GODZILLA MINUS ONE / GOJIRA -1.0 (2023)

Surely the best GODZILLA movie since GODZILLA, that is the first GODZILLA, or rather GOJIRA, the title of the original 1954 Japanese cut.  (Starting an 8th decade of constant activity, who could possibly have seen them all?)  The initial film, made not so long after the literal fallout from the bombs that ended the war, had a top-tier cast & compelling direction from Ishirô Honda, with atomic guilt on offense & defense, motivating the monster out of the depths.  This new film goes farther back, to near the end of the war as a Kamikaze Pilot gets cold feet, scraps his flight, then watches in horror from his inactive plane as the monster flattens the small island he 'parked' on.  Haunted by a different sort of guilt than what was seen in the original film, he survives to live a ‘borrowed’ (or is it bartered?) post-war life, grabbing a chance for peaceful redemption by starting a new, ad-hoc ‘found’ family out of war’s rubble, and later joining a civilian defense group when an even stronger Godzilla beast rises from the depths to finish his mission of total destruction.  Again, a fine cast and an inventive director* help this stand out, but it’s the writing, concept and changing ideas of a new Japan moving away from its fixation on honorable death to embrace honorable life, that ups the emotional involvement.  (A volunteer mine sweeper raises the issue directly, saying: ‘This country never changes . . . perhaps it can’t.’)  The special effects vary from superb to ‘whazzit’ (Godzilla, at best, always an oddly proportioned thing, especially when standing), but packing a wallop when he chows down on soldiers or picks up a battle ship and tosses it over his shoulder.  Yikes!  If there’s such a thing as a paradigm of a GODZILLA pic, this is it.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  As mentioned, the original GOJIRA/’54.  For more Ishirô Honda horror, with color & a decent budget, try THE H-MAN/’58.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-h-man-bijo-to-ekitai-ningen-1958.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *Director Takashi Yamazaki not afraid to lighten the mood from a generally serious tone, often with a sly film reference he refrains from pushing in your face.  Like ending the first act with a ‘Smile you son of a . . . ’ homage to JAWS/’75.