An assignment of monstrous proportions

I don't get the stubby upturned arms, but otherwise
the new design is pretty darn cool.

For me super powered fiction is far wider than just stories based on costumed superheroes. Any super powered being doing anything super powered fits the category and I often find that one supernatural element can turn even the most normal character into a larger than life hero. I caught a couple films over the last few days that fit that category.

Shin Godzilla was a fascinating reboot of the giant monster by original creative studio Toho. Produced by the same director as Neon Genesis Evangelion, the movie certainly has more depth than either American Godzilla film and most of the previous Japanese films. Using a ton of jump cuts, it chronicles the Japanese government at war with the invading menace of Godzilla. But they also are at odds with the governments of the world, ready to react violently. The movie manages to be terribly critical of the current Japanese government's slow response in the face of the disaster as well as its willingness to roll over for the United States and United Nations. It makes an interesting dichotomy, even as the film also develops a very very different take on Godzilla as an ultimate evolutionary force. If you like monster movies, this one definitely offers something different.

A bit odder yet is The Assignment, a Michelle Rodriguez film by action movie impresario Walter Hill. The movie casts Rodriguez as a male hitman forced into a female body by gender reassignment surgery. It creates a very strange film with Rodriguez dressed as a bearded man for the first third of the film until a crazed mob doctor takes out her vengeance for the hitman's murder of her brother. The plot gets hairier and deeper as the movie continues, but it manages to both be a very strange character piece and a pretty decent actioner, even if it relies a bit too much on narrative exposition to move the plot along. But it's still a unique film worth a look, especially if you're a fan of 48 Hours or The Warriors.

Overall, the films are pretty fun, so give them a look if you enjoy strange cinema as much as me.

I am shameless enough to also use this as an excuse to post
a hot picture of Michelle Rodriguez as well.