Paula Hammond - Features EditorIt’s been 70 years since audiences first thrilled to the sound of Godzilla’s iconic skreeonk. And, thanks to Godzilla Minus One, the big grey lizard is still earning fans and critical acclaim in equal measure.
Godzilla Minus One is the film that returned the franchise to its post-war roots with a powerful and poignant story about a Japan gripped by the helplessness of having already lost everything, before a new, monstrous threat emerges.
On its cinema release, last year, the film broke multiple box office records, and earned itself a Best Visual Effects Oscar — becoming first non-English language film to win the award.
Next week, sees Godzilla Minus One return to our cinemas, Minus Color, in a black-and-white version adjusted, cut-by-cut, and personally overseen by director Takashi Yamazaki. But do audiences who rarely watch black and white films really need a monochrome reissue? The answer is decidedly Yes. In removing the colour Yamazaki, adds layers of meaning and subtlety.
Godzilla Minus One is undoubtedly the best monster movie you’ll see this year — and arguably the best Godzilla movie since the original. This is a big film, with a big message — reject hate, embrace hope, and look to the future.
Godzilla’s post-war credentials are well established, but choosing to set Minus One at the end of World War II adds a new, human layer to a franchise that, too often loses itself in SFX and monster battles. In shattered world, populated by shattered people — failed kamikaze pilot, Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) finds himself lost, alone, and shunned by his peers. When Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe) arrives at his door with an orphaned baby in tow, Shikishima slowly realises that there’s still life to be lived — if only the ghosts of the past would leave him alone.
Re-issued in glorious black and white, Minus One plays out like a period piece — with a sombre tone, a pitch-perfect ‘40s aesthetic, and a storyline that shimmers with hope and human resilience. With no military intervention or government help in sight, it is the survivors who must join together, in the face of despair, and fight back against an unrelenting horror.
The acting is superb, and Kamiki’s nuanced and sensitive portrayal of a traumatised man, for whom the ‘war isn’t finished yet’ is heart-wrenching to watch. But DO watch because, for once, you won’t be disappointed. Despite all the portents of doom, that are peppered liberally throughout the story, Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color delivers exactly what you want to see. Including a classically-styled Godzilla that’s bigger and more explosive — literally — than you’ve ever seen before.
Like all the very best monster movies, Godzilla is an integral part of the story, but he never becomes the story. I guarantee you’ll be blubbing like a baby and punching the air in glee, simultaneously, before this tale is done.
Celebrated each year on 3rd November, Godzilla Day commemorates the anniversary of the original 1954 film that created a movie monster recognised around the world. This year, fans are invited to start their celebrations early in cinemas with special screenings of Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color.
