Confession time: I saw the original Godzilla for the first time a few weeks ago. Prior to that, I had seen bits of cheesy sequels on Saturday afternoons and Hollywood’s attempts to cash in on the radioactive titan, ranging from 1998’s dreadful Godzilla (who was nothing like the monster we know) to 2014’s very good reboot to kick off a new Monster Universe. But I had never really gotten into Japanese studio Toho’s work as a film fan. Which I changed. The original—a meditation on the reality of a nuclear society disguised as a monster movie—was impressive in both its spectacle and its seriousness. That seemed a far cry to what Godzilla had become in future works and in pop culture…until now. Toho has turned back to its roots with Godzilla Minus One, using the backdrop of post-WWII Japan to explore the relationship of humanity and war. But still with a really awesome nuclear Dino-Monster.
The action opens near the end of the war on Odo Island, an outpost for repairs for kamikaze fighters. One of the pilots, Shikishima, has lied about troubles with his plane to keep from carrying out his suicide mission. That night, a young (I mean, he’s smaller, so I guess he’s young?) Godzilla comes onto the island and terrorizes the unit. Shikishama has the opportunity to try to stop him, but is paralyzed with fear. Only he and head mechanic Tachibana—who blames Shikishima for the death of his men—survive. The two are rescued, but both bear the scars of Godzilla’s attack.
Back home in a bomb-devastated Tokyo, Shikishima, still bearing the guilt of his failures on Odo Island, befriends a young woman who has taken a now-deceased stranger’s baby in. The three form a makeshift family. Shikishima gets a job sweeping the ocean for old mines. While doing so, he and his crewmates come face to face with a much larger—and thanks to US , nuclear—Godzilla. The depleted military is helpless against him as he starts wrecking havoc on a Tokyo that still hasn’t recovered from the war. Confronted with more loss and the need to redeem himself, Shikishima joins a civilian operation manned by veterans to carry out a plan to kill Godzilla. He enlists help from Tachibana for a mission that may cost him his life, but restore his honor—or so he thinks.
There are plenty of bad Godzilla movies from both Toho and American studios, but (as noted above) good ones as well. The good ones tend not to make Godzilla the main character. Instead, he’s the cause of disaster that mankind must confront. The narrative and emotional focus of the good movies are the human characters confronting annihilation. And that’s true here. The character arcs for Shikishima’s roommate Noriko, Tachibana, and the other crew members on Shikishima’s mine sweeper are all pretty engaging for the limited screen time they all get. The main emotional heft of the film falls to Shikishima’s story. Throughout, he is burdened by his past failures, noting that the war has never ended for him. When given a chance for redemption, will he be willing to give up his life for it?
And, in a pretty great thematic turn, the movie also asks if he should be willing to give up his life for it. Shikishima’s shame at refusing to carry out his kamikaze mission stands contrary to a society questioning whether the country should have carried out such missions in the first place. The survivors recognize the great cost the nation paid in the loss of so many young men fighting for a lost cause. The moral and philosophical questions abound, but the movie never becomes about these things even as it explores them. That is the sign of great art—it shows, it doesn’t tell. In that way, Godzilla Minus One is indeed great art.
On a filmmaking level, the movie ranges from fine to impressive. The acting isn’t spectacular, but it is sufficient to allow us to care for the characters. You can tell the special effects are commensurate with the reported $15 million budget. Yet they are still impressive because they don’t look as sterile as the CGI work for movies 10-20x as expensive. They still serve the story well and they subtly call back to the “guy in a Godzilla suit” days without looking that cheap. The score is pretty epic, the sound suitably impressive, and it looks better than it should at the cost. Despite the heavy themes, it also works as an action/kaiju/disaster flick—if you want, you can just soak in the spectacle of Godzilla destroying a lot of stuff. The film definitely is greater than the sum of its parts both for its depth and for its watchability.
The original Godzilla was a warning against nuclear war. Godzilla Minus One goes deeper to ask questions about the nature of war itself. But it’s also just a really entertaining time at the movies. If you can, go see it at the theater and, whether you just cheer on the big monster and loud stuff or dig deeper into its human drama, know that you are seeing one of the best films of the year.
Godzilla Minus One is in theaters now.
(Photo credit: Toho Co. Ltd.)
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