Shin Godzilla

Shin Godzilla シン・ゴジラ (Shin Gojira), also known as Godzilla Resurgence, is a 2016 Japanese produced by Toho Company Ltd., and the thirty-first installment in the Godzilla series. It was released in Japanese theaters on July 29, 2016, and was also theatrically released in limited runs during late 2016 in 100 international territories, including North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Shin Godzilla was co-directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, with a screenplay written by Anno. The film acts as a reboot to the series, and details Godzilla's origins, and his arrival in Japan for the first time, while also showcasing the human response to the disaster.

Shin Godzilla was the start of a reboot series of Godzilla films for Toho, and while it wasn't followed by a direct sequel, the film will be followed by Godzilla: Monster Planet in 2017, and its two sequels. It should be noted that despite this reboot series' concurrent run with Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse, the two series are unrelated.

Plot
The Japanese Coast Guard boards a small boat in Tokyo Harbor. Its occupant, a scientist, has vanished, despite the boat's interiors being clean, and nearly untouched, with the scientist's slippers being the only visible remains. Suddenly, the boat rocks violently due to an exterior explosion. Meanwhile, a large amount of what appears to be blood crashes into an underwater tunnel, causing multiple car accidents.

People evacuate while the Japanese government desperately tries to determine what caused the incident. At first they insist that it's impossible for it to have been caused by a living thing, much to the chagrin of certain officials, but to their surprise, a news report shows footage of the appearance of an enormous serpentine tail splashing out of the ocean. The Prime Minister proceeds to make a press statement, announcing that it's scientifically improbable for the creature to make landfall, however, mid-speech, it does, much to his surprise.

The fish-like creature that emerges from the bay resembles a hybrid between a moray eel and a frilled shark, but with spiky dorsal plates on its back and a pair of stubby, undeveloped hind limbs. Bleeding from its gills as it struggles to breathe on land, it thrashes about and drags itself down the streets of Tokyo, pushing ships and cars in front of it out of the way, crushing everything in its path as well as climbing on buildings, causing them to collapse, and leaves an immense trail of destruction in its wake. The government meetings continue.

Suddenly, the creature stops moving and collapses in the street. Then, it begins to grow, its rubbery yellow skin grotesquely rippling and hardening to a tougher, scaly burnt-orange shade. Its gills shrink and close up, the stumpy growths on its side emerge into a pair of small, clawed arms, and its hind limbs grow in size and strength, allowing it to stand upright. As it stumbles through the city in its new form, the Self-Defense Force arrives to attack it. However, the Prime Minister refuses to allow the attack to begin, as there are still people in the vicinity. The monster roars loudly at the attackers nearby, and then proceeds back to the harbor as its dorsal spines begin to glow red, destroying a large building as it escapes, and disappears into the sea. Now the government must figure out what has happened, try to prevent it from happening again, and clean the mess up.

Committees are formed. A group of marginal scientists gathers to try to research the monster with what limited knowledge they have. Talks begin with governments around the world, most of all the U.S. government. Due to its large size and rapid mutations, they speculate it requires an enormous amount of energy, not only to move, but to maintain its metabolism. They speculated its energy comes from nuclear fission, a speculation confirmed by traces of radiation that match the creature's trail. Nuclear fission also produces an enormous amount of heat, which is cooled by the dorsal spines on its back. They speculated the creature had to retreat to the sea because its rapid mutation used too much energy and thus produced too much heat for its body to cool itself down, thus it retreated to the sea to lower its body temperature to prevent overheating. They also discover its genome has eight times as much DNA as humans, explaining its ability to self-mutate seemingly at will.

Then, appearing in the Tokyo Harbor comes the monster who, based on the missing scientist Goro Maki's research, has been dubbed "Godzilla" by the American military. Having mutated further, the creature is now several times as large as its previous form, with a far bulkier body, a longer tail, and a dark, nearly black skin glowing red with energy in some parts of its body. It slowly enters Tokyo, wreaking havoc with every step, destroying the city with its movement alone. The government struggles to come up with answers and a means to counter the threat. The Self-Defense Force then returns. The Prime Minister reluctantly gives permission to hit Godzilla with everything they have, with which they do. Godzilla, however, maintains an undamaged state, and destroys much of the nation's ground force in the process.

The U.S. government steps in, dropping bombs on Godzilla's back. They detonate, causing much of Godzilla's blood to spill onto the ground, visibly injuring and enraging the beast. Godzilla's spine suddenly begins to glow an ominous purple, leaving the city lit up by the effect. As Japanese personnel comment on it, Godzilla begins to vomit black and purple fumes, which flow throughout the city around it. Suddenly, in an instant, it ignites the smoke with a large ball of fire-breath, lighting up a large part of the city within seconds, causing immense amounts of destruction from the sheer force of the blast. This wide fire spray is then slowly intensified into a concentrated purple beam emitting a high-pitched noise, which Godzilla aims to the sky, taking out the B2 Bomber that hit it in the first place, much to the shock of the U.S..

Godzilla then stops, and bends over, the spines on its back glowing a brighter purple as the remaining B2s drop their payload as an act of "payback". Godzilla then fires multiple beams from its, systematically destroying each missile, while bisecting and destroying the remaining bombers. It then unleashes another torrent of its concentrated, purple atomic breath, cleaving the city's skyline in half like butter, before hitting the helicopter carrying the Prime Minister and other governmental members. Both nations armies are destroyed, and with the city in flames, the government shattered, and many people dead, Godzilla finally begins to cease its attack; the glow on its subsiding as it slowly comes to a stop, freezing in place like a giant statue.

Now there is an even bigger incentive to find Godzilla's secrets and stop it. The places in the city where Godzilla's beams touched have severely high nuclear radiation readings, while the radiation plume caused by its breath and fire are drifting out to sea. They study the immobile Godzilla and find that it is slowly producing nuclear energy. Godzilla runs on nuclear power, and it has depleted all of its power in its recent rampage, which is why it's frozen. It's replenishing its energy to continue, a process that will take a few weeks. In addition, they figure out it possesses a "radar-like" system in its body, which is how its dorsal beams were able to destroy each bomb and bomber with pinpoint accuracy.

On top of that, its dorsal spines and blood act as a cooling system, and as long as air and water are available to the creature, it will survive. This is coupled with the new knowledge of its ability to regenerate, as a severed dorsal plate is discovered to be beginning to regenerate a body of its own. The scientists become concerned that due to this ability Godzilla's severed parts could potentially grow into new Godzillas.

The scientists find that Godzilla has more DNA information than any other creature on Earth, at least eight times more than the human genome. It is highly evolved, and may continue to evolve further, with one scientist commenting on how it may sprout wings, provide the opportunity and motive. The U.S. government wants to take over dealings with Godzilla, and begin planning to drop a nuclear bomb on Tokyo in an attempt to kill the monster. They begin a countdown and give the Japanese 2 weeks to evacuate.

The scientists and government formulate a plan in a desperate attempt to avoid another nuke being dropped on the country: the Yashiori Strategy. This strategy involves creating a blood coagulant that would cool Godzilla's internal temperature to the point where the monster would freeze, due to the inability to sufficiently regulate its body temperature. The team narrowly manages to create the coagulant, with hours left to spare due to Patterson's ability to buy the team time, despite the risks.

They send driverless trains, carrying bombs, to crash into Godzilla's legs who wakes up immediately after. They then use American drones to drop bombs on Godzilla. In defense, it begins shooting beams out of its mouth, spikes, and even the growth at the end of its tail, much to the Japanese's shock. This, however, expends Godzilla's energy swiftly, given the sheer number of bombs and bombers Godzilla must strike down, leaving the creature defenseless as it walks into the line of skyscrapers nearby. The Japanese then knock these multiple large skyscrapers down on Godzilla to stun and immobilize the moster, pinning it down to the grond. The first team of pump trucks are then rapidly sent in, and begin to pump the coagulant into Godzilla's mouth. This first attempt results in failure as Godzilla recovers quickly enough to obliterate the pump truck formation to ashes with a powerful blast of atomic breath, before standing up, roaring furiously, and beginning to walk away. One of the leads of the operation comments on how Godzilla's skin's stiffening.

However, shortly after, a second, larger force of driverless trains are sent en masse towards Godzilla. The overwhelming force of the explosion chains send Godzilla falling forward, sprawled on top of a large building. This allows the second pump truck force to finish what the first group started, pumping the full amount of coagulant into the monster's open mouth. Godzilla quickly recovers, however, and swiftly stands once more, destroying the second pump group and begins to walk forward again, seemingly unfazed. Godzilla then lets out a loud roar, and suddenly freezes in place, stopped completely in the middle of Tokyo.

It's stated that after this, the Americans' countdown has been paused, but not cancelled; if Godzilla reawakens, Tokyo will be impacted with a nuclear strike. The people of Japan have no choice but to live together and rebuild their country with an immobilized Godzilla. The final shot depicts a frozen Godzilla, and then focuses on the splitting end of its tail, out of which multiple skeletal, humanoid figures can be seen on the tail's now split open tip, frozen in their seeming escape, all of them possessing Godzilla-esque.

Monsters

 * Godzilla (2016 design)

Weapons

 * Joint Direct Attack Munition
 * Massive Ordnance Penetrator
 * M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System

Vehicles

 * AH-1 Cobra
 * AH-64 Apache
 * Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit
 * Mitsubishi F-2
 * Type 10
 * Type 96 Multi-Purpose Missile System
 * Type 99 155mm Self-propelled Howitzer

Production
The film was revealed through Godzilla.jp. The movie was set to be in production from summer to autumn 2015. In addition, Toho inaugurated "Godzi-Con" to discuss and determine strategies for future Godzilla films, including this one. On March 31, 2015, it was officially confirmed that Hideaki Anno, known for his work on the popular anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, would be writing the screenplay for the film and serve as executive director, and that Shinji Higuchi, who provided the special effects for the Heisei Gamera trilogy, the upcoming Attack on Titan live-action films, and a scene in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, would be the film's director as well as the director of special effects. It was also said that the version of Godzilla in this film would exceed the size of Legendary's Godzilla, making it officially the largest Godzilla ever on film. On July 31, 2015, Bandai Creation confirmed that it would be producing and releasing figures for the film in the United States in 2016.

Due to this version of Godzilla being even bigger than the previously largest Legendary version (as well as the translation of Shin Gojira as "True Godzilla"), a common misconception that arose was that Toho disliked the 2014 American film and was trying to "outdo" Legendary's version in a similar vein that Godzilla 2000 was made as a backlash to the much-disliked 1998 TriStar film. On the contrary, Toho actually praised and approved of the 2014 film, and in fact produced Shin Godzilla to celebrate the new attention the American film brought to the franchise. In a complete inversion of the Legendary portrayal of the character, however, they depicted Godzilla as a horrifying force of chaos and death, as opposed to the noble and majestic semi-heroic treatment of Legendary toward the famous monster.

In an interview with the Associated Press conducted on July 31, 2015, Shinji Higuchi revealed that Hideaki Anno had recently completed the film's script, and that filming would begin in September. Higuchi stated that he was under strict orders not to reveal any specific details about the film, but he did state that Godzilla would be portrayed in the film using a combination of computer graphics and traditional tokusatsu techniques, a style that Higuchi called "hybrid," which he also utilized to portray the Titans in the recent live-action Attack on Titan film. Higuchi stressed that he wanted to create the most terrifying depiction of Godzilla possible with the resources available to modern Japanese cinema, to reflect the world's recent "loss of innocence" from modern real-life tragedies like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the tsunami and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan, which Higuchi called "the real monsters of the world."

In the 2015 Tsuruoka Kamakura Hachiman Paper Lantern Festival, a Godzilla paper lantern signed by Hideaki Anno could be found. It read "・ゴジラ・再上陸 Godzilla Relanding!"

Filming began on September 6, 2015 at the Kamata Railway Station, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

Theatrical releases

 * Japan - July 29, 2016
 * Thailand - July 28, 2016
 * Taiwan - August 12, 2016
 * Philippines - August 24, 2016
 * Hong Kong - August 25, 2016
 * Macao - August 25, 2016
 * Singapore - August 25, 2016
 * Malaysia - September 22, 2016
 * USA - October 11, 2016 (October 7, 2016 in Columbus)
 * Canada - October 12, 2016
 * Australia - October 13, 2016
 * Europe - February 24, 2017

Box office
The film was financially successful within Japan, having earned ￥625 million (US$6.1 million) on its opening weekend. It shoved Finding Dory and One Piece Film: Gold to second and third place, respectively, having been number one for that weekend. Compared to the 2014 film, it earned 23% more upon its release in Japan. It also tripled Godzilla: Final Wars' initial weekend's gross, that being US$12.3 million.

For its second weekend, the film was projected to finish at US$40 million domestically, and it remained in its number one spot during this time. During its third weekend, the film dropped to second place, being topped by The Secret Life of Pets, and it went on to gain U$S33.5 million after 17 days.

The film reached ￥5.3 billion (US$51.63 million) following a month after its initial release. This managed to top Hideaki Anno's previous film's (Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo) earnings, which was ￥5,267,373,350.

For the movie's sixth weekend, it managed to claw its way back to the number two spot, having been topped by Your Name, however, it earned an additional US$3.2 million, raising Shin Godzilla's domestic gross to US$60 million from 4.1 million admissions.

The movie ended up exiting the top ten in late September, and by then had managed to gross close to US$77 million dollars from 5.6 million admissions. With this, the film became the high grossing live-action Japanese film of 2016, as well as the second highest grossing film in Japan for the same year.

Shin Godzilla garnered another US$1.9 million dollars during its 31 day, North American run. This popularity resulted in an extension for screenings.

Critical reception
Shin Godzilla was given mostly positive reviews by critics.

Simon Abrams of Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5 out of 4 stars, stating that the film's "probably drier, and more dialogue-centric than fans may want." He, however, considered the emphasis on endless discussions and politics to be genuinely exciting. He also went on to say that the style in which these conversations were presented (Cross-cut) resulted in a film that "never slows down long enough to feel boring".

He ended his review stating that one shouldn't watch Shin Godzilla for Godzilla alone, and praised the main human cast, emphasizing they were the stars of the show, while stating they "credibly resist the end of the world with ingenuity and teamwork."

Mike Rougeau of IGN also gave the film a positive score, stating that, while the initial reveal of the creature was extremely silly and more than a little disappointing, it was obvious the directors had fun with Shin Godzilla, expressing how the creature's newfound powers were "really something to see."

He went on to speak about the film's dry humor, and stated that, while he eventually realized it's part of the film's joke, it most likely wouldn't be caught by the Western audiences the film was released to, especially with the film's dual subtitle tracks which may prove to be confusing.

Daniel Kurland of Blood Disgusting spoke greatly of the film's pacing, acknowledging that, while the film revealed the monster early on, it was only about halfway in where an actual counterattack was launched against him. This in turn made him feel that the film "ends up functioning as a very successful model on what to do if you’re actually being attacked by a giant monster."

The talk of pace was elaborated on more, where he states the film never feels like a drag, even in spite of its dialogue driven nature, and also acknowledged how difficult a balance that was to obtain.

Daniel went into the film's score as well, acknowledging Sagisu's composition of original pieces as respectful, while the new pieces, including Persecution of the Masses touched upon the franchise's sprawling legacy. Despite being a self-admitted casual fan, was able to pick up on and recognize the film's original musical cues, stating that "the real Godzilla nerds would be losing their minds and catching even more" upon hearing them.

Forbes' Ollie Barder was largely like-minded in enjoying the film, but also expressed certain criticisms. Criticism of the film was largely aimed towards the cast's grasp on English, which he found "painful to listen to", while he also considered some of the acting to be amateurish.

In addition, he also wasn't fond of the creature's design, but stated he liked how the creature was actually handled within the film's events.

Potential sequel
On September 16, 2016, the cast expressed their desire for a sequel to the movie, but director Hideaki Anno has said that development of a sequel to the film would be up to Toho.

Trivia

 * It was revealed in 2012 that a memo named Shin Godzilla was left by Ishiro Honda; he was planning to create a Godzilla able to self-divide, coalesce enemies, and grow larger, enabling aerification and solidification, and the ability to become inanimate.
 * Interestingly enough, the film featured alterations from its theatrical release in its home media releases. They include:
 * A scene with helicopters now including heat distortion.
 * A scene involving Godzilla has its angle changed slightly.