‘Godzilla Minus One’ movie review: the most human monster movie ever made
Can you ever have too much of a good thing? Over 30 different Godzilla movies say no. The premise is nothing new: a big city and a giant monster don’t mix. It’s a tale which any average moviegoer would probably tell you has been done to death and doesn’t need touching anymore; however, the recent interpretation by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One, offers fresh insight into the story, making it one of the best Godzilla movies ever made.
The film begins in the closing days of World War II. There’s a beautiful shot over the sea, and a faulty kamikaze jet fills the screen. In it is Koichi Shikishima, played by Ryunosuke Kamiki, his hands shake and his face sweats as he makes his descent onto a littered landing strip.
No time is wasted in getting into the action as a half-sized Godzilla attacks this remote island, which is used to repair fighter jets. Pilot Shikishima and engineer Sosaku Tachibana, played by Munetaka Aoki, are the only survivors. Shikishima returns home, house decimated and neighbourhood unrecognisable, and tries to put together some form of life following the brutality of the war. PTSD, disdain from neighbours and a haphazard family life are enough to make this challenging enough before any normality is completely disrupted as a fully grown Godzilla wreaks havoc on what little of home people have left.
There’s a lot to admire about this movie. The effects are monumental, only made better by the IMAX screen; the sound design is epic, to the point you often feel like you’re in the theme song for the end of the world, and the performances by all the cast, though very animated, were excellent. However, what sets this film apart from all other Godzilla movies is how the story is told.
Despite its name being on the poster, Godzilla is not the star of this film. This is a movie about family. It’s a movie about connection and looking after fellow humans even when your country doesn’t. Godzilla embodies the devastation of war, and the film’s protagonist is humanity’s ability to overcome adversity even when all seems lost.
The direction is innovative, too, with Godzilla being filmed more as a weapon of mass destruction rather than a living thing. It takes a while for the camera to focus on it; it charges up like a bomb, and first-person shots take the audience under the monster, instilling a sense of fear in the viewers.
The ending is ambiguous but deserved, probably not to the taste of pioneers of realism, but certainly, the best way a movie of this calibre can wrap up. Yamazaki has shed light on a section of the story undiscovered until now, setting a tale of destruction in a time when people have only just begun to rebuild, making the stakes higher and the connection the audience forms with the victims more real.
Godzilla Minus One is a masterpiece, so to take anything away from its rating would be the real disaster here.
