GODZILLA MINUS ONE
(Gojira Mainasu Wan)
November 3, 2023
(Gojira Mainasu Wan)
November 3, 2023
As a devastated post-war Japan begins to rebuild, the threat of annihilation appears again in the form of a giant monster called Godzilla.
Starting in 2006, the Godzilla franchise was put on hiatus after Godzilla: Final Wars, and so began nearly a decade of no news of a new film being made.
With the advent of the video sharing website known as YouTube, some people took it upon themselves to make fake trailers of a "totally new Godzilla movie that's gonna come out next year guys, I swear!"
I remember nearly all of them used the exact same clip of a CGI Godzilla turning to look down at the humans below and roar at the sky. But where did this clip come from? Well, let me tell you about a director, writer and visual effects artist by the name of Takashi Yamazaki.
While he was inspired to become a filmmaker after viewing such works as Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Yamazaki was also a huge Godzilla fan. When it came time in 2007 to make the sequel to his 2005 film "Always: Sunset on Third Street", he included a dream sequence in which a city is being attacked by Godzilla, with the signature Ifukube march for good measure. Little did he or any of us know, this would not be his last time working with the Big G.
In March 2021, there came a theme park attraction called Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle, a 4D simulation that puts visitors in the middle of a cataclysmic battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah. Not only did Yamazaki direct and write the rides story, he also designed the monsters.
Finally, on November 3rd, 2022 during Toho's annual Godzilla Fest, after years of speculating on when the next Godzilla movie would come out and weather or not it was a sequel to Shin Godzilla, it was finally confirmed that a new movie would be released exactly one year from that day, with Yamazaki as director, writer and visual effects supervisor. It was also revealed that the movie was going to take place post World War II, which led to some thinking it was going to be a full blown remake of the original film. But of course, that was not the case.
What the movie actually was, was something far greater than we could have ever imagined.
It's no surprise that your average Godzilla movie review consists of something along the lines of: "Monsters great, humans boring", regardless of how well written and preformed they are. So I expected to hear plenty of that after I saw the movie, but the moment I exited the theater, I literally said out loud: "I do not wanna hear ONE word about the human characters being boring."
Our lead character is Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze pilot who ultimately couldn't carry out his "duty" and tried to get out alive only to be one of the only survivors of an attack by Godzilla. He returns home to Tokyo finding his town in ruins and his neighbor calling him a coward, despite his promise to his family to come home alive.
Later on Koichi meets up with a woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe) who also has an adopted child named Akiko (Sae Nagatani). Koichi and Noriko decide to live together to take care of Akiko and while they manage to pick themselves back up and build a better life overall, Koichi cannot bring himself to fully commit to a full relationship with Noriko, still haunted by his failures, cowardice and survivors guilt, despite Noriko's best efforts to help ground him. Kamiki is clearly acting his ass off as Koichi, going above and beyond to make you feel his pain and sympathize with him. Later in the movie after Godzilla attacks Ginza, Koichi lets out the most painful, broken hearted, primal scream I've ever heard an actor give, it's legitimately heartbreaking.
With the advent of the video sharing website known as YouTube, some people took it upon themselves to make fake trailers of a "totally new Godzilla movie that's gonna come out next year guys, I swear!"
While he was inspired to become a filmmaker after viewing such works as Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Yamazaki was also a huge Godzilla fan. When it came time in 2007 to make the sequel to his 2005 film "Always: Sunset on Third Street", he included a dream sequence in which a city is being attacked by Godzilla, with the signature Ifukube march for good measure. Little did he or any of us know, this would not be his last time working with the Big G.
Finally, on November 3rd, 2022 during Toho's annual Godzilla Fest, after years of speculating on when the next Godzilla movie would come out and weather or not it was a sequel to Shin Godzilla, it was finally confirmed that a new movie would be released exactly one year from that day, with Yamazaki as director, writer and visual effects supervisor. It was also revealed that the movie was going to take place post World War II, which led to some thinking it was going to be a full blown remake of the original film. But of course, that was not the case.
What the movie actually was, was something far greater than we could have ever imagined.
Our lead character is Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze pilot who ultimately couldn't carry out his "duty" and tried to get out alive only to be one of the only survivors of an attack by Godzilla. He returns home to Tokyo finding his town in ruins and his neighbor calling him a coward, despite his promise to his family to come home alive.
Later on Koichi meets up with a woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe) who also has an adopted child named Akiko (Sae Nagatani). Koichi and Noriko decide to live together to take care of Akiko and while they manage to pick themselves back up and build a better life overall, Koichi cannot bring himself to fully commit to a full relationship with Noriko, still haunted by his failures, cowardice and survivors guilt, despite Noriko's best efforts to help ground him. Kamiki is clearly acting his ass off as Koichi, going above and beyond to make you feel his pain and sympathize with him. Later in the movie after Godzilla attacks Ginza, Koichi lets out the most painful, broken hearted, primal scream I've ever heard an actor give, it's legitimately heartbreaking.
The dynamic between Koichi and his shipmates is one of my favorite parts of the movie and overall, there's not a single character among the principle cast that I can say felt wasted or underwhelming and for the most part, audiences seemed to agree (shockingly).
The story is so compelling you may find yourself forgetting to even think: "Where's Godzilla?"
Takashi Yamazaki had already designed Godzilla twice before and each design felt like a natural improvement over the other. This design is scarred, sharp and terrifying. The elongated and pointed dorsal fins really add to the imposing nature of this animal and the way they extend as he charges his atomic breath is both horrifying and cool at the same time.
We also get to see Godzilla before he gets irradiated by the Operation Crossroads nuclear test, a proper looking Godzillasaurus in my opinion.
This time around, Godzilla is portrayed entirely through CGI without motion capture. But like Shin Godzilla before it, the CGI for Godzilla in Minus One is spectacular if not better than Shin, even without the performance of an actor.
In fact, there's a lot of CGI in this movie, there pretty much has to be if you wanted an accurate depiction of the Ginza district of Tokyo in the late 1940's.
It is truly inspiring to see what Takashi Yamazaki and his minimal team of 35 visual effects artists were able to accomplish by blending CGI with minimal sets and miniatures, mock ups of ships, a plane and downtown markets, clever camera movement and a lot of green screen. It's no wonder they deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
What? Oh, you're expecting me to compare this movies handling of VFX to American films?
Sorry, I have no interest in that discourse, let alone sounding even remotely like a grifter.
Of course, I have to mention the soundtrack by Naoki Sato. Sato also happens to be a frequent collaborator with Yamazaki, providing the scores for his projects that Godzilla appeared in previously.
His score for Minus One is great, many of his tracks are epically chilling which greatly enhances the terror you feel whenever Godzilla is on screen. And you can't have a Godzilla movie without adding some classic Akira Ifukube tracks, the ones they do use were expertly chosen, particularly during the climax. As soon as the original 1954 march starts to play, it just gets you super pumped up!
If you were to ask me to find any faults or things I didn't like about this movie, I gotta be honest, I'd be stretching for complaints like the middle of the movie after Godzilla's first attack on Ginza moves slower than the rest of the movie or Godzilla's walk can look a bit awkward at times. But apart from that, there really is nothing I can say that is really bad about this movie.
I know some people like to bring up the conveniences that occur during the climax or the ending, but even knowing or guessing how the events play out does not negate the emotional payoff I got from them during my first viewing.
Godzilla Minus One was first released in Japan on November 3rd, 2023. Its release in the United States was set for December 10th, with the added bonus of IMAX showings, something that has not happened for a Japanese Godzilla film. I as able to attend an early access fan event a day before the official premiere where I not only got a free poster as a memento of this historic event, but also once again see theater owners underestimate how much Americans LOVE Godzilla.
With those first showings, word of mouth spread like wildfire leading to a considerable box office gross, high critical praise and its theatrical run extended due to it's continued success.
It almost makes me wish Shin Godzilla had lasted longer in theaters then a day over here.
For its final week in theaters, Toho released a special version of the film called "Godzilla: Minus One/Minus Color", a black and white version of the film.
With the early access event and times I saw it with friends including the Minus Color showing, I've seen Godzilla Minus One in theaters 5 times, making it the Godzilla film I've seen the most times in theaters.
Godzilla Minus One is nothing less than a true masterpiece of a film, not just in the Kaiju genre. It has some of the best writing, acting and visual effects of any Godzilla movie that I've seen, so much that I could easily call this my favorite Godzilla movie of all time. Though it still has competition given my nostalgia with The Return of Godzilla
If you haven't seen Godzilla Minus One yet, I implore you to at least give it a chance. Take it from me, this is a movie that anyone can enjoy regardless of being a Godzilla fan or not.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GODZILLA!
LONG LIVE THE KING!
Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and thank you for joining me here in my lair.
So long...
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