Day 204: Godzilla Minus One

Lately when I've been to the theater it has come with a sort of resignation. I've just accepted at this point that if I go to see a 200 million dollar film with more than one big name actor, that the movie is probably going to make the writer in me cringe. The effects are usually pretty good, the acting is not bad, but the plot. Sheesh. When I saw that a new Godzilla movie had come out, I figured it was going to be more of the same. A huge monster destroying stuff on screen while a bunch of half baked characters either try to stop it or help it kill something bigger. Going in with negative expectations (see what I did there? Ok, sorry), I was already happy to just let my inner six year old take over, suck down a gigantic soda, eat some popcorn, and watch Godzilla do Godzilla things. That's why I was so pleasantly surprised when I realized about ten minutes into the movie that this was no run of the mill CGI monstrosity.

There is one thing that sets this movie apart from all the other Godzilla movies I've seen, and that is a focus on people. Godzilla is not the main character of this movie. Nor is some other giant monster that steals the spotlight. It's about a kamikaze pilot who suffered through World War II, only able to survive because his cowardice ruled over his courage. It's about a woman who took in a baby that wasn't hers in the post apocalyptic aftermath of postwar Japan. It's about three guys just trying to do their best for their family and their country. These powerful characters drive the plot forward, and while Godzilla's destruction becomes a feature in their lives, they are not defined by him. Like few other movies I've seen lately, the giant CGI monster is not the main obsession of any character on screen, and that is really what makes this movie what it is.

Shikishima's redemption arc tracks perfectly with the redemption of a country that would send it's own to die in planes without ejection seats. Social pressures, his training as a kamikaze pilot, and the men he failed in wartime all work to convince him that he should have died in the war. That throwing himself needlessly into the hull of an American ship would have been the honorable thing to do. Noriko and Akiko fall into his life by chance, and stand on the other side of his pain, telling him that his life is as valuable as their love. The friends he gains during the struggle of postwar life, and their subsequent battle with Godzilla, bring him closer to the truth. That his life is not to be thrown away in haste, but used to protect the ones he loves so that he can come back to them afterward. It's this powerful message that turns this giant monster movie into something more.

Along with the stellar character development comes a refreshing subtlety to Godzilla as well. He takes on a more classic form in this movie, with tiny arms and a towering body that puts him more in line with a skyscraper than a lizard. The crashing symbols, pounding drums, and huge brass section that play when he comes on screen hearken back to the Godzilla theme from the original 1954 movie, bringing him at once closer to home and advancing him to new heights. He is rarely presented in the way that so many other big monsters are seen in movies, from a far-off floating camera, crushing buildings that look as small as he does. Instead, he is always seen from the perspective of a person on the ground, on a boat, next to him from a building. Every shot establishes his shocking size, the power of his footfalls, the terror he strikes into the people on the ground fleeing from his unstoppable march forward. Only at the very end is he seen from the perspective of an airplane, when Shikishima's growing resolve comes to outweigh Godzilla's power. When he unleashes the heat breath he has become known for, the resulting atomic-esque blast seems to enthrall the monster, once again hearkening back to the fear of the atomic beast, obsessed with its own power, that Godzilla was borne from. He is ultimately defeated, not through sheer might, but ingenuity, bravery, and the absolute commitment of those who love their fellow man and country.

There is not a single moment of this movie where I wanted to go do something else. I highly recommend you catch it while you can, and compare it to some of the other recent Godzilla movies. Its theater release has been extended twice now, and for good reason. Personally I found it much more impactful than anything else in recent memory, probably because it seemed to actually care about the message it sent and the quality of the characters. This movie is not simply a vehicle for Godzilla to smash stuff, but rather Godzilla is the vehicle to tell a great story, and I think that's the way that it should be.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley