I just got home from a showing of Shin Godzilla and wow, it was amazing. If you're familiar with this monster, then you already know the gist of its story. He's a giant lizard creature that stomps through whatever comes in his way and people are terrified of it. That was the story that has been portrayed for 60 years now until this year. Director for the new film Hideaki Anno (creator of the ever popular Neon Genesis Evangelion) brings a new viewpoint onto which to view Godzilla through: the political lens.

I never thought of Godzilla from a bureaucratic standpoint but it certainly gives the monster another layer to its lore. Rather than focusing on the kaijus that become his enemy and the destruction he's causing like other Godzilla movies, Shin Godzilla focuses on the bureaucratic solution on how to stop the destruction. In American terms, think of President George Bush scrambling to solve the Hurricane Katrina crisis. If you're familiar with current affairs, during your viewing, you may notice some of the events in the movie have parallels with the Fukishima nuclear meltdown disaster from 2011. The film draws great inspiration from the mishandling of this crisis that it feels oddly appropriate to consider the fictional beast Godzilla as a body of work that sheds light on reality. There is a lot of red tape and numerous meetings with a number of people that permeate the feature, but using those two elements actually drives home the message of Shin Godzilla. The bureaucratic process works. It just takes a massive amount of cooperation and patience to see results come through. It is pretty genius that a film about a giant lizard monster can portray this.

2016 Godzilla is still an absolute monster (who is also cute at some points, especially Puppy Form Godzilla.) Add in the fact that there are a ton of Evangelion/Hideaki Anno motifs included and it's a fun ride. I definitely recommend it if you haven't caught it yet. Shin Godzilla is in select theaters until October 27.