Source: Toho Studios: Blu-ray, 2023.
Year: 2023
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Action Stars:
Genre: Giant Monster Film
Country: Japan
Story Duration: 01:58:43
Act Duration:
1st Act: 00:27:11
2nd Act: 00:34:48
3rd Act: 00:23:14
4th Act: 00:33:27
Plot Turns:
1st: Atomic blast triggers Godzilla out of dormancy
2nd: Godzilla attacks Ginza
3rd: Godzilla detected returning to Tokyo
ASD Ratio: 43%
AAD Ratios:
1st Act: 42%
2nd Act: 44%
3rd Act: 15%
4th Act: 63%
Action Structure: 3124
Action Scenarios:
Capture
Escape
Fall
Fight
Fight (Destruction of Property Variant)
Pursuit
Rescue
Speed
Total Action Moments: 32
Notable Action Sequence: Attack on Ginza
Duration: 00:09:23
Act: 2nd
Action Scenarios:
Escape
Fall
Fight
Fight (Destruction of Property Variant)
Rescue
Speed
Description: Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One (2023) is at once a reboot of the original 1954 Godzilla film and a homage to the first installment of the franchise. This relationship between the two films is most strikingly manifested during the Attack on Ginza sequence – a composite of the first two Godzilla attacks on Tokyo in the original – where a number of parallel moments arise. Yet, Godzilla Minus One reconfigures this attack in a pivotal way by placing its central characters, Kōichi and Noriko, directly within the devastation, thereby dramatically raising the stakes. This contrasts with the principal characters in the first film, who witness Godzilla’s rampage but from a far safer distance.
One key difference between the different versions is how Godzilla’s emergence is portrayed compared to the original film. In Godzilla (1954), the two Tokyo attacks present Godzilla slowly emerging from the sea to eventually lumber onto the shore. In Godzilla Minus One, Godzilla’s presence is initially highlighted by an overhead extreme long shot showing the colossal creature swimming beneath a destroyer. This perspective underscores Godzilla’s immense scale compared to the ship [Figure 1] and is further conveyed as the vessel is visibly rocked by the powerful wake created by the behemoth’s passage. Much like the great white shark in Jaws (1975), whose presence is often visually signaled by its dorsal fin, Godzilla re-emerges as its huge dorsal plates break the surface of the water. Another shot soon afterward reveals Godzilla’s head, though most of its body remains submerged. When Godzilla reaches land, its presence is initially inferred through the panicked inhabitants fleeing from the creature, as well as by train carriages and other vehicles being hurled through the air as if they were mere toys. The creature’s foot then appears, stomping on the street and presumably crushing people below. Godzilla’s full bodily presence is consequently dramatically deferred.
Another key difference between the Attack on Ginza with the onslaughts on Tokyo in the first film is how the assault on the train is of much greater narrative significance. In the original film, a packed commuter train, filled with secondary characters, collides into Godzilla’s foot and derails. Godzilla Minus One, in contrast, filters the events through the perspective of a more central character. As the commuter train departs from the station, an interior shot reveals Noriko, Kōichi’s love interest, with other commuters on board the train who are unaware of the impending danger. Suddenly, a sole train carriage appears in the sky hurtling toward the path of the commuter train. The train driver breaks preventing a collision and brings the train to a sudden halt. An impact tremor prompts Noriko to look outside through the window and her eyes widen at the sight of Godzilla, whose full terrifying height is imparted by an ascending camera. For the first time in the sequence a full view of Godzilla is presented but in a manner that is aligned with Noriko’s narrative perspective, thereby triggering viewer investment in Noriko’s fate. Godzilla heads towards the tracks and chomps on the train, lifting it carriages upward as commuters inside slide downward to their presumed deaths. Noriko manages to hang on to a carriage seat but as Godzilla thunders forward, she loses her grip, hanging precariously from a pole [Figure 2]. Godzilla passes over a river, providing an opportunity for Noriko to escape by releasing her grip and fall into the water below.
Another notable connection is the depiction in both films of reporters providing news coverage in close proximity to Godzilla’s devastation. This coverage creates a meta-commentary on the events, confirming the extent of the destruction for the viewer and conveying a national crisis of significant magnitude. In Godzilla Minus One, the destruction of a cinema, as a cultural touchstone, is made more prominent. In the first film, the Nippon Theater is destroyed somewhat incidentally by a swish of Godzilla’s tail. But in the reboot, Godzilla Minus One, the cinema’s destruction is far more conspicuous, as reporters are shown commentating on the obliteration of what they describe as a ‘beloved icon of the people’ [Figure 3]. The destruction of cinema itself thus becomes a moment of national crisis.
One of Godzilla’s defining traits, distinguishing it from other cinematic kaiju, is its ‘atomic breath.’ In the original film, Godzilla uses it frequently, gradually setting large swathes of Tokyo alight in a pointed allusion to the catastrophic firebombing of the city during World War II. The Attack on Ginza sequence in Godzilla Minus One uses Godzilla’s heat ray more sparingly and with more devastating effect. Just as Godzilla’s atomic powers take time to regenerate, the use of the heat ray in the sequence is also deferred, building suspense for its eventual deployment. Enraged by tank fire, Godzilla’s dorsal fins protrude and begin to glow a radioactive blue. Fully charged, Godzilla unleashes a cataclysmic heat ray towards the tanks that sets off a nuclear explosion and shock wave. A mushroom cloud forms [Figure 4], ending the sequence with a potent symbol of the nuclear age, a shadow under which humanity still lives.