Godzilla Minus One review: the throwback Godzilla of our dreams

Godzilla Minus OneThe throwback Godzilla movie has been awaited by long-time Godzilla enthusiasts. Godzilla has never had so much media. In the last seven years alone, a partnership of Toho with Hollywood studios produced three animated movies on Netflix, along with two U.S. films and an Apple TV show that will premiere Nov. 17th. Godzilla fans like me haven’t been left wanting. But something important has been left out, something essential to the first films of the Godzilla series: terror.

Godzilla was terrifying for nearly a decade. Hideaki Higuchi and Shinji Anno released the 2016 film, “Godzilla”. The horrifying Shin GodzillaIt is widely considered to be one of the most successful entries in this franchise. The film promised to bring back the terrifying, humanity-destroying Godzilla from the past. But Shin GodzillaThe film marked the end of the long hiatus of Japanese-produced live-action Godzilla movies and the start of an incredibly successful American Godzilla era. American Godzilla Media of the Past Seven Years, including Godzilla, King of Monsters, Godzilla vs. KongNetflix has a wide range of anime movies that are good and even great. However, the creators took more inspiration from Marvel Cinematic Universe rather than old kaiju films.

Toho, after years of watching Hollywood dictate the direction for Godzilla’s filming, returns with an actual throwback that places Godzilla in the early 1900s. He doesn’t have any adorable friends in this new Japanese-produced live-action period piece. You won’t see him save Tokyo from a kaiju that represents oceanic pollution, or a reptilian mech that embodies capitalism gone awry. You won’t see King Kong, or even hear about the Monsterverse.

Instead, Godzilla Minus One Sticks to the original. The movie that kicked it all off, 1954’s Godzilla, mixes horror, classic melodrama, and a feverish anti-war message to mine the anxieties of ’50s Japan. Minus OneThis story takes us even farther back in time, to the aftermath of World War II. Takashi Yazaki is the writer and director of this film. He also brought another well-loved franchise, Back to Basics with Lupin III – The First Episode) imagines how a Japan with no military, no economy, and no international support would respond to Godzilla’s first attack.

Is this reboot or a remake? What about a remake or reimagining? A reimagining? All of the above.

Koichi (Ryunosuke) Kamiki is our reluctant hero. He’s a former kamikaze who faked an aircraft malfunction in order to avoid death during the final hours of World War II. Godzilla movies are often political parables, with the monsters being the main metaphor. Minus OneKoichi, a kamikaze pilot who survived the war, carries that weight on his tiny frame. He returns home as a Kamikaze Pilot who has survived World War II to discover that his neighbourhood is a shambles with only a handful of surviving residents.

It’s a ground-level Godzilla story: we see events from the perspective of Koichi and his colleagues, not through government officials, superhuman soldiers or Godzilla. As with any great kaiju film, we spend much of the film’s first half learning to care about these lovable folks just before their world gets obliterated by hundreds of tons of giant lizard.

Koichi has a grim character, even compared with the somber earlier Godzilla films. He despises himself for his decision to bail on his kamikaze mission, and his neighbors, who’ve lost their homes and families, aren’t especially thrilled to see him either. Together, they begin to rebuild the bombed out blocks, bivouacked tents and modest houses that are scattered throughout suburban Tokyo. Considering this a Godzilla movie, it’s like watching people rebuilding their lives with a giant box of dominoes.

Koichi, the hero of Godzilla Minus One, looks at something huge in the distance.

Image: Toho

Minus One isn’t a period piece in aesthetic alone: The story itself feels like something preserved from the 1950s. Yamazaki engulfs the story in the melodrama that is a historical epic. The characters of Yamazaki are Romantic in capital letters, making grand proclamations, and often making sacrifices. They discuss heavy subjects where modern characters might joke about shawarma.

Koichi’s companions discuss nonviolence as a powerful tool, self-preservation and unfair demands placed on populations by governments during times of conflict. It is this last point that makes the most sense. Godzilla Minus One a surprisingly potent pairing with Hayao Miyazaki’s animated semi-biopic The Wind Rises, and a timely response to Japan’s current military buildup.

Of course, it’s precisely when Koichi and company begin to open their hearts and get their feet on the ground that Godzilla arrives. (Technically, he appears earlier in the film, but I’ll spare you the spoilers.) Godzilla’s first appearance is akin to a version 2023 of the original Godzilla, the embodiment of nuclear terror. Godzilla’s initial physical destruction will be dwarfed in comparison to his heat-ray which leaves little behind but a crater or a cloud of mushroom.

Godzilla destroys a city in Godzilla Minus One.

Image: Toho

It’s the part of modern Godzilla flicks where heroes dispatch mechs to fight a kaiju or send a cutting-edge aircraft. But Minus OneTo its credit, it sticks with the original formula and uses historical realities to dismiss any simple solutions. Most of Japan’s military has been decommissioned following its surrender to the U.S., its remaining warships sent away for disassembly. The U.S. government won’t help, either; its government is afraid to move weaponry into the region, which might provoke an anxious Soviet Union. So there’s only one group left to stop Godzilla: the civilian population. It’s a legitimately terrifying prospect — a group of average people versus a kaiju.

Godzilla can seem intimidating to those under 70 years old. Hell, he appears in an upcoming children’s book that espouses the power of love. But in 1954, Godzilla terrified audiences across the globe, as a metaphor for nuclear weapons’ imprecise, passionless ability to level whole cities.

The back of the car is a rounded shape. Minus OneThis film is a re-creation of that kind of horror with an intensely political theme and the human stakes. Yamazaki brings together the threads he carefully put in place: Koichi’s mental health, the barely rebuilt Japan, the absent government, the abandoned military, and, in true classic melodrama fashion, a love story. He pits the characters against a catastrophic, indifferent force.

Koichi shakes hands with his fellow mine destroyer in Godzilla Minus One.

Image: Toho

Godzilla: a nuclear weapons threat? It’s tempting to respond violently with more violence. Indifferent American soldiers during a time of rebuilding? What is the fact? Godzilla Minus OneThe answers to these questions reveal what Godzilla has been lacking in modern Godzilla media.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve enjoyed the near-decade of Godzilla entertainment in America. As someone who’s experienced the horrors of Godzilla, I can say that it was a great experience. Shin Godzilla Top of the page his Godzilla tier list, who introduced his child to Mothra at far too young an age, and has a Hedorah anatomy poster sitting behind him at this very moment, this is the Godzilla I’ve been waiting for.

Godzilla movies offer filmmakers the chance to share stories about political issues, not only about people, but also about entire communities or nations. Godzilla films will feature kaijus destroying landmarks and famous cities like toddlers in Lego museums. People will come to see them. It’s a fantastic entertainment vessel for big ideas. Godzilla has given us lots of sweets for many years. But considering the state of the world, I’m glad he’s once again showing up with a bit of medicine, too.

Godzilla Minus OneOpening in Japan on November 3, the film will be released in U.S. theatres on Dec. 1. Fans can attend an early screening on Nov. 29, with a fan event.

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