The Japanese government takes center stage in Godzilla: Resurgence. It is, for all intents and purposes the main character of the story, the entire organism treated as the protagonist working against the titular monster and the international forces that don't have the best interests of the nation in mind. The movie's arc involves this government starting out as a mostly competent but crippled bureaucracy, and then rising to the occasion as an existential threat looms in the horizon. Much of the story is filtered through the eyes of Deputy Chief Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa), a brash young government official who becomes central to dealing with the Godzilla threat.
This is a deeply nationalistic film, one that actually bares its teeth against the treatment of Japan in the international community. It actively rails against the nation's lack of assertiveness on the international stage, and makes a case for Japan standing up for its own interests. It in fact says it a bit too loudly, overtly making statements when subtext would have done. But then again, this film is meant to brash. It's meant to be loud and aggressive in all the ways that Japan hasn't been in the last few decades.
Its boldness extends to the way this story is told. It takes real guts to make a Godzilla movie that's mostly set inside conference rooms. The destruction is still there, of course. The film has plenty of scenes where the monster tramples all over Japanese cities. But the actions taken against it are grounded in the action of government. This becomes something really interesting. Godzilla has always been waging war against Japanese infrastructure. This is a film where the infrastructure is given a chance to fight back. The real fight against Godzilla is waged in offices, the government making full use of its ability to mobilize resources in order to find a way to take down the creature.
And in later scenes, Japanese infrastructure itself becomes the literal weapon against the monster, proving to be effective where traditional ordnance is not. It is a brilliant inversion of the disaster film, which tends to focus on individuals at the sake of the greater whole. This is only a film about the greater whole, about what is possible when people work together to take on a seemingly impossible task. This film makes propulsive cinema out of government meetings, logistical operations, and inter-agency cooperation. It's kind of brilliant.
There are hiccups here and there; odd choices that break up the tapestry of competence on display. It is strange, for example, when a character that's supposed to be American can barely speak English. The monster itself, now a combination of CGI, motion capture work, and animatronics, looks kind of goofy in wide shots. The various components don't blend together well when there are a lot of things moving. Acting is all fine, though it's tough to find a standout in a cast as large as thus. Still, Hiroki Hasegawa holds down the nominal lead role pretty well. He perfectly embodies what this movie is trying to say.
Godzilla: Resurgence probably isn't the film you're expecting. It's certainly a good deal stranger than the recent Gareth Edwards take on the monster. It is a film about meetings and policy and infrastructure, the monstrous destruction taking a backseat to the driving action of government officials trying their best to get through a tough situation. In this way, this movie goes beyond the monster. Combining a twisted sense of humor with a heartening belief in the ability of humans to overcome problems, Godzilla presents a vision of the world that is utterly unique and bizarrely compelling.
My Rating:
