The title translates as ‘New Godzilla’, but the Toho studios reboot of their most prized property forgets the Japanese sequels and spin-offs, ignores the Hollywood remakes, and proceeds as if Tokyo had never previously been given a major stomping by a gigantic fire-breathing reptile. The whole movie, in fact, treats the emergence from the sea of this previously unidentified creature as if it were an unfolding news event, with every location, ministerial meeting and air base dutifully captioned and subtitled. As a result, it’s essentially serious in tone, marking a spiritual return to Ishirō Honda’s 1954 original in using the story as a state-of-the-nation enquiry – back then reflecting the trauma of a country emerging from nuclear destruction, and now using the Godzilla myth as a way of examining the government response to the 2011 tsunami.
So, yes, the capital gets duly trashed by a nuclear-enhanced monster courtesy of the latest digital effects , but there’s a lot of chat and political soul-searching in-between, so don’t expect too much crowd-pleasing destruction. The result is impressive in many ways, but very Japanese, and perhaps lacking a little in the way of fun-factor.