[Film Review] Godzilla (1954) and Godzilla Minus One (2023)

This is the genesis of the longest-running film franchise (certified by Guinness World Records), Ishirô Honda's GODZILLA also commences the kaiju universe that would become a mainstay in Japanese cinema. Then almost seven decades later, the latest iteration is Takashi Yamazaki's GODZILLA MINUS ONE, a box office prizewinner around the globe and a critical darling too, nabbing Oscar's Best Visual Effects trophy (a very first for a foreign language movie!), whose usual recipients are big-budget Hollywood blockbusters.

GODZILLA takes place after the end of WWII, the radiation-dispersing monster is a direct metaphor for nuclear weapons (it is roused and consequently contaminated by Japan's underwater H-bomb testings). For its domestic audience upon its release, the devastation Godzilla left after its trail is a stirring and self-conscious mindfuck to relive the traumatic atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki six years earlier, through which Honda vigorously pleads its anti-nuclear weapon testing appeal and concocts a resolute suicidal act so as to forestall the exploitation of a soi-disant "Oxygen Destroyer" superweapon that could've entrained an "all hell breaks loose" scenario that threats all mankind. In its earnestly impassioned urgency, GODZILLA sweeps off audience's feet like a tsunami. For no particular reason, the monster wends its way, however clunkily, and wreaks havoc from the sea, to the Odo island, until the megalopolis. A pure force of annihilation utterly humbles the prowess of manmade, death-dealing weaponry.

Imagineered by special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, with its stuntman-in-costume practicalities and miniature sets, GODZILLA's destructive impact is commendably concretized through the rescaling legerdemain and pyrotechnic craftsmanship, without leaving too much giveaways to today's technologically advanced perception. A tentative love-triangle is serviceably established to give a semblance of emotional weight and its problem is conveniently solved in the end. The outcry of Dr. Kyohei Yamane (Shimura), whose unpopular request that Godzilla should not be arbitrarily iced, but captured and studied for its radiation resistance, naturally falls on deaf ears. In the mass, Honda's picture evokes both sensorial thrills and cerebral insights, plus a vestige of the Shintoist spirit toward the mystical and unfathomable.

Yamazaki's GODZILLA MINUS ONE brings its timeline a tad earlier. It begins in 1945 with Japan's eventually surrender (September 2) imminent but conspicuously sidestepped. A move is rather consonant with the film's populist and sensational stance, less of repentance and self-examination of its militarism history, more of individual heroics, overcoming one's personal demons.

Koichi (Kamiki) is a former kamikaze pilot, who suffers from PTSD and is guilt-ridden for his cravenness, both for evading his suicidal mission and failing to act during his first encounter with Godzilla. Shame-faced and hagridden, Koichi returns to Tokyo in the aftermath of the massive bombing (codename: Operation Meetinghouse) that killed his parents. He tries to start a new family with Noriko (Hamabe), a young woman and Akiko (Nagatani), a toddler, both orphaned by the war. Making himself useful to work on a minesweeper in the peace time, he still cannot come to terms with his oceanic guilt, and customarily keeps it to himself, that strains his relationship with Noriko.

Au fait, GODZILLA MINUS ONE is de facto a blockbuster à la Hollywood. A disaster epic purveyed with all its astonishing trappings (the VFXs are top notch and Godzilla itself is retrofitted to an awe-inspiring terror in both its physical scale and obstruction-razing puissance, Akira Ifukube's iconic marching theme in GODZILLA is reused in the climax to arouse excitement) and a personal story propelled by an emotional anchor which can be universally acknowledged (the cast has done a solid if none too remarkable job). The capper is that it has a much cheaper price tag, reportedly $10–12 million, which is tantamount to a standard American indie film, and tacitly indicates the graspingness of Hollywood studio’s budget inflation (not just in the VFX deportment).

The plot line follows a few default events and developments: a grievous loss spurring Koichi on a vengeful mission to finally do the things he could not do before; the cohesion of the people manifests itself in a stirring moment when the original plan to destroy Godzilla is in jeopardy (unlike the deus ex machina in Honda's GODZILLA, Yamazaki’s plan is at least science-savvy); let alone a twist in the end which not only leads to a happier denouement, but also primes for a probable sequel.

Politically, GODZILLA MINUS ONE (the title refers to a worse than zero level of devastation, a state worse than nothing as the damage caused by Godzilla adds insult to injury in terms of Japan’s state of affairs as the loser of WWII) is more militant. The plan to destroy Godzilla can be deemed as a vehement response against the government’s inaction, which itself is due to Japan’s defeat in WWII. When Koichi pilots a J7W Shinden fighter (only two prototypes were finished before the end of the war) to consummate his feat and purge out his incubus, its connotation of defiance and impenitence is too glaring to ignore. It is worrisome to detect the shifting attitude from GODZILLA to GODZILLA MINUS ONE, after a 69-year stretch, is now the time for the conceder to die a death and the real demon to come out of the woodwork? One daren’t wonder!

referential entries: Gareth Edwards's GODZILLA (2014, 6.4/10); Steven Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK (1993, 8.1/10); Akira Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI (1954, 8.4/10); Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack's KING KONG (1933, 7.8/10).

English Title: Godzilla

Original Title: Gojira

Year: 1954

Country: Japan

Language: Japanese

Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror

Director: Ishirô Honda

Screenwriters: Ishirô Honda, Takeo Murata

based on the novel by Shigeru Kayama

Music: Akira Ifukube

Cinematography: Masao Tamai

Editor: Kazuji Taira

Cast:

Akira Takarada

Momoko Kôchi

Takashi Shimura

Akihiko Hirata

Fuyuki Murakami

Toranosuke Ogawa

Toyoaki Suzuki

Kenji Sahara

Haruo Nakajima

Rating: 7.4/10

English Title: Godzilla Minus One

Original Title: Gojira -1.0

Year: 2023

Country: Japan

Language: Japanese

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Director/Screenwriter: Takashi Yamazaki

Music: Naoki Satô

Cinematography: Kôzô Shibasaki

Editor: Ryûji Miyajima

Cast:

Ryunosuke Kamiki

Minami Hamabe

Hidetaka Yoshioka

Kuranosuke Sasaki

Sakura Andô

Yûki Yamada

Munetaka Aoki

Isao Hashizume

Sae Nagatan

Miou Tanaka

Yuya Endo

Rating: 7.3/10