SHIN GODZILLA - MOVIE [Blu-ray] [2016]

This is for the digital version .Ok I hold up my hand and say I didn’t read that this was the English dubbed version before purchasing, this was stupid of me. I was just was under the belief that foreign movies in the UK we subtitled not dubbed.It’s digital for gods sake, so why can you provide the original track as well as the the dubbed rubbish you have released? To be honest it’s such a bad dub it’s not watchable. I think me and my friends might have done a better version.I am rating this on amazons dubbed trash not the original which is actually good.

The most atypical film Toho have ever made in the series, this goes back to the original concept of the irradiated, mutant saurian and provides a totally (yet not totally) different version of Inishiro Honda's landmark 1954 masterpiece.Very modern, yet not actually irritating, directing covers the initial confusion and apathy of the authorities and their inability to decide anything without endless meetings and debate whilst a colossal, unknown threat looms ever closer and the citizens of Tokyo are unsure if they ought to be filming the offshore mystery with their mobile phones or just running like hell... The music veers between the percussive modern to Ifukube's classic Godzilla themes and the directing moves into a more "traditional" style as the full-on city-stomping gets underway... Somehow, the overall effect isn't jarring, however, and works well.The freakish presence in the sea is unwisely all but ignored, until it emerges onto the land and slithers through Tokyo. Yes... slithers... and then crawls... "It's Godzilla, Jim, but not as we know it..." The first form of the creature is barely Godzilla at all, only the spikes on its back making the gilled, aquatic mutation in any way "recognizable". However, the thing starts to adapt and change, evolving through various stages into something that's very much more the Godzilla we know and love... almost... This is perhaps more what a lone, tormented, freak mutation warped by massive nuclear contamination would be - scarred, deformed, not unlike an Undead Zombie Godzilla. And the final shot of the film, closing in on the tip of the beast's tail has to be seen and re-seen to be believed. The inferences are awesome...I'm not sure if the cancellation of the direct sequel to this film is a good thing or a bad thing. Would it be able to do justice to the inferences of this film's final shot?For any long term fan of Godzilla, like myself, I'd highly recommend this film. Toho have more than once departed from their own mythos and though in many ways this departs further than ever before, it's still very much Godzilla, complete with reassuringly traditional, spangly Toho logo at the start! For monster movie fans who are perhaps not that familiar with the original (and best) Japanese Godzilla films, this is still recommended. A good monster movie, simple as that.Both original Japanese and English language versions are included as well as an hour plus of extras.

Bought this on prime digital, because I love the film (it's great!), but was really disappointed to then find that it's English dub only!The idea of watching this dubbed seemed so ridiculous I didn't even think to check. If you're a big G fan, avoid the Amazon digital release unless you want poorly dubbed cheesy voice overs.

So, I'm a middle line Godzilla fan. I generally enjoy the campy cheese of them, rarely will get through one without falling out from my seat giggling at the sheer absurdity of some of the stuff that's put on screen, and occasionally will even get invested in the stories. I picked this up on the reccomendation of a friend, forcing myself to ignore the fact that it was made by the same Lunatic who made Evangelion. And thankfully it wasn't a miasma of prentious symbolism thrown in hapazardly because the director thought it would look good, and there was absolutley no scenes of Shinji doing anything nasty over the unconcious body of anyone else. Wasn't a film that I would admit to being particularly wild about however.The plot is... that Godzilla plot. Pretty much the 1950s one. Big scaly thing comes up out of the sea, wrecks tokyo. There are twists on the usual formula- the first is that the Big G (or should it be the scaly G, as Genghis Khan contests that title, and as popular as Godzilla is, he doesn't have people worsipping him as a god) comes up as worm, then as a... joyful faced abomination that bounces down the streets.. then stands up, then wanders off for ten minutes before coming back in his final form, in a glorious moment with the original musical que from the first film playing. (I will admit it felt almost meme like). The second twist is that the focus is primarly upon the Japanese government and their response to him, rather than a few disposable human characters trying not to get stepped on. Ultimatley, I had mixed feelings about both of these.I'll get the first out of the way quickly- The Godzilla constantly mutating thing felt like a bit of a gimmic. It would probably have been more suited to a villain (Or should I say more villainous) monster for him to fight, rather than the scaly boy himself. Maybe it fits with his more anatagonistic role in this plot, but it felt a lot of the time like it was just trying to "Up the Ante" without really utilising it very much. The evolution up to his "final form" is kinda cool, but beyond that it goes nowhere, beyond an excuse for him to suddenly have anti air abilities. Also, if we are talking design, I liked the longer tail that he seems to use to propell himself along, but his whole body seemed weirdly rigid. He has absurdly fat thighs which, in all honesty seem to take up about half his body mass, and the whole upper body seems very small and spindly by contrast. I suppose it's good for looking unnatural, bad if he ever has to fistfight Ghidora in the sequels. I will also add, that despite the somewhat grotesque appearance, Godzilla never feels to be that much of an antagonist. He mostly seems to be just determined to take a stroll through the downtown Tokyo area, and any destruction is a result of his sheer size or in response to the poor military actually managing to hurt him. I guess it's understandable given that he's inevitably going to become a protagonist as the sequels come out, but the earlier series were always able to have him be destructive and evil in the first film, and then raise the stakes by pitting him against worst monsters, or exlain it away as him being "another godzilla". Maybe more rational plotting, but it means we don't get (Excepting one scene which I will come to later) the usual levels of death and destruction that we normally see in the first of a series.The focus on the Japanese government is an interesting take on it- we see all the petty infighting, experts and bureacrats with no idea what is going on throwing their weight around, government incompetence and red tape hamstringing the response to Godzilla when he's still weak. It's a fascinatingly different look at him in truth, and it largely treats Godzilla more like a force of nature, a walking natural disaster that happens to have teeth. And atomic breath. The issue with this becomes a bit more prevalent in the second half of the film. Every character presented is largely a talking head. They don't really have any personality or character beyond the actions or dialouge that the story gives them (This wouldn't be a problem so much in a book, but with the film's limited run time it severely bites). I think only one of the characters even lays eyes on Godzilla once in the first hour and a half of the film.Both of these things, for me at least changed from novelty to annoyance in the second half of the film (I will be going into some spoiler territory here) The film for me peaks at the point when he finally gets into Tokyo- Most of the "smashing stuff" scenes up to this point have been somewhat underwhelming, but that turns out to be buildup, as he's provoked into using his atomic breath... and immediatley lays waste to the entire centre of the city inside three minutes. It's a beautifully shot and scored, and a pretty harrowing scene. The problem is, this happens only about the 1 hour 10 mark into the film. There's still 50 minutes to go.. and well, he has a nap. For no less than a month in narrative, and almost the entire second half of the film, at a point where it feels like the writer suddenly realise that Godzilla was too overpowered, so had to contrive a reason for him to not do much to give the Japanese time to actually be able to win. It's rather jarring to say the least, and it really makes the whole mutation angle feel somewhat forced, simply to give this part of the plot a reason to exist. The whole second half of the film is largely the talking heads plotting to take him down, whilst at the same time consenting to the U.S dropping nuclear bombs on Japanese soil if they can not stop the monster. As outrageous as this last point sounds, it's actually argued very logically. The problem is, the whole second half of the film is somewhat dull. There's no sense of building tension like the first half, it's just people discussing stuff, then a very happy montage about the japanese people recovering their confidence and beating the monster with teamwork. The finale itself is pretty underwhelming bar a few nice shots, and most of the effects are noticeably worse than the rest of the film (I'm guessing the budget was running low when they got this far).While I don't regret watching it, I would be in no hurry to sit through the second half again. It's too much buildup for too little payoff, and whilst the discussions are often pretty decent, they aren't enough to keep me tided over for the whole 50 minutes. It's a case where I will say that I recognise it's a good film- but, as an Irishman instead of a Japanese man, I'm honestly out of the loop about a lot of the poltical stuff. I honestly don't know whether a lot of it is satrical in nature or not, or even if it is a reflection or commentary on the real life Japansese government. Naturally, not being from that cultural background, a lot of the stuff about the nation getting back on it's feet leaves me very cold and uninvolved. Ultimatley, whilst I can't call it bad, I'd be in no hurry to watch it again, but that is largely down to the fact that, it's really not made for me. And that's ok. It's a good film, just not one that I'm particuarly enthused about.

Special effects were very good and the beginning of the film was good,but for me too much talking and not enough action started to get boring not as good as the old ones,after the film had finished I thought thank goodness for that its over. There were good moments in the film like destroying everything in sight with his breath and him crushing everything in his path at the beginning of the film before he started to change,but overall for me not the best Godzilla film seen better.