If you tried to adapt Atlas Shrugged into a giant monster movie, you’d get something remarkably like Shin Godzilla. The film opens with an empty boat, property of a disappeared man who was the victim of governmental ineptitude. He’s left behind a biological map of a creature of terrifying potential and nearly unlimited power, a creature that appears in the coastal waters of Japan shortly thereafter. When the monster attacks the mainland the government is slow to respond, becoming bogged down by the weight of its own bureaucracy, unable to act efficiently enough to meet the threat of the rapidly mutating creature. Fortunately “American” Kayoko Ann, and low ranking government official Rando Yaguchi, are able to set up a completely merit based task force that partners with the private sector to bring down the threat of Godzilla once and for all.

Now of course if you’re following this analogy and you’re a fan of Atlas Shrugged, you’ll be wondering if Shin Godzilla manages to recreate the book’s tone and pacing, and I’m happy to report that these elements are perfectly preserved as occasional thrilling plot developments are drowned in interminable scenes of philosophical dialogue. People who complained that Godzilla didn’t get enough screen time in Godzilla (2014) won’t be any happier with this film. It’s filled to overflowing with scenes of men in various offices and boardrooms endlessly discussing how to deal with this newfound threat, seasoned lightly with the occasional interlude of Godzilla doing Godzilla things.

Of course, with the Fukoshima reactor meltdown so painfulyl fresh in their collective memory, it’s easy to see why the Japanese might want craft a narrative so condemning of government dithering and bureaucratic red tape. Godzilla, in his more serious incarnations, has always been a stand-in for the various horrors of nuclear power, and it’s no accident that details like radioactive waste and the effects of wind on radiation clouds feature so prominently in this film. The Godzilla of Shin Godzilla is walking wound, red and inflamed and leaking poisonous pus across the streets of Tokyo.

But putting politics and literary allusion aside, the question remains: is the film any good? There are undeniably several good films within Shin Godzilla. The opening twenty minutes play like a hilarious political satire. The ineptitude of the government, as horrifying as its effects are, is played for laughs, and there’s a genuine comedy to these guys endlessly deferring to the next person in their chain of command that I wouldn’t have believed would work as well as it does.

Likewise the “monster attack” segments work beautifully. This is the first Japanese Godzilla film to eschew the use of practical suits to bring the big guy to life, and while the CG isn’t as polished as it is in the American Godzilla, it has a beautiful sense of scale and weight that really works. We don’t get to see Godzilla fight another kaiju, but the military attacks on the monster are impressively choreographed and beautifully shot. And when Godzilla’s full powers finally manifest they are glorious.

When considered as a whole, however, the movie’s merits become much more tenuous. The film gets bogged down with many many scenes of our heroic meritocracy of scientists sitting in a room trying to figure out how to stop Godzilla. There’s an impressive energy to these scenes fostered by a restless editing style and creative cinematography, but eventually we can’t help but be bored by the seemingly endless dialogue.

However despite its evident faults, Shin Godzilla just manages to muscle its way into being an enjoyable movie. There are those who won’t be able to forgive the film’s ponderous pace, but for me enough of the movie worked that I could overlook the stuff that didn’t. As a satirical indictment of government ineptitude in all its forms it functions beautifully. As a cheerleader for the efficacy of the private sector and unilateral government power it flounders. But just when we’re about to be overwhelmed by it all, Godzilla stomps in to save the day once again.



