Shin Godzilla looks heavy on the Godzilla which is a lesson the American version could have taken to heart.

The movie Shin Godzilla is the first Godzilla movie in more than a decade from movie studio, Toho. It gets released in Japan this week. I'm actually excited to see it (when its available to watch in America as Godzilla Resurgence). From a Godzilla fan, it looks like Anno and Higuchi--the men behind this Godzilla and such timeless weirdos as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Attack on Titan--have made Godzilla kind of creepy. He certainly isn't the "obese" Godzilla that people complained about in the 2014 adaptation (yes, Godzilla was "fat"-shamed and I even blogged about it ).

The new trailer for it is packed with lots of serious-looking Japanese people (Japanese people can look very stern when needed), and Godzilla looks pretty unbeatable with his sheer size and apparent invulnerability to state-of-the-art weapons fire. All I can think is, it must be frustrating to be so large. There's literally no place you could go where you weren't either crushing or knocking over something. At least Shin Godzilla looks to be heavy on the Godzilla...a thing that the American 2014 version could have taken to heart before they filmed it. Not that I didn't like the American version. It's just that kaiju movies should have lots of kaiju in them :).

His weird appearance though does beg some questions: is the radiation that created him making him into something else? Is it making him sick? Is it killing him (you know...more effective than missiles are killing him)?

There's part of me though that dreads this new release. Toho hasn't made a good Godzilla movie in probably thirty years. Godzilla Final Wars was a smoldering pile of shit. Anyone that watched it would probably agree with me. Older versions of Godzilla focused more on the mythology, creating the tiny girls that sang to Mothra, and the whole mysterious "Monster Island" that featured other creatures (like a giant spider called Aspiga). In the modern age of monster movies, it's all about destruction instead of mythology (because the whole world has been mapped extensively and there are no more secrets). How can we destroy more things and make it look better on the screen? Bigger isn't necessarily better. The sequel to Independence Day learned that mistake.

Plus who honestly doesn't miss the aesthetic of good ole Monster Zero:
If this movie isn't received well, I'm going to say my reasons why (ahead of time). Kaijuverse Tokyo seems to be populated with terminally self destructive and demented adrenaline jockies. It’s where the unfortunate genetic casualties who lived under the plume of Fukishima come to blow their life savings on insane binges of roaring hedonism before the cancer kills them. It’s like a city-wide version of Aokigahara....a place to passive-aggressively commit seppuku...where depressed salary-men telecommute and wait for death. It’s where Kaiju-loving suicide cults pray to be taken to heaven by their favorite megabehemoths. Just wait long enough, and something will crush you.

After all, is there one true monster lover out there that can truly deny that they wouldn't want to see Gojira just kick back for 90 minutes, sipping water towers filled with Hoegaarden, smoking cigars, and playing a few rounds of golf? That's the Godzilla movie that the world really wants, and you heard it here first.