Shin Godzilla Is Stomping Back Into Theaters In 4K
Something has surfaced in Tokyo Bay.
In 2023, Godzilla Minus One emerged as the new king of the monster movies. It was the first to win producers at Toho an Academy Award, and it brought the storied franchise back to its original mandate, depicting Godzilla as a destructive force of nature while a cast of capable people banded together to defeat him. But before Minus One, there was 2016’s Shin Godzilla, which deserves just as much credit for reinvigorating the saga. It debuted two years after Gareth Edwards rebooted the property for American audiences with his own Godzilla film, which kickstarted Legendary’s MonsterVerse. Though Shin Godzilla never sired a saga of its own, it’s still a damn good story.
Though it’s one of the better Godzilla movies to come out in the past decade, and scored big at the Japanese box office and awards circuit, Shin Godzilla didn’t get much traction stateside, screening in American theaters for only two weeks before moving to streaming. Fortunately, it’s about to get another chance to make its mark. With a new 4K remaster in the books, Toho and GKIDS Films are bringing Shin Godzilla back for another tour in North American theaters.
Shin Godzilla is perhaps the most politically charged Godzilla movie of the century. Where Minus One effectively rehashed Japanese anxieties released by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Shin Godzilla explores a similar trauma through a modern lens. It’s a direct commentary on the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor meltdown that devastated Japan in 2011, and the inaction and infighting that addled the country in the aftermath.
When Godzilla is born, he’s far removed from the dino-like, bipedal design we recognize. He looks more like a salamander: long, lean, low to the ground, and perpetually in pain. He slowly evolves during the film, but Japan’s elder statesmen are too busy arguing to form a concrete plan, and it falls to the next generation to cut through the noise and defeat Godzilla.
Directed by Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno and Attack on Titan filmmaker Shinji Higuchi, Shin Godzilla is a solid film that refuses to pull its punches, addressing themes that other Godzilla films (America’s especially) have forgotten are important to the franchise. That American audiences will get the chance to see it on the big screen again is a win, and it will help tide us over until the next Godzilla film emerges.
