Shin Godzilla 4K 2016 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

A mysterious accident in the tunnels under the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line highway bridge puts the metropolis' emergency units on their ears. The chief of Japan's Ministry of Emergency Situations summons everyone to identify the cause of the accident and find possible solutions to the problem. Officials don't yet know that this is just the beginning. The giant creature known as Godzilla is on a path of destruction.

Review 4K Movie

I have loved Godzilla movies since childhood, when I saw several films about this monster on television in the mid-1990s. These films had a unique atmosphere, which is probably why people love Godzilla—it's a matter of taste, whether you like it or not. For some, Godzilla movies will always be boring spectacles with weak special effects and incomprehensible plots (even the 2014 American film didn't stray far from the canon in this regard, for which we thank it), while for others they are a kind of peculiar aesthetic pleasure.

Godzilla films can be divided into two categories: those where Godzilla is a monster that wreaks havoc and is the enemy of humanity, and those where Godzilla is a hero who fights other monsters and saves people. There are more films in the second category, but in my opinion, the films in the first category are much more interesting.

But, to be honest, when I saw the first trailers for Shin Godzilla in 2016, I was slightly shocked—the monster's completely wild design, with huge fish eyes and a long tail, as well as atomic rays coming out of its tail and back, all gave off a slight delirium in the spirit of the films of the 1960s and 1970s.

How wrong I was! To say that Shin Godzilla surprised me is an understatement.

The film impressed everyone. First and foremost with its frenetic pace and complete lack of background story — you won't find any love scenes, family dramas, or other “human relationships” here. The entire picture is like a film theory on the topic: ‘What will the government do if a giant monster appears?’. And that's great - most of the time on screen we see a serious working environment, bureaucracy, politics, office work. Again, there is no intrigue—politics in Shin Godzilla is more like discussions along the lines of “How do we evacuate people?” “Which agency should solve this problem?” etc. If you are looking for a complex political drama, you will not find it here. However, this is precisely what makes the film truly realistic (within the genre, of course) and interesting.

Secondly, Godzilla himself was extremely surprising. I'm not afraid to say that, in my opinion, this is the best version of this monster I've seen. Yes, monster - Shin Godzilla is terrible, it evokes almost no feelings of empathy or pity. If you feel sorry for him at all, it's only because he came into being through the fault of humanity. Godzilla here is simply a walking mountain that destroys everything in its path; even when attacked by artillery, he doesn't seem to understand it and simply deals with the threat. And here, the “fish eyes” I mentioned above turned out to be a plus — this is exactly a beast, an amphibian in search of food, and not the “thinking” monster that Godzilla is usually portrayed as. Surprisingly, even the monster's first form, which looked ridiculous in the trailer, looks scary and somewhat disgusting in the film.

I won't spoil it, but the “night” scene with the atomic beam in the middle of the film is a real paradise for any Godzilla fan. The music, the lighting, the suspense—I admit, I had goosebumps during this scene.

The rather crumpled and very banal ending of the film is a little disappointing, clearly losing out in both realism and effectiveness to the beginning and middle of the picture.

But still, after watching Shin Godzilla in 2016, I was left with a slight cultural shock. I can only praise the creators of this film for deciding to make it without compromise. Some may find this film boring or ridiculous, but for me, it is a true example of what films about the King of Monsters should be like.