Outside of Japan, Godzilla is somewhat of a joke. This is largely due to the historical relevance missing from every other country: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and, more recently, Fukushima. Shin Godzilla is perhaps the most realistic, agonizing version of this nuclear fear, and composer Shiro Sagisu gives it the proper respect and gravity.
Shin Godzilla features a prominent human element: governmental and bureaucratic reaction to Godzilla’s emergence. These scenes are filled with endless meetings, in-depth planning, and bickering over the proper course of action. In most hands, the tedium of bureaucracy would be a bore. But Sagisu fills these scenes with relentless, frenetic taiko drums, building the pace and tension that these bureaucrats and politicians feel.
Sagisu also gives a frightening, fearful weight to this iteration of Godzilla, a monstrous, tortured being. He does so first through rerecorded heavy, regal brass themes from at least five previous Godzilla films, all originally composed by the legendary Akira Ifukube. These themes, in particular “Return of Godzilla” from King Kong vs. Godzilla, give the titular monster a daunting, unstoppable presence.
Godzilla’s most intriguing attributes, and perhaps the one most lost in translation, is its sympathy, coming from the creature’s agony and utter pain of existence, as it was born through the waste and negligence of Man only to be attacked and hated by his creator. “Who Will Know” beautifully captures this attribute, an operatic lamentation of life and pain, whose lyrics stem from the point of view of Godzilla itself, when it is alone, vulnerable, and afraid, all while its makers attack. Through this scene Sagisu humanizes Godzilla, making it sympathetic through a surprising depth of character.