Takashi Yamazaki's "Godzilla Minus One" comes out just prior to the 70th anniversary of Ishiro Honda's 1954 original "Gojira," and audiences have been on quite a journey throughout those decades.
By the lore of Honda's film, Godzilla was a massive amphibious animal created by nuclear bomb test radiation. He was more than a dinosaur that could be defeated by weapons. He was a physical manifestation of post-war nuclear devastation, a monstrous legacy of what weapons of mass destruction have wrought. Mass destruction only leads to more mass destruction. The 1954 film's scientists ultimately have to invent an even more devastating weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, to defeat the beast. It is a somber, sad movie about how Japan -- about how humanity -- is unable to break a cycle of wartime annihilation. It wouldn't be until 1995's "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah," however, that a monster would rise from the remnants of the Oxygen Destroyer.
By the lore of Honda's film, Godzilla was a massive amphibious animal created by nuclear bomb test radiation. He was more than a dinosaur that could be defeated by weapons. He was a physical manifestation of post-war nuclear devastation, a monstrous legacy of what weapons of mass destruction have wrought. Mass destruction only leads to more mass destruction. The 1954 film's scientists ultimately have to invent an even more devastating weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, to defeat the beast. It is a somber, sad movie about how Japan -- about how humanity -- is unable to break a cycle of wartime annihilation. It wouldn't be until 1995's "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah," however, that a monster would rise from the remnants of the Oxygen Destroyer.
- 11/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
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