrible decisions, from such a scourge of fate you can not escape and not escape. However, this, of course, does not mean that we will not see the usual scenes of panic, evacuation and just observers as a creepy giant creature walks through their city.
Anno also added an abundance of politics to the picture, as in "The Return of Godzilla" 1984 the plot takes place among the many meetings of ministers deciding what to do and how to react, as well as conducting international negotiations, which only exacerbates the political statements of the author, given the countries involved in the conflict.
The director made such a huge number of references to previous films about Godzilla in the fresh picture that on this topic you can write a separate literary work about homages of pronounced, indirect and replayed. Moreover, he did not forget the most important thing - the very music of Akira Ifukube, which sounds here in the most heartwarming scenes and once again soars under the credits!
To give credit, the composer Shiro Sagisu also worked well, creating quite high-quality music for the film. But more than all the applause deserves the second director and he is also a master of special effects – Shinji Higuchi, who made just all the scenes with the participation of a giant mutant lizard.
Never before has Godzilla’s appearance been so terrifying and creepy as his reimagining here. The radioactive monster undergoes a transformation of various stages as the film progresses, so that its first exit from the water can even be considered to some extent a new interpretation of Godzilla Jr.
The creature lived in water and repeats various stages in the evolution of life on our planet as it evolves. The first foray shows us a crawling elongated creature with watery fish eyes, like an eel, devoid of front paws, with barely strengthened hind legs.
Already this first (although being in water, the creature could have previous stages of development) form for its short period on the screen gives so many unforgettable and impressive scenes, flowing from the gills with a special enzyme in the manner of blood, climbing and bringing down buildings on its way, that without trepidation and admiration to look at all this is impossible.
The second form, unfortunately, shows criminally little. The monster stands on its hind legs, grows its front studs, even shines its tail fins from overheating, but immediately dives under the water to cool it, having previously issued a stunning brand roar, for whose safety again a special respect to the creators!
A reverent attitude is observed in every detail, despite the fact that the new Godzilla is extremely unlike his previous incarnations. However, this is not an abominable mockery of the image that American grief directors created, but a new reading of the most cinematic myth about Godzilla while preserving all the key details, from radiation to roaring and musical accompaniment.
It happened that rather monster rivals from different films resembled the characters of horror films: Biollante, Destroyer, Orga, crowds of giant arthropods: Ebira, Megagirus, Kamakuras, Kumonga and others, as well as all sorts of dinosaurs like Angirus and Rador. Most of them are even difficult to imagine next to the updated Japanese Godzilla, so if they return from Toho to the screens, they will also need a completely new visual reading of the image.
The atomic lizard also received a couple of new abilities, including its atomic ray updated in different phases. The monster both spews fire, and shines in different directions with lasers, cutting off the tops of skyscrapers, while still entering a kind of cooling phase, given that inside it is a biological sample of a nuclear reactor.
If in all previous films the climax reached its peak by the third act, the film Anno violates this trend and, like the very first picture, where the last part was devoted to getting rid of the monster, arranges the most spectacular events in the middle of the picture, showing the burning and blazing Tokyo around the giant individual in its final form for the film. Memorable, sinking into the soul and bright spectacular scenes here a huge number!
The last stage of the evolution of a giant monster traditionally leaves only ruins, but the main thing is that even with the use of graphics, the monster in a Japanese not so big-budget film looks alive, real and tens of hundreds of times surpasses the squalor and shame that all those pathetic incompetents who gave their sick fantasies for films about the great Godzilla have already tried to feed us twice in Hollywood.
In addition to the successful appearance of the Kaiju himself, where special attention was paid to his colossal tail, from a technical point of view, other special effects were perfectly successful - the destruction of buildings, explosions, rays, most shots with military equipment. For the whole film, there will be only a couple of episodes, where computer graphics do not reach the ideal, but it was forgivable even in the most perfect and majestic Haysay era of the 80-90s, and even now.
The film has a stunning atmosphere, completely captivating and immersing the audience’s attention, and the abundance of political characters and various ministers allows screenwriter Annault to put various wise thoughts into their mouths, and not only force important people to make complex decisions that can cost the lives of ordinary citizens.
Hideaki Anno made an incredibly smart movie, and Shinji Higuchi made an impressively spectacular movie! Combining the work of both directors, we get one of the most outstanding and high-profile film statements of the modern era of cinema under the wrapper of a grandiose and large-scale Kaiju film, rethinking and returning to the screens of one of the most famous movie monsters. A worthy revival and renewal of the great Kaiju! Long live the king!
10 out of 10
Original