As a diehard daikaiju fanatic since early childhood, I take my Godzilla
movies seriously, no matter how serious — or not — the movies themselves
might be. The original 1954 Godzilla is not just my favorite
monster film, it's my favorite film of all time. Many monster movie fans
have opined that Godzilla Minus One, Toho's newest entry into the venerable franchise, rivals or even
surpasses the power and quality of the original. I think not, but this film
offers plenty of appeal not only to Godzilla fans but to a far wider, more
diverse audience.
There may be spoilers ahead.
As with most of the Godzilla films made during and since the Millennium era
(1999–2005),
Godzilla Minus One reinvents the monster,
disregarding its cinematic history, retaining only the time-proven tropes.
Even a number of the earlier films with disparate timelines hearken back to
the 1954 original, using it as the jumping-off point for all-new
continuities. Like Toho's prior Godzilla outing —
Shin Godzilla (2016) — this Godzilla has
an all-new origin story.
In a nod to the Godzilla origin story depicted in 1992's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, in which a "Godzillasaurus" appears to a regiment of Japanese soldiers on
a remote Pacific Island called Lagos,
Godzilla Minus One begins near the end of the war on Odo
Island (the name of the island where Godzilla first appeared in the 1954
original) and also presents a "Godzillasaurus." Unlike in
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, this
Godzillasaurus is anything but gentle, and, rather than saving the lives of
the encamped Japanese soldiers, it all but wipes them out in a ferocious
fury.
In the 1954 film, Godzilla appears due to hydrogen bomb tests in the
Pacific, well into Japan's post-war recovery and ascension as a formidable
economic power.
Godzilla Minus One's story begins at the
end of the war, and the narrative advances only a couple of years beyond.
Its setting is a post-war Japan in which "recovery" barely qualifies as a
pipedream for most. It is the detonation of the first atomic bomb on Bikini
Atoll in 1946 that transforms this Godzilla into a
true daikaiju.
It is survivor Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a "failed" kamikaze
pilot, whose story propels the human drama. After the war, having moved back
to a fire-ravaged Tokyo and bearing the burden of survivor's guilt twice
over, Shikishima feels that he may already be dead, and his shattered
existence is some kind of dead man's dream. On one hand, there are those
around him who consider him a disgrace, the personification of weakness;
essentially the reason that Japan lost the war. On the other hand,
Shikishima meets a young woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe) whose
determination to survive, to thrive, is so great that she unilaterally
chooses to take in an orphaned little girl named Akiko and settle in with
him as an informal family unit. This all but forces Shikishima to reevaluate
his outlook, to consider that his life has a purpose. That he can dare to
dream again.
One can hardly argue that this depth of characterization is typical of
Godzilla films of any era. Certainly not of the contemporary Monsterverse
Godzilla franchise, whose token nods to characterization barely reach the
level of the old Saturday morning Godzilla Power Hour cartoon.
As Shikishima's life stabilizes, he takes a job as a "mine cleaner" — a
position that puts him on a ship with a team whose job is finding and
destroying the 60,000-some active mines in the ocean around Japan, placed by
both the Japanese and US military forces. His shipmates, overall an engaging
and sometimes humorous bunch, bring both depth and liveliness to the
character interactions. They serve as motivators for Shikishima, whose
desire to live has finally taken solid root. While he, Noriko, and Akiko
might not have become a true, traditional family unit, it's clear that they
are bonded by a deepening love.
As one might infer, the mine cleaners' day job comes with a few unique
hazards. Deadly hazards. But living so close to the edge brings these men
both self-awareness and passion. Shikishima finds his niche among these men.
Understandably, Noriko doesn't much like it. Especially when crewmember
"Doc" Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), a former weapons specialist and now
liaison with the Japanese government, informs the men they've been ordered
to check out an American destroyer that has been attacked by... something...
and left adrift.
From here, a long stretch of delicious, fairly graphic monster action
ensues. This, of course, is what moviegoers have come to see. Like some kind
of ultra-powerful Megalodon, Godzilla proves himself a daunting — and
genuinely frightening — aquatic enemy, captured by brilliant cinematography.
Of course, Godzilla is hardly relegated to water-based antics, and when he
makes landfall, the onscreen spectacle is in many ways unrivaled by any
daikaiju film made since the advent of CGI. Certainly better (with perhaps a
handful of exceptions) than most of the graphics presented in the
Monsterverse franchise, whose budget exceeds this film's by many, many, many
times. (Godzilla vs. Kong's budget was reportedly between $155 and $200 million;
Godzilla Minus One's was $15 million).
Without diving too deeply into spoiler territory, it's fair to say that the
character and monster stories converge in meaningful ways, further
developing the individuals as well as propelling the action. Unlike so many
prior Godzilla films, particularly of the Heisei era and, later, Shin Godzilla, there is very little focus on the Japanese government's and military's
responses to Godzilla's attacks. Ostensibly, the Imperial government and
military have been stymied by the tumultuous US and Soviet presences in the
Pacific and the restrictive terms imposed on Japan following its surrender.
Instead, a ragtag band of initially unaffiliated individuals come together,
loosely under the direction of Doc Noda and a former Imperial Navy Admiral,
who rely on their ingenuity and limited resources to formulate a plan.
In the context of the film, the logistics of the ultimate plan might be
debatable, but there's no denying the sheer energy of the action and the
portrayal of courage on the parts of our protagonists.
|
| Fuck with this monster? Is bad idea. |
|
| "Doc" Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) and Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) meet for their first run as minesweepers |
|
| Noriko (Minami Hamabe) suddenly realizes there's something out there... |
|
| A graphic recreation of Godzilla's attack on the Tokyo train from the 1954 original |
Yamazaki also directs most of the monster action with a masterful hand. It's
safe to say that this was the first time ever in a Godzilla movie that I felt
an honest-to-god chill when the full extent of the monster's power is
initially revealed. The director showcases Godzilla's attack on Tokyo using
everything from panoramic to character-level views, allowing us an intimate
sensory experience of the violence and terror of such a brutal rampage. Most
memorably — in a scene similar to one in the original 1954 film — a group of
reporters is narrating from a high rooftop as Godzilla advances through the
city. As the monster passes, the building collapses, and the camera view is
on the reporters as their world comes down. It's a particularly
harrowing moment, expertly executed.
While the CGI occasionally announces, "Hey, look at me, I'm CGI!," the better
part of the effects work is impressive, presenting a lifelike monster and
environment rather than a world rendered with an exaggerated palette, such as
in the Monsterverse films. Not to denigrate the characteristic "oil-painted"
look of the Monsterverse's effects work, but its busy, overly vibrant colors
and compositions, as impressive as they might appear on the screen, also build
a wall between that world and me as the viewer. I can't get immersed in that
environment because it doesn't feel like a living environment. It's
more a vivid cartoon. This is mostly not true in
Godzilla Minus One, so it offers a far more immersive experience.
While there are the expected Akira Ifukube musical cues in the
Godzilla Minus One, which are inserted to good effect, the original score by Naoki Sato offers
a very different kind of background from either the classic Ifukube cuts or
any other Godzilla movie score. Largely, it weaves, pulses, and throbs in the
background, an ambient sound wave that builds atmosphere and tension. With
ethereal, eerie tones, it heightens the sense of the unknown that Godzilla
represents. The various character themes include everything from deep, rich
orchestral tones to mellow melodies played on acoustic guitar. It's one of the
most effective scores — maybe the most effective — that I've heard for
any modern daikaiju movie. Interestingly, Godzilla's roar, which sounds
familiar yet unusual, is a recording of the original Godzilla roar — created
by composer Ifukube by rubbing a leather glove over contrabass strings and
slowing down the recording — amplified via loudspeakers.
As a longtime Godzillaphile, I have adored the franchise since the first film,
regardless of whether the movies are serious and grim or light and whimsical.
At the end of the day, Godzilla Minus One portrays the monster
as the impressive, terrible, essentially demonic thing my youthful
brain imagined. And that I still want to imagine.
That is a big win.
|
| "Doc" Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) contemplates the consequences of failure. |
|
| A stroll through the countryside |
|
| It's clobberin' time. |
|
| All that remains of the Wako Building clock tower after Godzilla's stroll |
|
| A display of incredible power |
