That is until now, with the newly released Godzilla Minus One, a film that not only matches the storytelling work that Honda achieved, but may even surpass it.
In the waning days of World War Two, Japanese pilot Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) finds that he can not obey his commanders orders to go out and “die an honorable death,” in a kamikaze raid. Faking a malfunction with his fighter, he makes his way to a small base on Odo Island. That evening the base is attacked by a dinosaur-like creature that the natives have named “Godzilla.” Koichi had a chance to possibly kill the creature during the attack, but froze in fear. Afterwards, the only other survivor, the base’s chief mechanic Tachibana, states Koichi’s cowardice cost the lives of the rest of the base personnel. Returning to his home in Tokyo after the war’s end, Koichi finds that his parents died in the Allied bombing of the city. He encounters a young woman, Noriko, who is living on the streets and caring for an orphaned baby. He invites them into his home and the three form a somewhat by contemporary standards unorthodox family as the country rebuilds itself and Koichi finds work on a boat removing mines left over from the war from the bay. It is only years later when Godzilla, now mutated by United States atomic weapons testing on Bikini Atoll, is sited does Koichi see a way to finally rid himself of the guilt-driven dreams he still has of the slaughter of the Odo Island mechanics he failed to prevent.
At its core, Godzilla Minus One is a retelling of Honda’s original film. However, director Takashi Yamazaki – whom fans of Japanese genre fare may remember for 2002’s time travel-alien invasion romp Returner – has shifted the thematic focus somewhat from a country trying to process the horror of experiencing atomic warfare to a more personal and emotionally complex examination of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and survivor’s guilt. The rampaging Godzilla serves as the embodiment of Koichi’s own fears come back to haunt him, the literal consequences of his inaction. As he could not fulfill his mission as a kamikaze pilot, he now feels responsible and blames himself for the deaths of the airbase mechanics on Odo Island, the death of his own parents, the crew of the Takao, a naval vessel that distracts Godzilla before it could destroy Koichi’s mine-sweeping boat and many, many more. He spends much of the film struggling with the conflicting ideas of dying for honor or living for honor. In most Godzilla films, the human characters are there to help move the film along and bridge the story from giant monster action sequence to giant monster action sequence. But in Godzilla Minus One, the characters of Koichi, Noriko and Koichi’s friends are not just plot devices to keep things moving along. Koichi’s story is the real focus with the occasional intrusion from Godzilla serving to push him forward on his character’s journey.
But even with all this emotionally smart and thoughtful thematic exploration of the screenplay, this is still a Godzilla movie, so there is the question of how the title character appears on screen. Honestly, the kid inside of me has always loved when we get a kaiju movie that features some good old monster-stomping-a-city action or two or more monsters just throwing fists (and trees and trains and whatever else is handy) at each other. And there is some of that here. But primarily each Godzilla sequence is presented in a way that inspires more dread and terror than vicarious thrills. The monster here is indeed that, a force of nature that doesn’t seem to be able to be reasoned with or stopped in any way. There is a moment in the original Godzilla that gets me every time. Godzilla is making its rampage through Tokyo, citizens fleeing underfoot while the military is helpless to stop its progress. Huddled on a sidewalk amidst the chaos and in the path of the oncoming kaiju is a mother trying to comfort her two crying children. “It’s OK, we’ll soon be with Daddy again.” It is an absolutely heart-shattering moment that sums up what Honda’s intentions for the film were. Godzilla Minus One has several such moments of the tragedy of humanity dwarfed by monstrous forces that it has unintentionally released upon itself. And that makes this Godzilla stand shoulder to shoulder with the original, if not a little taller.
