The whole thing came in at just 97 minutes. “With the action scenes, plus the end credits, it came in at two hours. That convinced me a little bit,” Yamauchi added.
Indeed, a big part of the appeal of “Shin Godzilla,” and what makes it such a unique movie in the 70-year-old franchise, is its satirical tone and fast-paced, quick-witted dialogue. Most of the film is spent on emergency board and committee meetings where government officials discuss what to do about the threat of Godzilla … and take too long to actually do anything about it.
This movie is all about bureaucratic red tape and the response to a disaster, be it a natural one or a giant monstrous lizard destroying Tokyo. At times, it even resembles one of Armando Iannucci’s movie satires in its approach to politics and witty dialogue. But, of course, this is still a Godzilla movie, and “Shin Godzilla” delivers the goods. Anno gives the iconic kaiju different forms throughout the movie, a then-controversial move that has proven influential, with shows like “Godzilla: Singular Point” and the recent “Godzilla: Minus One” continuing the trend of making Godzilla evolve during the film.