Godzilla Minus One (Movie Review)

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 After 1945, Japan found itself in an incomprehensibly bleak situation, experiencing partial nuclear annihilation. As westerners, we have no idea how to even process the myriad of overwhelming negative emotions the Japanese people felt, and it raises the question if a group of people could ever move on from such a trauma. The concept of Godzilla was created as an allegory for said collective trauma. Because of this, the defeat of the monster is deeply cathartic on a grand scale, and represents Japan holding each others’ hands and healing. I will be transparent and say that I have not seen the 1954 film, but after seeing how well this operates on so many levels, I will absolutely make a point of seeing it sooner rather than later. 

Enter Godzilla Minus One, a film that directly deals with all of these themes by being set in immediate post-war Japan. We meet our protagonist in Koichi Shikishima (Ryûnosuke Kamiki), who is a Kamikaze pilot for the Japanese military, who lies about his plane malfunctioning and makes a stop at a small island base. Later that night, a smaller version of Godzilla emerges and wipes out every man except our protagonist and another mechanic. Shikishima’s central conflict throughout the story is reconciling with what paralyzes him when he feels he needs to take action. There are even moments that address how imperialist governments aren't satisfied with you until you die in “service” for them, and how useless the U.N. is. 

While the plot is relatively straightforward and telegraphs its moves pretty clearly, the emotional impact of many of its beats are hard not to feel. Shikishima’s intense struggle with survivor’s guilt is a microcosm of what many ex-soldiers felt not only in Japan, but all over the world as well. Strong performances keep everything engaging, namely Kamiki and Minani Hamabe as Noriko Oishi, who Shikishima works through his trauma with after opening up to her at almost exactly the middle mark. I loved the moment where Shikishima immediately sleeps much later in the morning after he finally tells her about what he’s been struggling with for the past few years. 

Some audience members might be skeptical of this from a distance due to the marketed focus on the human element rather than the monster elements, but this is precisely what makes these sorts of movies have the impact that they have. This isn’t a creature-feature to gawk at how good its own effects are, unlike the last few Godzilla movies that have been released (though just for clarity, I do genuinely enjoy Gareth Edward’s film from 2014 and respect the effort it put into the human element). But that being said, the CGI in this is surprisingly fantastic, especially considering the budget for this is a mere $15 million, which is absolutely mind boggling to me, even more so when you think about how the average blockbuster being released these days is costing on average about ten times that amount. It’s fascinating how a film with literally a tenth of the resources can end up mining so much more from the ideas than many of these films could ever dream of. There is real weight to all of the explosions, and the sound design, especially Godzilla’s roar, is chilling. 

Honestly, my only gripe with the film whatsoever is its ending. I don’t mind the fact that this is relatively predictable, but, without spoiling specific plot details, I felt like this ties up all of its threads a little too nicely. It feels like writer/director Takashi Yamazaki was afraid to take more risks with the third act payoff, which unfortunately takes away from some of what he is clearly trying to communicate. It’s probably premature to say since I did say I have never seen the original, but as it stands, this is the best Godzilla movie out there by a mile. Some people might also view the ending as a copout, but my interpretation is that such a trauma can never truly be gotten rid of; rather, we learn to deal with it when it returns.