Sometimes Godzilla has been a hero, sometimes a villain. In American films, the King of the Monsters serves as an opportunity to sell toys like crazy. But writer/director Takashi Yamazaki remembers the spark of divine retribution that marked Godzilla’s 1954 debut. Seen as a force of nature, Godzilla rises when humanity’s negative energy builds. It has to explode somewhere.
Yamazaki knows what the movie’s audience wants, but this skillful filmmaker delivers a thoughtful meal when many fans just wanted to see Godzilla snack. Thus Godzilla Minus One provides a deeper examination of the people who should be helpless before the kaiju. Set in post-war Japan, the film explores the guilt and resolution that comes from playing a role in atrocity, whether they admit it or not.
Instead of the depths of the ocean, Godzilla Minus One begins in the air. Specifically, pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) landing on a small island with a repair depot. As chief mechanic Sosaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki) examines the plane, he can find nothing wrong. It’s clear from the pain on Shikishima’s face that he has abandoned his duty as a kamikaze pilot. But in these last days of World War II, some understand that one more death would have made no difference.
Before Shikishima can go home and face scorn, we get what we came here for – a savage dinosaur-like creature comes ashore to wreak havoc. One soldier recognizes it as what the island villagers call Godzilla. Not that knowing its name helps; we all know what it does. Though Shikishima and Tachibana survive, no one will believe them. The official government story: an aerial Allied attack.
No one calls out what ended World War II, but Shikishima returns to a devastated home. His parents died in the firestorm, as did his neighbor’s children. How bad could Godzilla be when compared to what humanity has just done?
The film follows the pilot as he slowly rebuilds. Even with a smile on his face, Shikishima is a shell of a man, haunted by war and the creature that almost killed him. Another survivor of the firestorms Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and a baby build an ad hoc life with him, but he will never give in to it. Afraid to die, Shikishima also has no taste for living.
The director gives us that creature again, of course. But spending time with survivors only increases the dread. Shikishima takes a job destroying floating mines left over from the war by both the Japanese government and the Allies. Two of his crew also wrestle with their complicity, while the third regrets being too young to have fought.
While Yamazaki has acknowledged being influenced by a few key Godzilla films, the days on the boat owe a debt to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. Four men on the ocean, thinking they know what they’re up against. But atomic tests have continued, and that creature from the island has grown larger and angrier.
The barely trusted government sets the boat up as bait, and the Americans can’t help them for fear the Soviet Union will see their presence as an act of aggression. And when that creature rises… it’s worth the wait.
Borrowing from Shin Godzilla and Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-out Attack, the kaiju evolves with each battle but never appears less than terrifying. That’s no hyperbole. Yamazaki is also a special effects artist, and collaborated with a team to create the most fearsome version of Godzilla yet. We feel its rage, which ripples throughout its body. Yet somehow it still evokes the “man in suit.”
The composition of the monster taking down Tokyo looks seamless. These aren’t miniatures getting stomped. It’s visceral. And more frightening – it’s daylight. Where kaiju battles often get shot in night-time scenes to hide flaws, Yamazaki has no fear. Only we do.
Not to disparage the stars of the American films, but they’ve been scripted to be nondescript and leave the kaiju as the stars. The cast here deliver great and delicate performances, because they’ve been given such complexity to work with. Just when you might think a character will be one-note, Yamazaki’s script opens up depth.
All of it also gets tremendous support from Naoki Satô’s score. It’s moving and ominous when needed. But when the action demands it, we also get those classic Godzilla themes and the audience cheers. Until it happened, I didn’t know how much I needed it.
Like GMK, Godzilla Minus One leaves room for the inevitable return. But this is the first time I’ve seen a Godzilla movie in my life that I needed to just sit with for a while, and return to see it a few times. Imagine that: I got excited to see a Godzilla movie, and was gobsmacked to see a Godzilla film. (I attended the U.S. premiere — can you see me in this photo?)
Godzilla Minus One opens in the U.S. on December 1st in over 1,000 theaters, including select IMAX screens. There’s a special fan early bird screening on November 29. Check your favorite movie ticket app.
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