Thursday, September 22, 2016

Shin Gojira

Saw Shin Gojira at Wald 9 in Shinjuku. The movie was directed by Anno Hideaki of Evangelion fame.

First off the movie starts off super talky as we are introduced to too many characters who talk too fast. Something weird starts appearing in Tokyo harbour and the government makes some mistakes in dealing with the creature. I found myself starting to fall asleep during the first half.

When we first see Gojira, he is not the Gojira we know but he slowly evolves and possesses the most bullshit anti missile weapon ever.

We get to see lots and lots of disaster porn happening to lots of Tokyo land marks. The CG is cheesy bad but it's all fun. I quite enjoyed the second half of destruction.


However, there is on thing that really bothered me and that was Ishihara Satomi as the half Japanese politician representing the U.S.

Satomi's face is all over the Japan, especially on the trains as the face of Aeon (pronounced Eon) this English language school and her English in this movie is so laughably incomprehensible. She makes Watanabe Ken sound like the most proficient English speaker ever.

Her character is so annoying and she is so miscast and has absolutely no gravitas. The only thing she has is her lips. Seriously, who decided she could make a credible American politician?

Fun and destruction but I can't forgive Satomi's casting. Gojira's T-Rex arms didn't bother me so much. The movie is very nationalistic but not much more than any Michael Bay film. Watchable.

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