Kaiju theater: Godzilla Minus One

I finally saw Godzilla Minus One. I went on a Tuesday night and was equally surprised and delighted to see the screening was maybe 75% full. Contrast that with my previous experience of seeing a first-run Japanese Godzilla in theaters, when I was the only person there for a showing of Godzilla Millennium back in 2000. I have to report, with no degree of exaggeration, that Godzilla Minus One is easily the best Godzilla movie ever made. The conventional wisdom with Kaiju films is that the human characters/plots don't matter, that they are merely filler between monster fights. This is the first GOdzilla film where not only are the human characters compelling, but they are critical to framing the sheer scale and terror of Godzilla's rampage. This is what I was hoping we'd get (but didn't) with the U.S. Godzilla/Kong films (not in terms of plot, but rather in compelling human narrative, ie a smart script).

This is a film that has a LOT to say thematically about Japanese culture, WWII, PTSD, found family, the ease of dying vs. the difficulty of living, forgiveness, vengeance... I'm still processing it all.

The cinematography is lush and sophisticated. The direction is confident and intentional. The script is tight, thoughtful and very smart. The performers are all acting in an intense period drama... that just happens to have a giant Kaiju destroying cities. I won't go so far as to say this is the best film of the year as others have, but I will say it is among the best films of the year. It should absolutely earn a Oscar nomination in the best foreign film category.

While I don't think this is technically a remake of the original 1954 Godzilla, it is absolutely a remake. There is no way this film exists without that predecessor. So many story beats and visual cues are direct callbacks to that landmark movie. That said, this is its own film that is not slavishly retreading the trail blazed by the first. A significant part of the narrative was recycled from 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (a very fun film, but also a very dumb one) far more effectively than in that earlier film. Also, Isao Takahata's 1988 masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies echoes throughout. I never thought I'd say that about a Toho Godzilla film, but the comparisons are inescapable. My one complaint is that the monster design is influenced by 2016's Shin Godzilla, an interesting film but not my favorite Godzilla interpretation.

Not all in this film is doom and despair, however. I literally squeed in the theater when I saw what plane would be used in the finale. No spoilers, but this is literally my favorite fighter design of World War II and was the clearest sign that the filmmakers are 1) history buffs and 2) were pulling out all the stops.

Godzilla Minus One was produced for a reported $15 million. It looks like a $150 million film. Seriously. It is magnificent. Like Colossal did in 2016, it resets expectations of what stories Kaiju films are capable of telling. Among Godzilla Minus One, Shin Godzilla and the Godzilla anime trilogy, Toho is pushing the proverbial envelope with its Godzilla films. There is an inventiveness in these films, a willingness to think outside the box and take risks with a franchise recognized around the world. For this, I applaud them and hope they continue to surprise us for decades to come. If you have even passing interest in giant monster movies, so see this one. It's that good.

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