Ishirō Honda's legendary status has increased even more during the past decades, especially when Hideaki Anno brought a tribute resurgence that played with ideas of evolutionary adaptation and graphic references to the life in Japan after the impact of the atomic bombs: a nation rebuilding itself from scratch after the immeasurable tragedy this left behind while the people that were not disintegrated were rotten by radiation after looking up at the sky and getting an ominous black rain over their faces.

The original masterpiece will always remain unsurpassed: the social commentary, the collective conscience suffering and struggling together to rebuild a nation, Akira Ifukube's immortal score that includes "Prayer for Peace" (the most soul-crushingly beautiful melody of the 50s), the performance of titanic legend Takashi Shimura, and a creature that never asked to exist in such unnatural, gigantic state collapsing by its own weight symbolizing the nation of Japan.

With that stated, I have a dream film that can make justice to the original, since I think no modern rendition fully has: one that combines Anno's anime-like versatility covering the political spectrum with the (failed attempt to create an) apocalyptic desperation of this version: a plot centered on post-war Japan with a creature so menacing that his signature attack can literally create nuclear explosions. This is what differentiates Hollywood campy trash with the intoxicating desperation of the first act of the film:

-People when they see Godzilla in the U.S. still-evolving Monsterverse: "Hell yeah! He's about to shoot his atomic breath! Hype!
-People when they see Godzilla in Gojira -1.0:
"Hell no! He's about to shoot his atomic breath! The horror!"

The buildup for that sequence alone was masterful to see, and yet horrifying. The jumpcuts to the fascinated, confused and/or terrified Japanese citizens was tear-inducing before Godzilla launched that laser nuke that would make Dragon-Ball Goku suffer great damage (when he fought Piccolo as an adult), if not die (when he was a kid). That's the most relevant gimmick of the film: this unintended creation, which existence represents a tragedy by itself, can destroy the world with the signature attack that was normally used to destroy a single building or attack an enemy. Now, it poses a nuclear threat, and that is the most intelligent approach to Godzilla: its own organism is a nuclear threat even against itself.

My dream film in modernity is an epic that combines Shin and -1.0: set the film, not in modern times, but in post-war Japan, and establish the dissonance between the circumstancial family life of a guilt-ridden solder begins to have without preparation and the military tactics and almost robotic exchanges between governmental "authorities", and apply Shin's evolutionary adaptation until it evolves to the design of -1.0, but don't forget the process of Godzilla learning his attacks in the way as he's an accident of nature going through a confusing and painful physical adaptation process to the environment.

Many scenes drag the plot for me; the family dynamics was lazily established (no matter how much I admired the woman, especially after Godzilla's first nuclear attack), and the plan to stop Godzilla is literally illogical from a Physics point of view considering the amount of pressure difference the artifact is supposed to have at that depth in the ocean vs. Godzilla's estimated weight in the film. I know it's sci-fi, but the sci-fi concept should come from the creature alone and not the historical setting and the technology at disposal.

Humor is questionably inserted, but it works for lessening the nearly apocalyptic vibe. Although this is descibed as the bleakest entry yet, Shin is still the scariest and most disturbing, especially with that bloody final shot that will give me nightmares at any time; I'm mentally preparing for them if they come.

Terrific design and A- sound mixing, this film shows you how to use approximately $15MM efficiently as a film budget unlike a Hollywood franchise super production: the ROI has already surpassed an index of 7 (700% of gross income over the original budget), and the film is good.

A fan? Not really, but a supporter. If Yamazaki or a reliable crew member decides to continue the -1.0 franchise, I would love to see the classic kaiju characters being brought to the big screen, since please "look at how Hollywood has massacred its boys".

75/100