Godzilla: Reiwa Era Films (2016—)

29. Shin Godzilla (2016)

Dirs. Hideaki Anno + Shinji Higuchi

NOTE: numbering continues sequentially from the Millennium Era. For simplicity I've used English titles, but it's always the Japanese language versions of the films that I refer to.

Another hard reset of the franchise, with a new creature design and new origin story behind it.

The majority of the film involves politicians, bureaucrats, military leaders, etc, talking about how to deal with the irradiated daikaijū threat.

It utilises fast cuts to give the impression that things being discussed hurriedly is some kind of compensation for things being uninteresting - but it's really not. The first hour in particular is dense with such dry, ponderous dialogue.

Godzilla, referred to as male more than once in the English subs, is mostly CGI, mo-capped so that it moves kind of like a man in a suit. It gets points for good intentions, but ultimately it's just another CGI creature with zero personality. If I wanted that I'd watch the American films.

30. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017)

Dirs. Kōbun Shizuno + Hiroyuki Seshita

The first part in Toho's CGI animated Godzilla trilogy follows a group of uninspiring survivors on a spacefaring vessel that's running low on resources after twenty years of travel.

Driven by desperation, they plan to confront Godzilla, hoping to destroy it and take the planet it resides on for their own.

It's a grim story with dull colours and equally dull dialogue. The Godzilla design resembles the US version, with the stupidly thick wrestler neck and gargantuan size. The 'threat' does very little other than take a few steps and shoot some atomic breath; mostly the creature is little more than a boring target for the humans to shoot at and comment upon.

The planet has no buildings or man-made structures, no unlucky civilians, there's nothing interesting for Godzilla to destroy and, by extension, very little for a viewer to sympathise with or even relate to. It's a joyless start to the trilogy, and sadly an indication of what's to come.

31. Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)

Dirs. Kōbun Shizuno + Hiroyuki Seshita

While the mothership searches the battlefield for survivors after the first battle, Sakaki discovers something unexpected on the planet's surface. It seems his plans to take the world for humanity aren't completely beaten yet.

Visually it's as bland as before, with thirty shades of blue and not much else, but for a time the story is more interesting - if you can cope with all the made-up science.

Alas, once thunder-thighs comes on the scene it all falls apart. Too often we learn about what's happening from prosaic people talking about a situation, instead of showing us what's actually happening. Godzilla itself is rarely seen, and when it is onscreen it's lumbering and lacks any kind of dramatic wow factor.

The commentary on evolution and degeneration had potential, but ultimately anything of value is pushed aside so that a CGI battle can happen.

32. Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018)

Dirs. Kōbun Shizuno + Hiroyuki Seshita

The entire Godzilla Reiwa era thus far has been utterly dire. It's been a mix of stubbornness and hope that's got me through it.

The conclusion of the animated trilogy is perhaps the worst of the trio, precisely because it had the potential to be the best of them but cocked it up in every conceivable way.

Its core theme is needlessly convoluted, when heartfelt simplicity would've been more meaningful. The twins and the egg scenario amounted to nothing but disappointment. And the showdown between Godzilla and Ghidorah is a lifeless bore with yet more tiresome commentary from the spectators.

In a franchise well-known for its action scenes, it's pleasing that the makers seem to recognise the importance of dialogue, but it too must have spark and/or give a viewer something to be enthused about, not feel like insipid lecturing.

The story's attempts at turning notions such as belief, Godhood, and gematria into a binding philosophy are laudable but altogether laughable. Skilled writers that can craft original ideas and good intentions into an engaging narrative is something that the Reiwa era seems to lack. In each case, the poster art of the anime films are better than the films themselves.

NOTE: chronologically Godzilla Singular Point (2021) came next, but because it's a TV series and not a film, I've not given it a number. I did make a post about it, however; see HERE.

When licensing the Godzilla name and likeness from Toho, Legendary Pictures, makers of America's English language Godzilla movies, forbade the famous Japanese company from making any of their own live action movies for four years after Shin Godzilla! That's disgusting and cowardly to me on so many levels. But it's not at all surprising, suggesting that Hollywood felt it was easier to simply quash the competition with money and industry weight than it would be for them to write a good script. Not that Japan had managed a 'good script' either in recent years. Did that change when the crappy US imposed sanction ended? Frankly, yes...

33. Godzilla Minus One (2023)

aka Godzilla -1.0

Dir. Takashi Yamazaki

It's set in late 1945, as WWII is nearing its end. The first ever Godzilla film (Shōwa Era) wasn't explicit about when it was set, but it's widely accepted that it was a contemporary story, meaning its happenings were likely in or around 1954. If that's truly the case, then the creature in G-1.0 predates the OG G.

The story follows a kamikaze fighter pilot named Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who has unresolved feelings about not dying during the closing months of WWII.

A connection is made between his feelings and Godzilla's first appearance; meaning they come to the fore each time it reappears thereafter.

The movie is quite grim, initially, which is to be expected in a post-war setting, but it puts emphasis on characterisation and has well-placed emotional scenes that actually work. The quiet moments were, for me, the best part.

There's a lot of CGI present throughout and it's not just the creature; many of the war-torn locations and scenery are fully CGI, too. Not being a fan of such FX work meant I was wholly bored by Godzilla and the destruction about 90% of the time. The one exception was the finale, wherein the weight of consequence that surrounded the civilian force when it faced Godzilla brought a welcome cohesiveness to the drama that helped the FX-filled scenes feel less bland.

An alternative version was released a few months later titled Godzilla -1.0/C (2014); i.e., Minus One/Minus Colour. It's the same movie but without colour. I believe the idea was to make it feel more like the era in which it was set, like the first Godzilla (1954) movie did, but at no point does it ever actually feel like that, due to being shot digitally and a total lack of film grain.

A cash-grab it may be, but it's not all bad. The makers claim that it wasn't just put lazily through a filter and shat out for a quick return. They say the entire film was re-graded, with matting techniques applied throughout to balance the contrasts more evenly and thus make it feel more naturalistically B+W. Some interior scenes actually do look better than their colour counterparts, with a more weighty tone, but it makes the CGI look even more obvious in a lot of the exterior scenes. The most successful CGI moment is Godzilla's first appearance. In the darkness of the Odo Island night, the creature looks a lot more terrifying in B+W than it did it colour.