'Godzilla Minus One' (2023), Take Two

I didn't see Godzilla Minus One on this screen, but it sure would've been nice! Photo by Brett Homenick.

After seeing Godzilla Minus One (2023) on opening day, I had no plans to see it a second time. But then Toho Cinemas made me an offer I couldn't refuse: A couple of days ago, select theaters around Tokyo started showing the movie with English subtitles. It was such a unique opportunity that I just couldn't pass it up. 

So, tonight (Saturday, November 25), I went to Toho Cinemas Hibiya to see the movie again. The screen on which I saw it was one of the smaller ones, so it was hardly an IMAX experience, but it was sufficient for my needs. Anyway, I was more interested in filling in the blanks of the story than experiencing bigger and louder explosions.

So did my opinion of the film change at all?

In a word, no.

In three words, yes and no.

In six words, yes and no. But mostly no.

This time around, I didn't feel the use of Akira Ifukube's music was as bad or out of place as I originally thought. The inclusion of it during the Ginza attack was basically tolerable, but I could see why I felt it didn't work during the climax. It does feel a bit awkward there, as it seems to fly in the face of the downbeat and dour atmosphere of the rest of the movie. I suppose it's supposed to highlight the sense of teamwork and camaraderie among the volunteers who are working together to stop Godzilla, but I still think it creates some tonal issues with the rest of the film.

On the other hand, I found the overall spectacle of the CG was less impressive this time. In a lot of ways, that was to be expected. Most movies simply don't hold up on repeated viewings. Once you know what happens, there's a lot less to hold your attention. That was certainly the case here. Once you knew what was coming, there just wasn't a whole lot else there to keep you engaged.

The characters talk a lot about the war and the hardships they experienced, but we never see it. We hear about loved ones who were killed offscreen, but we know nothing about them. We never see their faces. But it's supposed to add depth to the characters that they've experienced these losses during the war. If you're going to go there, movie, then go there. We need to see that. Lines of dialogue and exposition aren't enough to invest the audience. 

We are told how Japan lost everything during the war, but what we are shown is that Japan is quick to get back on its feel, and, by about the halfway point, Ginza looks like a pretty happenin' place. So which is it? If we're being totally honest, the title should really be "Godzilla 0.5" or higher.

On a related note, one of the characters delivers a speech about the importance of humanity, but this was again something I wanted to feel, not hear. We don't see the consequences of Godzilla's attacks in any detail. When a character is killed, it feels more like the deletion of computer-generated pixels rather than the loss of a human life. Ishiro Honda conveyed more about humanity with a single shot of a Geiger counter than that dude with the wacky-scientist haircut possibly could with 200 pages of exposition. 

I suppose my biggest takeaway from my second viewing was just how boring the climax is. There's no tension to the proceedings, as it's all a foregone conclusion that the whole thing will work on the first try. (I mean, we're way too close to the end credits for the characters to start kicking rocks back to the drawing board.) 

The method of defeating Godzilla is also pretty underwhelming. I don't know why director Takashi Yamazaki insisted on implementing a (relatively speaking) real-world solution to the problem of a living, breathing amusement park ride attacking the city. I mean, Godzilla can instantaneously regenerate any damaged body parts and can fire a beam that blows up entire districts in a single go, but it's a bridge too far to create a sci-fi superweapon like the Oxygen Destroyer? Anything beats a droning lecture on Freon gas.

Overall, I still wouldn't say the movie is bad, but I do think it's mediocre. The movie lacks memorable (and even sympathetic) characters. I can't say I was rooting for any of the characters to succeed. At best, I was indifferent to them. At worst, I genuinely didn't like them. If anything, I wanted Godzilla to prevail, but he couldn't even catch that rickety old fishing boat he was chasing for five minutes, so he deserved to get his head blown apart. Serves him right for being so lame.

With all that said, it seems inevitable that this is what's in store for Godzilla's future: Every few years, another "mad genius" director will come out with another Godzilla remake, reboot, or regurgitation, and American fans will ChatGPT out a bunch of hyper-enthusiastic essays, comparing it to Godzilla (1954) sight unseen. I'd rather vote for Kayoco Anne Patterson for president.