Godzilla Minus One

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

[mr_rating_result]

Kaiju is a Japanese term for giant monsters and monster movies. A subgenre of science fiction and fantasy, these giant monsters are “usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monsters.”

An example of kaiju, Godzilla is a prehistoric reptilian monster awakened and powered by nuclear radiation. The franchise is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the “longest continuously running film franchise,” having been in ongoing production since 1954.

The first film was directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. For its 1956 North American release, the film was localized as “Godzilla, King of the Monsters! It featured new footage with Raymond Burr edited together with the original Japanese footage.

The film franchise consists of 38 films; 33 Japanese films produced and distributed by Toho Co. Ltd. and five American films: one produced by Tri-Star and four produced by Legendary Pictures.

“Godzilla Minus One” is the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise. Produced by Toho Studios and Robot and distributed by Toho Co. Ltd., it’s currently being unleashed on American theaters.

Noted filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki wrote the script over the course of three years. The film would be his third on-screen depiction of Godzilla, as he had previously used a CGI Godzilla in “Always: Sunset on Third Street 2” (2007) and designed Godzilla the Ride for the Seibu-en amusement park.

Godzilla’s appearance in the film is based on the design seen in the 2021 CGI short film that accompanied the opening of the Godzilla the Ride amusement park attraction in the city of Tokorozawa. The short was also directed by Yamazaki.

For this film, the design’s proportions were altered and the size of its back plates was increased.

In addition to directing “Godzilla Minus One,” Yamazaki also created the movie’s visual effects.

The synopsis of the film couldn’t be more general: “After the war, Japan’s economic state has been reduced to zero. Godzilla appears and plunges the country into a negative state.” I suspect something was lost in the translation.

This is the first Godzilla movie to be a period piece, set during the American occupation of Japan (1945-1952) and almost a decade before the original “Godzilla” (1954).

The idea is that with the country’s struggle to recover from the damage and destruction caused by WWII, its people face a life that’s less than zero – hence the title.

The cast features Ryûnosuke Kamiki as Koichi Shikishima, Minami Hamabe as Noriko Oishi, Yuki Yamada as Shiro Mizushima, Munetaka Aoki as Sosaku Tachibana.

A quasi-remake of the original, “Minus One” remains true to the series’ roots – with one sociological shift. Here, the villain is not the destructive monster as much as the occupying American military.

Director Takashi Yamazaki’s political leanings might show in his work.

There’s clear animosity toward America for defeating and crippling Japan before Godzilla awakens. Once that happens, all bets cease and Japan enters “a negative state” (hence the title).

“Godzilla’s jagged scales, for instance, are scars and blisters created by the blast from a nuclear weapon, and we know US forces detonated that bomb,” says J.B. Augustine of Bounding Into Comics.

The country being down for the count in the immediate post-war is depicted as America’s fault. Oh well, it’s a Japanese viewpoint.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com