Tokyo Story

Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, 2023)

How ironic is it that a Japanese creature feature, with a modest budget of approximately $15M, does a better job than Hollywood at pulling off a compelling human drama. Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus One (2023) is a superbly faithful compliment to Ishirō Honda's original 1954 film, while convincingly serving as a modern update. It avoids making the same egregious errors of its American counterparts. Valuable screen time is not wasted on a distracting subplot or annoying characters; nor does it shroud the titular character from its full glory until the climactic finale. There are no nudging winks to some of the ridiculous past films. Godzilla Minus One takes its concept seriously; it is a film that both understands its namesake and respects its audience’s intelligence.

Set during the final days of World War II, Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a cowardly kamikaze pilot, feigns engine problems with his plane and makes a makeshift pit-stop on a Pacific island. His failure to perform his duty leads to his first experience with the titular dinosaur (but much smaller due to it not being exposed to any atomic bomb testing yet) at a naval garrison on the remote island. This event leads to Shikishima's cowardice rearing itself once more, as he fails to open fire with his plane's guns during the Godzilla's rampage of the garrison.

Shikishima's encounter with Godzilla leads to him returning to his home city of Tokyo, where like everyone else, he must rebuild his life amid the ruins. From the rubble of a post-war city, this leads to him being thrust with a makeshift family; a destitute young woman and an orphaned baby girl. While Japan gradually rebuilds itself and Shikishima finds dangerous employment shooting sea mines, the atomically grown Godzilla unleashes death and destruction upon Tokyo. The tremendous sense of scale of this creature is amazingly brought to life in the film. The catastrophic attack; particularly from its nuclear heat ray, is spectacular. 

Godzilla Minus One perfectly crams Shikishima's redemption tale without suffocating the life of the film. A redemptive storyline interwoven alongside themes dealing with national pride, family and healing, mark it as a surprisingly philanthropic film.

The film is a celebration of the human spirit; a shining, positive light during Japan's darkest period. Witnessing the ensemble cast form such strong bonds with one another after such a historical low point that's made even worse with a monumental assault by Godzilla, makes the film feel all the more rousing once our characters get working together. There is no foreign aid for Japan; it must fend for itself against the towering creature. Courage and ingenuity are what our heroes (big fan of the eccentric Japanese scientist with the Taika Waititi hairdo) have left to vanquish the creature; resulting with a spectacular final battle.

Lastly, composer Naoki Sato's score is fantastic. Reincorporating Akira Ifukube's classic Godzilla suite and blending it with emotionally driven themes for its human characters, marks this return to Godzilla's roots all the more lovingly respectful. Honestly had to refrain myself from acting like a lunatic and leaping out of my seat, yelling "Get the fuck up! Simon says, 'Get the fuck up!'" whenever Godzilla's theme came on during my screening.

One of the best films of 2023.