Adding By Subtraction

A few months back, I wrote to express my surprising enjoyment of a Godzilla story -- the Apple TV+ show Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. But little did I know just how surprising and enjoyable things could get in a Godzilla story.

I recently watched Godzilla Minus One. It was the first Japanese-made Godzilla in seven years, and released near the franchise's 70th anniversary. None of that was really playing on my mind as I sat down to watch it, though; I'd simply heard that it was worth seeing. And it turned out to be far better than that.

I've always been aware of the creative message originally behind Godzilla: the story was deeply influenced by the U.S. use of nuclear weapons on Japan at the end of World War II. But it had seemed to me that the franchise had long ago stopped being about that (or about anything at all but giant monsters). Maybe that's just natural for a franchise making action sequels for seven decades, or maybe that's just my impression from consuming the American Godzilla films, and not so much the Japanese films. In any case, I wasn't expecting much from Godzilla Minus One beyond "monster movie."

Instead, the movie went back to the heart of what I'd dimly understood Godzilla to be about -- it's literally set in the years immediately after World War II, and in large part, in the actual remnants of a city destroyed by U.S. forces. It's not just window dressing, either. The movie seriously engages with its serious material, quickly revealing itself to be a thought-provoking story about PTSD, survivor's guilt, societal trauma, found family, and more. Aspects of it feel specific to Japanese culture, and other aspects absolutely universal. In truth, Godzilla Minus One isn't a monster movie with a deeper-than-necessary narrative woven through it -- it's a heady, emotional drama with a lot to say... and happens to have Godzilla in it.

Don't worry, monster movie fans: there is plenty of Godzilla in it. And they "play all the hits" from a city rampage to ocean battles, and of course the atomic beam. Indeed, if there's one weak spot in the film, it's how so many people who have never encountered Godzilla before (as far as we know) so quickly seem to know so much about it. It feels as though "everybody knows the audience knows all of this," and so the characters should too. Or maybe it's that scientists get special deference? (What a concept.) It's awkward, but only because it seems like so much thought has been put into the rest of the movie.

I was expecting a fun diversion, and instead got one of my favorite movies of 2023. I give Godzilla Minus One an A-, and a slot on my Top Movies list from last year. What a delightful surprise.