Great revisioning of classic Godzilla

Rating: 9/10 (7 March 2017)

An admission: I love Godzilla films (and kaiju eiga in general), so my starting point with any Godzilla film is 'great' (Godzilla's Revenge being a sad exception). This one, the 30th Godzilla film (countijng Japanese and US versions) is extra-great. The plot is typical late-Showa "Godzilla as hero" era: evil monsters appear, puny men cannot stop them, Godzilla appears, things look dire as he struggles to defeat the new monster, he prevails, and he heads back out to sea. This film explains this behaviour as Godzilla being some kind of balancing force of nature (OK - he's been that before, as well as having been the spirit of Japanese war dead, or in simpler times, just a nice-guy monster). Wisely, the film cuts back on the actual monster wrestling scenes (always kind of goofy) and focuses on the collateral destruction (the Golden Gate Bridge gets trashed again - if you need to escape monsters or aliens in San Francisco, definitely take the Bay Bridge). There are a few plot holes (mostly around the monsters' plot-selective predilection for radiation sources). The incidentals (story- line, script, acting etc.) are fine but, as always are secondary to the main attraction, which is excellent. The big guy lighting up his radioactive breath is a highlight and, although I kinda miss the quaint 'suitmation' of the classics, the flexibility allowed by CGI shows in the evil monster design ('evil' being subjective in this context, mostly they were just some guy wanting to score and a girl looking to settle down and have some kids, mostly). Turn down the fore-brain, turn up the hind-brain, and enjoy.