In 1954, the world was introduced to a monster the likes of which hadn’t been seen on the big screen before, in the form of Ishirō Honda’s Gojira. A masterpiece in its own right, Gojira combined monster mayhem with the darkened mindset of a Japan that barely survived nuclear devastation. Its legacy is well known by this point, and from its fiery carnage a massive new franchise was born, and the kaiju genre was cemented for years to come.
In the decades since, the idea of Godzilla and his movies shifted away from well-constructed metaphors to more goofy, lower budget projects that varied greatly in quality. However, nostalgia kept them afloat through the years even as they stumbled. The Americanized “Monsterverse” has attempted to split the difference through sincere attempts to merge the silly nature of big monster lizard fights with a budget to reflect the scale these monsters would live on, with enough success to warrant a surviving series separate from Toho’s main series proper. However, they pale in comparison to the best the parent company has to offer, serving the thrills without the intelligence to keep it interesting outside the set pieces. None of the Monsterverse has reached the level of Hideki Anno’s satirical approach in Shin Godzilla (a series highpoint), and the same can be said for Godzilla Minus One.
By delivering far more than one would expect from a kaiju film nowadays, Toho & Takashi Yamazaki have produced one of the smartest, most breathtaking blockbusters in years. Complex themes of honor and survivor’s guilt painted against the backdrop of post-war Japan, coupled with strong writing gives us a cast of characters in a monster movie actually worth caring about, something viewers are not normally used to getting with these big screen monster fights. A sign of success in a film like this is wanting to watch the humans interact even without the looming threat of a giant dinosaur lizard, which this film does surprisingly well.
We follow a kamikaze pilot who has abandoned his post (seen by other soldiers and citizens as an act of cowardice and dishonor), only to find himself coming face to face with the titular reptile, barely escaping with his life while nearly everyone around him is brutally killed. Through circumstances brought on by the notorious air raids on Japan to end the war, he is thrust into a makeshift family with a young woman and orphaned infant. This makeshift family learns to survive on their own in this new world; at least, until Godzilla comes ashore.
Staggeringly staged, this may be the most terrifying vision of Godzilla yet. He’s both a massive monster, towering over warships and buildings; a real beast that topples cities and decimates all that surrounds it in horrifically awe-inspiring detail. Godzilla’s iconic heat ray has never looked so cool, or so petrifying. Our history with kaiju films and our demand to see monsters fight have us unconsciously wanting to fist pump at the power on display, yet the film does such a good job getting us to care about the people on the ground that we hold our breath in horror at the destruction. Yamazaki has crafted a winner that hits almost every possible beat in ways better than almost any massively budgeted Hollywood production has in quite some time.
People have said it could make a good double feature with Oppenheimer, and that may be true, but it also would pair curiously well with Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron, as both films grapple with the idea of how one can live a life after experiencing terrible traumas, and how to attempt to live that life in service of others and not just selfishly so; all channeled through the pain left from the scars of surviving one of the worst times in human history. The way they tackle these ideas are done in radically different ways, from the approach to the perspectives, yet where they ultimately land feel complimentary.
There are plenty of Godzilla films I haven’t seen, and plenty more kaiju films of the many available. Despite that inexperience in the genre, it feels right to say that Godzilla Minus One has to be one of the best the genre has ever seen. It’s quite possibly the best Godzilla film. It’s definitely one of the best of 2023.
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