Godzilla Minus One subtracts everything but the basics, which turns out to be a huge plus
Modern GODZILLA may be off enjoying blockbuster cross-over franchise success with the Monsterverse but sometimes it’s important – even for giant atomic lizards – to remember where they came from. GODZILLA MINUS ONE takes everyone’s favourite titan back to its roots as an exploration of Japanese post-war trauma and atomic power as a near-irresistible force of nature, indifferent to the tiny lives which it devastates. Written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, it brings the effects (which would go on to win an unprecedented and richly deserved Academy Award) up to date while taking the monster mayhem back to its origins.
Set in post-war Japan, the film follows Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a man grappling with his own immense sense of guilt and trauma after the end of World War II, and an encounter with a mysterious dinosaur-like creature that wiped out his whole unit on Odo Island. Returning to Tokyo to find his parents killed and their home destroyed by bombing, he befriends and takes in a young woman Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe) and an orphaned baby whom Noriko rescued. As they start to rebuild their shattered lives, Godzilla – mutated by further American atomic testing – starts heading for Japan. With the Cold War getting underway, the Americans refuse to help beyond approving the use of a few decommissioned Japanese naval vessels and, to avoid panicking the populace, the Japanese government suppresses news of the imminent threat.
GODZILLA MINUS ONE walks an intriguing line between intense action sequences and deeply emotional moments, as it explores the macro and microcosms of the societal and emotional fall out from the war. Yamazaki’s direction shines as he balances both sides of this essential equation and the spectacular visual effects, the collaboration of Yamazaki (acting as visual effects supervisor alongside his directorial duties), visual effects director Kiyoko Shibuya and 3D CG director Masaki Takahashi, excel at capturing the sheer scale, terror and implacability of Godzilla at his most stripped back and fundamental. The creature design is exquisite, honouring the incarnations that have gone before whilst feeling entirely fresh and new while cinematography poignantly contrasts the bleakness of a war-torn Japan struggling to find the hope to rebuild. The score by Naoki Sato complements the contrasting perspectives between the grand devastation and the small, human moments that punctuate it.
True, it doesn’t always get the balance entirely right and you may find the film sags in the middle when it focusses almost exclusively on the human cast members while the threat of Godzilla looms larger and larger in the background but this isn’t a film for the fans of the rock ‘me sock ‘me non-stop kaiju smackdown style Godzilla action. It’s far more philosophical in its treatment of its subject and is all the richer for it.
GODZILL MINUS ONE is a worthy addition to the Godzilla pantheon, doing a better job of contemporising the classic tale than the nevertheless accomplished SHIN GODZILLA did back in 2017. In harking right back to the franchise’s roots and emphasizing the horror elements and the allegorical weight it reminds us of what made the original 1954 film a break-out cross-cultural classic. It’s testament to the power of the original ideas involved that Godzilla can be both a crowd-pleasing popcorn shoveller and a powerfully emotional anti-war polemic; what other movie monster has that kind of range?
