With seven decades of history in pop culture, Godzilla has been a bit of everything in cinema. From the kaiju that occasionally tramples through Japanese cities to the planet's protector who shares the Monsterverse spotlight with King Kong, the radioactive colossus is the quintessential symbol of giant monster movies and emblematic of the threats that haunt us in the nuclear age.
Given this longevity, it's surprising when a project like "Godzilla Minus One" makes simplicity its greatest strength. Conceived to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Gojira, the franchise's first Japanese film in seven years also bears the responsibility of carrying the torch after Shin Godzilla not only brilliantly reinvigorated the series in Japan but also provided filmmaker Hideaki Anno with the momentum to revisit other tokusatsu classics since then (as seen in "Shin Kamen Rider," which arrived on Prime Video this year).
In "Minus One," all the expositional megalomania seen in American cinema is replaced by a self-contained story that makes Godzilla merely a pretext for action. Set in the early years after the end of World War II, the film follows Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a Japanese army kamikaze pilot who deserted his suicidal mission and has since been haunted by guilt. The giant monster offers Shikishima the opportunity to confront his wartime shame in the film.
It is, therefore, a story that strikes at the heart of national pride and the atonement for the wartime experience, which had given birth to the original Godzilla in 1954, still under the impact of the atomic bombs dropped by the US on Japan 70 years ago. The quick introduction of the monster in the opening minutes of the film seems like a reminder from director Takashi Yamazaki to the audience that, yes, "Minus One" is a Godzilla movie. However, the focus later shifts to the horrors of the war's aftermath in Tokyo when Shikishima returns home and discovers that what remains of his house and his parents are mere memories.
If Godzilla emerged as a symbol of atomic devastation in an almost literal sense in 1954, Yamazaki revisits that perspective on this anniversary occasion. The strength of his film lies in how CGI and the interplay of scale between the giant monster and the terrified population manage to reconstruct a sense of gigantism from atomic destruction. Koichi Shikishima remaining a survivor and witnessing the devastation firsthand makes his personal ordeal even more potent from a dramatic standpoint. This is the simplicity that the film aims for and achieves.
While in the Hollywood version of Godzilla's Monsterverse, most characters seem to be there solely to explain the origins and intentions of the monsters and to serve as reference points in the disproportionate scale of action, the Japanese film places them at the center of a reflection on tradition and the customs of an entire society. By opting for the narrative of a war drama, Yamazaki restores to Godzilla the impact of its passage. After many years and many films of colossal showdowns, returning to the essentials is a good way to renew interest not only in the monster - who also appears in the film only in moments of specific catharsis - but also in what it represents.
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