A Review of "Godzilla Minus One ゴジラマイナスワン", 2023 EOY

"What is this giant, nuclear, lizard, dinosaur monster doing in our oceans?!"
"Hey, what are all you pint-sized meatbags doing in my bathtub?!"

Happy Saturday, and welcome to what I am declaring my final post of 2023. I'm going to take next week off and come back with a fresh slate of new reviews for us starting the week afterwards in 2024. It's been quite a year for us. We've reviewed all of James Cameron's movies (minus Pirahna II: The Spawning), the Planet of the Apes saga up until 2023, the Transformers franchise up until 2023, the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, and a few one-offs sprinkled in between. What a jam-packed year for us, and I hope to bring the same consistency of content back with me in 2024.

"Good Lord, that Godzilla sure is big! I hope he doesn't
accidentally bump into the--ope, there goes our newly
rebuilt pagoda... AGAIN."

Let's go ahead and wrap up this year with what is arguably the biggest talked about movie since Barb-enheimer in July, and this one didn't even come from the United States. Originating in its country of origin, from its production company of origin, we have yet another remake of the classic tale of Godzilla! Yes, the OG King of the Monsters fresh out of Japan. From Toho production company, comes 2023's surprise smash hit, even here in the West! Godzilla Minus One (ゴジラマイナスワン). These Godzilla titles are getting very creative! This is the fifth film in the Reiwa era of Japanese Godzilla films, meaning the era of films from 2016 to now, that started with Shin Godzilla (シン・ゴジラ). I haven't reviewed any of the other Godzilla movies... there's only THIRTY-FREAKIN'-TWO others according to the web. So what better place to start than with the last one in the series? THIS... is Godzilla Minus One.

In 1945, near the end of World War II, kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki 神木 隆之介) lands on a Japanese base on Odo Island. Lead mechanic Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki 青木 崇高) deduces that Shikishima had fled from his duty by feigning technical issues. That night, Godzilla, a dinosaur-like creature, attacks. Shikishima cannot bring himself to shoot the monster from his plane and is knocked unconscious. Tachibana, the only other survivor of the attack, blames Shikishima for failing to act. In 1946, Shikishima returns home to find his parents dead in the bombing of Tokyo. Plagued by survivor's guilt, he works as a minesweeper and begins supporting a woman, Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe 浜辺 美波), whose parents also died in the bombing, and an orphaned baby, Akiko (Sae Nagatani永谷 咲笑), whom Noriko rescued. Later that year, Godzilla is mutated and empowered by the United States' nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll; it destroys several American warships before heading for Japan. Owing to tensions with the Soviet Union, the U.S. offers no help save for a few decommissioned Imperial Japanese Navy vessels approved by General Douglas MacArthur. The Japanese government, concerned about inducing panic, does not notify the public about the danger.

THIS JUST IN: Angry Black Friday shoppers were trampled
today, not by each other, but by a prehistoric nuclear
dinosaur monster who also demanded this year's
latest iPhone model.

In May 1947, Shikishima and his minesweeper crew are tasked with stalling Godzilla's approach to Japan. They release a mine into Godzilla's mouth and detonate it, causing significant damage, but it quickly regenerates. The heavy cruiser Takao then engages Godzilla, but is subsequently destroyed when Godzilla unleashes its heat ray. After returning to Tokyo, Shikishima opens up to Noriko about his encounters with Godzilla. Days later, Godzilla makes landfall in Japan and attacks Ginza, where Noriko works. Noriko narrowly survives the initial attack and reunites with Shikishima. Enraged by tank fire, Godzilla obliterates much of the district with its heat ray, killing tens of thousands. Noriko is caught in the blast and presumed dead... let me say that again, she's presumed dead. The shot in the movie pretty much obliterated her but, more on that later. Devastated by the this, again, "supposed" loss, Shikishima vows revenge against the King of the Monsters. *Cue Rocky theme*

Frustrated by the government's inaction, one of the minesweeper's crew, former naval engineer and this movie's G.O.A.T. Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka吉岡 秀隆), devises a plan to destroy Godzilla by luring it out to Sagami Bay before surrounding it with Freon tanks and rupturing them, lowering the water's buoyancy and sinking it, letting the resultant water pressure crush it. Should the plan fail, balloons will be inflated under Godzilla to force it back up, killing it through explosive decompression. He has recruited private citizens, mostly former members of the Imperial Japanese Navy, to enact his plan. Shikishima recruits Tachibana to repair a broken-down Kyushu J7W Shinden fighter. He plans to kill Godzilla in a suicide attack by flying into its mouth and detonate the explosive charges onboard. He leaves Akiko in the care of his neighbor Sumiko (Sakura Ando 安藤 サクラ).

"Ok, Zilly. Become as stiff as a board. Perhaps if the Japanese
think I am a building... I will not be shot--"
"Hey, why's that building talking to itself?"
"Oh son of a bitch, I said it out loud, didn't I?"

Godzilla resurfaces, and Shikishima lures it into the trap set by two ships. It survives the initial plunge and then breaks free before being forced back up. With the help of a fleet of tugboats, the ships haul Godzilla to the surface. An enraged Godzilla prepares to destroy all the vessels with its heat ray, but Shikishima crashes the plane into its mouth and destroys its head, causing the energy of the heat ray to tear its body apart. The crew celebrates as Shikishima ejects before the explosion and parachutes to safety, having remembered that Tachibana implored him to let go of his guilt and choose to live. Shikishima visits a hospital where he reunites with Noriko who SOMEHOW MANAGED TO SURVIVE BEING BLOWN AWAY IN GODZILLA'S NUCLEAR BREATH BLAST... but has a black bruise creeping up her neck. Meanwhile, a chunk of Godzilla's flesh begins to regenerate as it sinks into the ocean... setting up the next Reiwa era film!

... and that was Godzilla Minus One! Boy, howdy; what a movie! This is what a Godzilla movie should be like. The only other option would've been if another monster had been shoehorned in. Which is often what the sequels did to up the ante since the 50s. Throwing in other kaiju 怪獣 such as Mothra, King Ghidorah (then known as "Gidrah"), Rodan, Baragon, and later on Gigan, Jet Jaguar, Hedorah, Biollante, and Desotroyah! I don't know if I can bring it upon myself to touch base on all these Japanese monster movies, or all these Godzilla movies, but I at least wanted to touch base on Godzilla Minus One.

First off, some of the shots were magnificent. I knew I'd be hooked the instant I saw the Japanese Mitsubishi "Zero" plane landing on the island. The camera strapped to the underside of the fuselage as it as coming in? Simple, yet effective. Same with the other shot following it, of the landing gear bouncing on the beachfront as the plane slows down. I'm easily dazzled like that, I guess. Now, I was hoping in terms of cinematography that Godzilla would be a mix of a man in a suit, i.e. the classic method, and maybe enhanced via CGI. I can't say for certain on the small amount of research I've done, but it appeared to be just that. Godzilla's movements were very stiff like a rubber suited actor's would be, and yet he still had some inhuman facial movements that was either CGI-enhanced-animatronics, or just straight CGI. I believe hopefully it was the former, as director Takashi Yamazaki 山崎 貴 stated that the original 1954 Godzilla from Japan was and still remains a heavy influence not only to the franchise, but to his films as well... stating "I love the original Godzilla, and I felt I should stay true to that spirit, addressing the issues of war and nuclear weapons."

"I don't understand the Americans' affection for "Subway"...
I'm eating it right now, can't taste anything but metal, glass,
and panicked and desperate cries for help. 2/10."

That was something the original '54 film I think demonstrated very well. When people think of Godzilla, they think of just rubber-suited or animatronic-puppet giant monsters fighting one another while destroying some metropolitan Japanese city in the backdrop... often a pagoda, as is Godzilla's nature (and was a running gag in many of the older films). However, the first Godzilla film was actually more of a dramatized sci-fi piece, showing Godzilla to be nothing more than a horrific side-effect or outcome of nuclear weapons and nuclear warfare. A product of man's own tampering with nature. Another big difference between the American Godzilla and the Japanese Godzilla is their portrayal and different vibes and moods on-screen. When asked about the differences between the American adaptations and the Japanese originals, Yamazaki stated that while the American Godzilla is only focused on being monstrous, the Japanese interpretation is both as a monster and as a god. Elaborating, Yamazaki stated, "The point of international Godzilla is that he's a really powerful monster, but a Japanese Godzilla is halfway a godlike creature in many ways. Not necessarily a religious god, but more like a Japanese god, a malevolent and destructive one."

Look, clearly I trailed off. I can go on and on about Japanese monster movies, but I think I should just wrap up what I think ultimately thought of Godzilla Minus One. I thought it was very, very well done. An excellent piece of Japanese kaiju cinema, and a well-worthy entry in the Godzilla series of films. The characters were gripping and fed off each other's personalities and dialogue well, the drama was very present and very felt. Godzilla himself wasn't wedged into every crevice of the plot, thankfully, as he shouldn't be; the action was top-notch, the effects were brilliant, particular the two shots I mentioned plus the shot of Godzilla chasing the heroes' fishing trawler at about midway through the movie... as well as nuclear blast shots that showed Godzilla's atomic breath's nuclear mushroom cloud and the destruction that results from it. I just loved everything about this movie, and I was very pleased to see it's Western release so I could catch it in theaters.

I fully recommend Godzilla Minus One. Hopefully I get to see it as a physical media release over here in the West as well!... and with that, our 2023 slate of Blogger posts has come to a close. Thank you all, any of you who clicked and supported, and I shall see you after taking a week off... in 2024! Have a Happy Holidays, and a safe and responsible New Year's!!