Godzilla Minus One
Synopsis
The people of Japan must deal with the threat of the atomic monster Godzilla yet again in Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One. Set shortly after WWII, the film has us follow Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze veteran still reeling from survivor’s guilt who comes back to a decimated Japan. Despite all of his trauma, Koichi is able to begin a semblance of a normal life: he becomes part of a ship’s crew that’s been tasked with clearing leftover WWII mines, and starts living with and providing for Noriki (Minami Hamabe) and the orphaned child she has pledged to care for. However, once Godzilla arrives at the Japanese coast and begins wreaking havoc in the country, Koichi must confront his trauma head on and rally with the rest of his country to defeat the titan of terror.
Analysis
Godzilla Minus One stands out from recent Godzilla movies for two key reasons: the movie’s handling of the titular monster, and its ability to get the audience emotionally invested in the human characters. Classic Godzilla is on full display here: an unrelenting, illogical, and nearly-unstoppable force of nature whose only “desire” is to destroy everything on-site. The creature’s brutal nature, coupled with fantastic special effects and cinematography, will have you watch with anxiety and horror as you watch the monster level cities and massacre everyone nearby. On the human side of the equation, the movie does a great job giving you a reason to care about what happens to the people. At the heart of the story is Koichi, whose key struggle feels both authentic and tangible; you want to see him win the day and, most importantly, find peace. And rather than Godzilla serving mostly as a physical threat, you come to realize the essential role that Godzilla plays in Koichi’s arc, which – at least for me – makes the movie make a lot more sense from a thematic perspective. While members of the supporting cast aren’t as fleshed out, they nevertheless come across as fully fleshed out characters that you care about and root for. So by investing a lot in the characters of the movie, Godzilla Minus One achieves what recent Godzilla films have failed to do: to have you concerned for the wellbeing of characters instead of gleefully watch Godzilla destroy city after city.
The film’s special effects and score also do a great job at immersing you in the story. The VFX for Godzilla are excellent, making the creature come across as a living and breathing thing with truly destructive powers. (On that note, the film easily boasts the most impressive depiction of Godzilla’s atomic breath that I’ve ever seen: the “breath” is essentially an atomic bomb.) As for the action in general, while some displays of massive destruction are more air-tight than others, the destruction is still something you can easily buy into – and be horrified by. These special effects are even more impressive once you factor in that Godzilla Minus One had a production budget of reportedly less than $15M; even a budget of $15M comes out to 1/16 times the average production budget of a Marvel film that came out in 2023. Regarding the film’s score, it’s sweeping and will have you feel the emotional resonance of every scene, be it horror, hope, or happiness. And as someone who’s never heard the original Godzilla theme song before, the ominous and oppressive blasting of trombones the song features is the perfect pairing for the monster.
The movie really didn’t give me anything material to complain about. The only elements that sort of bothered me were the actor who played Koichi sometimes coming across as over-dramatic, a desire to see Noriko have something more to do in the film, and a certain character’s miraculous return at the end of the film feeling too, well, miraculous. But these minor nits didn’t take away from my ability to thoroughly enjoy everything that was happening on screen.
Conclusion
In summary, Godzilla Minus One is a fantastic blockbuster film with a lot of heart at its center. It will have you on the edge of the seat as Godzilla commits atrocities and root for the main characters as they attempt to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. A must-see in theaters to say the least!