In 2019, "Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters" was released, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the visual effects are indeed shocking enough, however, what about the kernel?
I can't help but think of "New Godzilla" directed by Hideaki Anno 4 years ago, and to dissect this overlooked masterpiece from some perspectives!
It's still familiar music, it's still familiar Tokyo, but it's not the familiar apostles, it's the new Godzilla.
"New Godzilla" is not so much a success as "New Godzilla" is a legend: Toho's reboot after 13 years, Hideaki Anno's first cross-border director of live-action production, and Higuchi Shinji co-directed. Throughout 2016, this slightly cute monster grossed 8 billion yen at the Japanese box office and became the annual live-action film box office champion of Japanese films; the box office reputation was double-harvested, and in early 2017, it swept the Japanese Oscars in one fell swoop.
After all, there is a great name of Hideaki Anno, so since the beginning of the filming of "New Godzilla", the attention to this work has not stopped. WuJijun thought that "New Godzilla" would be a good movie, but he never expected that a director who had been immersed in the world of animation for decades would actually make such a good live-action (monster) movie! It seems that the man who can shoot the EVA is indeed invincible, considering the huge tonality between the animated film and the live-action movie, Hideaki Anno can actually win with a small white posture, such a surprise is really unexpected, which can be called a sweep away the haze of the reputation failure of the "New Evangelion Theater Edition: Q". A "New Godzilla" not only achieved Toho's hegemony in 2016, but also once again aroused countless people's interest in the following year's Evangelion Theater Edition: | ▎ (please don't ask me what this symbol is).
<h2 class="md-end-block md-heading" > animation supervisor who doesn't want to make a live-action movie is not a good voice actor</h2>
In 2013, Master Miyazaki unexpectedly announced Hideaki Anno as the lead voice actor of "The Wind Rises", which is also indirectly announcing the "qualified" of his successor. Subsequently, the "Valley of the Wind 2" project, which was directed by Hideaki Anno, also appeared on major movie websites, which really caused a commotion at that time. In response, Hideaki Anno aired the feature film "Giant Soldiers Descending on Tokyo" (directed by Shinji Higuchi) through the patch of that year's summer anime masterpiece "New Evangelion Theater Edition: Q". To be honest, before the filming of "New Godzilla" began, Noji Jun always thought that "The Giant God Soldier Descends to Tokyo" was Anno's recollection to the master and his response to the shooting of "Valley of the Wind 2". But now it seems that there may be a more realistic purpose in filming "The Giant Soldier Descends on Tokyo": to prepare for "New Godzilla".
But even with the foreshadowing of "The Mighty Soldier Descending on Tokyo," New Godzilla still came a bit suddenly. "EVA: Q" left a big hole to fill, "Valley of the Wind 2" is much anticipated, Anno himself is still planning the live-action version of "EVA", such a compact plan actually suddenly joined the "New Godzilla" this huge investment in the live-action project, Anno is indeed just like its "leper" name, never according to common sense.
We don't know if Hideaki Anno had already begun to plan the filming of "New Godzilla" at that time, but "The Giant God Soldier Descends to Tokyo" directed by Shinji Higuchi and written by Hideaki Anno did lay the foundation for today's "New Godzilla".
Another director of "New Godzilla" is Makoto Higuchi, who worked with Hideaki Anno in his early years to produce "The Sapphire Mystery", and then entered the ranks of live-action film directors, which determines that almost no one is more suitable for partnering with Hideaki Anno than Makoto Higuchi.
If it is said that the tight budget makes the color of "Giant God Soldier Descending in Tokyo" slightly insufficient, then in the budget -- "New Godzilla", the combination of close-up and special effects has reached the point of pure fire, and the old visual sense of the showa monster film of the last century brought to people by the close-up film just ignites the audience's nostalgic adrenaline, and although the level of special effects is not amazing, the clever combination with the close-up camera creates a sense of déjà vu that is not inferior to that of american special effects blockbusters. The fact that the two "anime" colorful supervisors were able to grasp the mutual weight of close-ups and special effects so well was really surprising to WuJijun.
In the view of Peerless, the biggest feeling that the whole movie of "New Godzilla" brings to me is "maturity" + "details": photography, mirror operation, editing, rhythm control, and detail arrangement are so mature, the rhythm is not dragged, and the huge amount of details still maintains a surging sense of rhythm in the rapid switching. Even though "The Giant God Soldier Arrives in Tokyo" has made Higuchi Shinji taste it in advance, and even if Hideaki Anno has become familiar with the similar rhythm in "Evangelion", this level of maturity is still a bit unbelievable, after all, the control of live-action movies requires more synergy than supervision of individual brain holes.
Indeed, the script created by Hideaki Anno does have a clear shadow of EVA, but the style of this script in terms of character building, line series, etc. also has a clear gap with EVA, and it has to be said that this script is really too material, the theme of monster mixing realpolitik provides a huge depth for the script, and a worldview with a great sense of depth provides a rich imagination space for imaging. Play cross-border can play to this point, no two jun expressed obedience!
Although at the end of 2016, Master Miyaku announced in a low-key manner that he had made a comeback, Hideaki Anno's plan to direct "Valley of the Wind 2" does not seem to have changed, and the harsh and even critical Master Miya is willing to give the sequel adaptation rights to his manga masterpiece "Valley of the Wind" that he has created for more than a decade, which is a supreme affirmation in any case. Animation supervisors, screenwriters, live-action film supervisors, voice actors, and even actors, Hideaki Anno is really impressed by the amount of work he can do and the amount of tone. The conclusion is that there are geniuses in this world, such as Hideaki Anno.
It is impossible to talk about "New Godzilla" without talking about Evangelion, at least in terms of form, the former is the inheritance and development of the latter, but it is definitely not a simple copy.
In terms of form, the two works are indeed so similar that after watching "New Godzilla", one of the friends of the peerless king recited the famous advertisement at the first time: still the original recipe, or the familiar taste, the "Evangelion" with many fans around the world was renamed "New Godzilla"!
Well, I must admit that, at least on the surface, "New Godzilla" is simply a remake of Evangelion, and when I watch the opening scene, I almost started to look forward to the bridge section of the first machine vs. Godzilla.
<h2 class="md-end-block md-heading" > monster (apostle) attack and Godzilla attack</h2>
If I had to sum up in one sentence how Hideaki Anno's version of Shin-Godzilla inherited Evangelion, I think it would be: The monster (apostle) is coming. The Apostle Strike is a famous classic passage in Evangelion, and also refers to the classic soundtrack created by Heron Nest Siron for this purpose. In Evangelion, every time the apostle appears, it is accompanied by the classic drum beat of Heron Nest Shilang, along with the illuminated red projection of NERV, the waves of unintelligible mouth cannons of NERV staff, and the unchanging style of the Yuantang for thousands of years.
Many people say that in EVA, they like the various battles between EVA and the apostles the most, but in contrast, Wu Erjun prefers the "Apostle Attack", every time the Apostle strikes, the sense of rhythm is rapidly heated up under the clever picture switching and music, and every EVA appearance is not cold. Many people enjoy the pleasure of orgasm, but WuJijun enjoys the accumulation of power before the arrival of orgasm (not dirty here).
To put it bluntly, the three-part sense of rhythm of "New Godzilla" is almost an enlarged and upgraded version of the "Apostle Attack" bridge section, and the following is the proof process:
Apostle = Godzilla (comes with Rampage feature)
Chattering NERV technician = Chattering cabinet official + member of the more chattering Yaguchi group represented by the female official of the environment province played by Ichikawa Ishihi
All kinds of conventional weapons units that don't have any eggs but must waste shells = all kinds of self-defense forces that don't have any eggs but must waste shells + U.S. troops who think they are useful but ultimately have no eggs
The soundtrack of Shiro Heron = the soundtrack of the upgraded Shiro Heron (Shiro Heron's use of the same melody is not good!). ）
("I love using the music of Sapphire Mystery" to EVA, and the music of EVA to "New Godzilla"...) ）
(The super-fast, unsmiling "unpopular" official of the Ministry of Environmental Protection performed by Ichikawa Shiri has a strong aura, and it has robbed a lot of the heroine Ishihara of the play!) Well, without smiling, Wu Erjun has begun to brain supplement Ling Polly... ）
(As for the Chief Cabinet Secretary played by Takeno Uchihiro, Ngō, Tsubasa Motodo and Yoshiharu Bōjo, who should be seated?) ）
The bigger investment gave the bigger stage, and Hideaki Anno took it to play with the model he had created to a new height in "New Godzilla". Therefore, stealing the master's own ideas is not stealing... But at the same time, it must be said that despite the external similarities, the core level of "New Godzilla" is actually a completely different movie from "Evangelion". Compared with evangelion's grand worldview and imagination, "New Godzilla" is much more realistic, it is more realistic, more detailed, and more grounded in its satire of reality. More importantly, New Godzilla's profound political critique of the state apparatus leaves it completely out of the Evangelion model and into another dimension.
In The View of Peerless, "political demands" are the soul of The New Godzilla. The bold exploration of political issues is the most important reason why "New Godzilla" won the Japanese Oscars.
——— dividing line———
In the eyes of WuJijun, "political demands" are the soul of "New Godzilla". The bold exploration of realpolitik issues is the greatest value of "New Godzilla" and the most important reason why "New Godzilla" can win the Japanese Oscar.
But any film that dares to delve into political factors will be highly regarded, after all, talking about politics is a rather risky appeal, and the intriguey and devious political world is destined to have complex clues, which cannot be controlled by ordinary production teams. There has always been no shortage of profound political fables in the Japanese anime world, and Oshii's two theatrical versions of "Mobile Police" and Keiyuki Okiura's 1999 "Man Wolf" are both works with considerable depth in political themes, and these works portray the political situation and the meticulous depiction of people's minds even greatly exceed the live-action films of their kind. If you want to talk about the political demands of "New Godzilla", you can't help but mention Oshii Mori's famous "Mobile Police Theater Edition 1: Tokyo Destruction War" and "Mobile Police Theater Edition 2: Peace Defense War", these two works have too much influence on "New Godzilla" and cannot be ignored.
Remembering the "Mobile Police: Tokyo Destruction War", the game between "Razor" Goto and the Chief Superintendent, Goto cleverly avoided the weight, took care of him left and right, and beat the cattle across the mountain, so that the Chief Superintendent acquiesced to his bold plan to dismantle the "Ark":
"Then I still have a problem: as long as there is a typhoon as a shield, I think there is no so-called liability problem, after all, it is caused by typhoons." - Goto
"Of course, as long as it is a natural disaster, there is no way." - Chief Superintendent of Police
"Goto Police Auxiliary, now return to the original unit." - Goto
This dialogue left a very deep impression on Noji jun, the duel of the smart people is really not shocking on the surface, but it is also crazy, and it also makes Noji Jun become a fan of screenwriter Kazunori Ito. In Wu Erjun's view, the difficulty of political themes lies in the background, in the subtext outside the lines, and if you want to shoot the entire political theme of the work, these potential background clues must be constructed, only in this way can the characters and lines stand up. Or another example of Mobile Cop: Tokyo Doom:
"What is the role of that Mr. Goto?" ------------------
"Razor Goto is a well-known bad guy at headquarters." --Takahiro Matsui
"Why would that powerful character squat in The New Ground of Haipu?" ------------------
"So, the sharpness is too much." --Takahiro Matsui
The four lines outlined Goto's background and laid the foundation for Goto's game at the police headquarters and the chief superintendent. This TMD is amazing!!
To The great excitement of Noji-kun, Hideaki Anno did it, and it was done quite beautifully! Let's take a simple example, and please don't ignore the calm man in the movie: the film repeatedly implies that this calm character is the driving force behind the entire political change, and in the eyes of WuJijun, the most successful character in the whole movie. According to Wujijun, although Godzilla's landing was not his plan, the reshuffling of the Japanese government after Godzilla's landing is most likely the script of the chief cabinet secretary:
The matchmaking with the U.S. representative was supposed to be the responsibility of the chief cabinet secretary, but he gave the responsibility to Yaguchi, a young official he had pulled up, and he knew in his heart that Yaguchi was the one who could bring about change.
Monsters, state apparatus, nuclear fear, Japan-U.S. alliances, political changes, these seemingly difficult elements to appear at the same time are actually harmoniously blended together in "New Godzilla", producing a rather flavorful chemical reaction with each other, in this regard, must give Anno's script a 100 praise points! The final effect is not as profound as "Mobile Police: Peace Defense", but it has also reached the point of "refreshing" and "thought-provoking". So, please never underestimate the creativity of any Japanese anime master, and the seemingly superficial theme can actually become very profound.
<h2 class="md-end-block md-heading" >nucleon" monster</h2>
In Anno's painstakingly crafted script, Godzilla is a monster with its own radiation, but also a green nuclear reactor that is almost pollution-free. Godzilla's arrival has brought both great material damage and endless possibilities for the clean energy of the future. This paradoxical setting alludes to two states in which humanity faces nuclear energy: nuclear energy can become an energy source for the benefit of mankind, and of course, it can also become a murderous weapon of terror. In the end, the differences between Japan and the United States over the way Godzilla is handled also seem to reveal: the focus of the advantages and disadvantages of the double-edged sword of nuclear technology is not on the nuclear energy itself, but on the person who holds the sword.
Of course, the meaning of this monster is far from simple, and more importantly, it has become a strong medicine, a strong medicine against decades of Japanese political plight. Godzilla shattered the apparent calm of Japanese society, forcing the nation to confront its deepest fears. In this regard, this film is very similar to Mobile Police: Peace Defense.
In "Mobile Police: Peace Defense War", Garnet Tuozhi ripped off the fig leaf on which Japan had maintained the "illusion of peace" for decades after the war with a single lure missile: for a time, the state violent organs belonging to different camps, the Self-Defense Forces and the police, began a farce for political power under the "inducement" of this seductress, and the so-called "imperial faction" hidden within the Self-Defense Forces took the opportunity to push the entire country to the brink of division and loss of control, and their ambitions hit the heart of Garnet, "false" Peace reveals its true colors in an endless farce.........
For garnet planting pedestrians' plans, Goto has a classic line:
"If this man is the mastermind of this incident, then he is a very powerful strategist, and he can create so many situations with just one missile, and the situation is getting worse."
"New Godzilla" is similar here, and we can also say this about Professor Mugoro Moto: The professor is also a strategist who tested the Japanese state apparatus with a two-sided nuclear monster, Godzilla. He used this monster to give this nation the opportunity to choose again, either to a bright future or to slide into the bottomless abyss... The professor saw through the essence of Japan-U.S. relations, Japan is a pawn that the United States can give up at any time, and if Japan wants to save itself, it must learn to unite, learn to be efficient, and learn to overcome its inner fears.
<h2 class="md-end-block md-heading" > state apparatus</h2>
As I said earlier, one of the biggest impressions of "New Godzilla" on Peerless is that it is detailed. And this kind of detailing is reflected in the depiction of the entire state apparatus.
Although the Japanese political center in the film is exaggerated to a certain extent, it still tries to show the whole picture of political decision-making objectively and truthfully.
I don't know if my brain is too big, the cabinet team of "meeting - changing offices - changing offices again" is simply the epitome of Kan Naoto's cabinet during the Great Japan Earthquake: solid work, limited efficiency. Of course, the irony is also quite spicy: the table is full of straw bales, and the excluded are talents. This is not only a tragedy for people, but also a tragedy for the system. Decades of stagnation have worn away the nation's politicians.
Here we have to mention the special envoy of the President of the United States played by Rimi Ishihara. There is nothing wrong with Hideaki Anno's ingenious snippet of the concept, and on the surface there is nothing wrong with a Japanese-American sent by the President of the United States to intervene in the Godzilla affair; but the inner implication is that the same Japanese, politicians who have grown up in two cultural and political environments are so different, and Rimi Ishihara's capable and efficient image is in stark contrast to the old dragon clock and pedantry in the Japanese cabinet.
But in any case, "New Godzilla" shows the image of a state apparatus that is desperate to save lives and fight against a sudden disaster. The film's lines are as fast and dense as a cannon, showing that the state apparatus is running at high speed, whether the state apparatus's decisions are correct or not, but the complexity of political considerations and the cautious style of politicians establish a serious image in the film. In short, conservatism is not synonymous with the so-called "incompetence of the state apparatus." Although the film's grounded depiction does not reach the level of "whitewashing", it is also refreshing.
As an aside, in recent years, Korean filmmakers have gone to heaven on the road to blackening their own state apparatus... For example, "Busan Trip", "Melting Pot", "Tunnel", "Asura", "Insider" and so on.
So, is the state apparatus really so incompetent? At least in Anno's view, the state apparatus, even if incompetent, is not as stupid as some Korean filmmakers describe it, and arbitrarily criticizing the state apparatus without considering institutional factors is tantamount to exposing one's own intelligence.
Of course, it is okay to criticize reality in the movie, but using the black government as a means of earning box office, and even starting to compete with who is blacker, is a kind of quick success performance. Cloaked in the guise of criticizing social reality and doing box office business, I have experienced a considerable degree of disappointment in Korean films in the past two years. Wu Erjun does not deny that many Korean films involving the South Korean government are quite good, but some works (I will not name them, save the public anger), you black government is too much, you are about to become science fiction films, even if you want to be black, can you collect more information, get more grounded things?
Sorry, there may be many people who disagree, but Wu Erjun still wants to say: a country's film works are black government every day, sorry, I think this is a social pathology.
<h2 class="md-end-block md-heading" > monster in mind</h2>
Godzilla's arrival forced the nation to face its fears. In Anno's view, this fear from the heart may be more difficult than the monsters in reality.
As Wang Yangming said:
"It is easy to break a thief in a mountain, but it is difficult to break a thief in a broken heart."
In Anno's eyes, the real monster is not only an organism that can be observed, attacked, and eventually frozen in front of it, but also a psychological fear of nuclears in Japan for more than half a century, and the "forward-looking" and political "cowering" of the entire society caused by this fear. Fear can keep a society away from war forever, but it can also hinder the obvious path to progress. The whitewashed Taiping certainly masks the fear in the heart, but it also brings serious consequences: conservatism, the old man is in charge, and the patrol is not moving forward.
"New Godzilla" is such a movie: a monster movie on the surface, but in fact it is telling the story of pushing political innovation - reshuffling politics, letting "active action" replace "stagnation" and become the main political theme of this once pioneering nation.
What Godzilla symbolizes is actually the Japanese people's fear of nuclear weapons, and using fear to suppress fear will only bring more serious consequences (just like the American attempt to "end" Godzilla with a nuclear bomb in the film), and really facing fear, thinking about countermeasures, and even embracing fear can truly get out of fear (this is the essence of the so-called gaffe plan).
Whether it is a nuclear bomb or a nuclear technology, Japan, an island country, may have the most say in the side effects of nuclear weapons. Two nuclear bombs, a serious nuclear leak, the frightening negative effects of nuclear weapons are like the unscrupulous Godzilla in the film, and the material damage it brings is shocking. Humanity's cocooning and self-binding, and human fear of being bound by the nucleus, are all vividly expressed in the last shot of "New Godzilla": death or redemption is often between the lines.
Finally, to borrow the last line from Alarming the Police: The Battle for Peace, let's talk about New Godzilla:
"Can you ask, since you caused such a big incident, why didn't you cut yourself?" --Takahiro Matsui
"Maybe it's because I want to see more..." — Garnet Walker
"What do you want to see?" --Takahiro Matsui
"The future of this city." ------------------------
That's what monster movies should look like!