Film Review: Godzilla Minus One

Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Kuranosuke Sasaki
Running time: 125 minutes

Towards the end of the original 1954 Godzilla, there’s a pivotal scene in which a reluctant scientist, who holds the key to defeating the monster, is swayed by a choir of children performing a prayer for peace.

There have been very few moments over the course of the subsequent 37 Godzilla films that have achieved quite this level of emotional resonance – but the latest entry in the franchise has returned to these solemn post-war roots, and the results are fantastic.

Minus One is a standalone story based around the idea that, if Japan was effectively reduced to nothing following the Second World War, then an attack by Godzilla would send it into a negative state.

Beginning in 1945, it follows a young man named Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who attempts to dodge his duty as a kamikaze pilot, only to narrowly survive an attack by a dinosaur-like creature that leaves all but one of his comrades dead. Over the next two years, Koichi rebuilds his life with newfound friends and family, but everything dear to him hangs in the balance when the monster reappears in a colossal, mutated form.

Following these near-death experiences, Koichi is racked by survivor’s guilt and begins to develop the belief that sacrificing himself to bring down Godzilla would repay his debt to those he was unable to save. Yet, with an orphaned child now in his care, Koichi must answer the question: is she someone worth dying for, or a reason to carry on living?

It’s this internal struggle that puts Minus One among the best in the franchise’s entire seventy-year history, as writer-director Takashi Yamazaki crafts a blockbuster that’s both epic in scale yet intimate in its execution.

The film doesn’t fail to impress on a visual level, either – despite working with less than a tenth of the budget of Hollywood’s Godzilla vs. Kong, this is the most tangible and imposing that a CGI rendition of Godzilla has ever looked. Its coarse skin and jagged dorsal fins drive home the idea that this is a nuclear abomination set loose, while its almost cat-like facial features carry over the personality that’s made previous takes on Godzilla so memorable not just as a monster, but as a character in its own right.

It can be argued, however, that Minus One hems a little too close to tradition. The overall narrative is very familiar and lacks the innovation of films like 2016’s Shin Godzilla, which satirised Japanese bureaucracy by reinventing the monster as a being that evolves into a greater threat if not dealt with swiftly.

Should Yamazaki return for another Godzilla outing, it would be interesting to see what entirely new ideas he can bring to the table, in addition to the existing ones he has refined.

That said, Minus One's merits far outweigh any of its shortcomings. By playing to the strengths of Godzilla’s original concept, Yamazaki is able to tell a powerful story of human resilience that demonstrates just how moving these films can be when handled with the right level of care and sincerity. There’s life in this old kaiju yet.

Godzilla Minus One is in cinemas now