Reiwa Era
Although Legendary had rebooted the famous giant kaiju Godzilla in 2014 with a new monsterverse (which eventually teamed him up with his frenemy King Kong), no one can seemingly do justice to the character better than Toho and 2023’s Godzilla Minus One became an international hit and Academy Award-winner. The current Japanese era of Godzilla we are in is called the Reiwa Era and it is off to an amazing start since it has produced two Japanese Oscar Best Picture winners. So, today we pit them together. Let’s take a look at which comes out on top — Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One.
Story
Shin Godzilla
Story? What story? Shin Godzilla has a unique presentation of being very issue-based. It’s a procedural, political red tape thriller with Godzilla at the center. And you know what? That’s what I love about it. There are barely any characters in this movie. It’s incredibly clinical without being cold, as you still relate to the people. The movie cuts out any traditional movie BS and is focused on the issue at hand 100%. There’s no plot or subplot of someone needing a character redemption or needing to rescue their family. The movie is just — “We have this national emergency. How can we solve it?”
Godzilla Minus One
Meanwhile, Godzilla Minus One goes completely in the other direction. We get a very engaging drama about a character named Kôichi Shikishima, a Japanese Kamikaze pilot, just after World War II. We see him and a defeated country try to rise from the ashes of devastation and thanks to the new threat of Godzilla, the country goes “from zero to minus.” Shikishima faces immense guilt as he blames himself for Godzilla’s destruction and there’s a subplot of him building a family with a couple of war survivors.
Winner – Tie:
Both movies take completely different approaches to their Godzilla story and they are both done incredibly well. Godzilla Minus One is a more traditional movie and may be more accessible since Shin Godzilla is very talky. But that’s exactly what I love about Shin Godzilla. It puts you right in the disaster and it feels authentic. Interestingly, both movies have strong criticisms about the Japanese government in one way or another.
Action
Shin Godzilla
Just a couple of years prior to Shin Godzilla, the 2014 American Godzilla film was criticized for not showing the titular monster enough. It can be argued that the Godzilla in Shin Godzilla has the same amount of screentime. However, Shin Godzilla is all about the Godzilla situation. The monster is at the forefront and when it comes to military action, it goes old school. The movie has a couple of big scenes of the military fighting the kaiju and it doesn’t get too flashy. It’s just as methodical as the story of the movie. Tanks and air vehicles fire their weapons and we see just how indestructible he is. The best part is when the American bombers get involved and Godzilla not only unleashes his atomic breath, but also emits rays of atomic lasers from his dorsal fins.
Godzilla Minus One
This is where being a traditional movie improves on the scenes. The action in Godzilla Minus One is superior. We get great sequences of Godzilla attacks and amazing Naval sequences of ships being chased by the monster at sea. Kôichi boards a plane and goes toe-to-toe with the monster at one point and the end sequence is incredibly exciting when the plan to kill Godzilla goes into effect. When the battleships start moving and the iconic theme starts playing, the hair on your arms will stand up.
Winner – Godzilla Minus One
Although the sequences in Shin Godzilla are well done, seeing the Naval boat being chased by Godzilla felt like a sequence never seen before and it was incredibly suspenseful and entertaining. The movie fully capitalizes on the animalistic nature of the titular monster and it makes for some exciting action.
Godzilla
Shin Godzilla
And now, we take a look at the monster himself. Shin Godzilla basically translates to “True Godzilla.” The movie made him scary again, which seemed kind of impossible since he’s been a good guy for so long and is too much of a pop culture icon. How do you bring back the visceral mystery of the original Gojira? Writer/director Hideaki Anno came up with some amazing lore that isn’t actually explored in the film, but once you discover it, you can see it. Godzilla goes through transformation phases that feel chaotically unpredictable and when he’s in his iconic-looking phase, there is no pattern or real behavior behind it. He’s just a force of nature, an act of God. Then, when you go into the lore, it is absolutely bonkers that he would always evolve beyond our comprehension. Add to that: it’s so bleak that Godzilla is a creature that is in constant pain, needs to be put out of its misery, but evolves to be indestructible. What a f*cking tragic concept!
Godzilla Minus One
Godzilla is more traditionally just a creature in this movie without all the crazy lore. The mystery is still there as he just appears. This Godzilla is an allegory. It goes back to the symbolic origins of Gojira. The hallmarks of the monster are present. He has his atomic breath and is also indestructible. Although here, we get to see him regenerate like Wolverine. This Godzilla is wonderfully done and sports some of the best CGI effects for the creature. However, following Shin Godzilla, it feels like it lacks the creativity and the mystery that the previous movie displayed.
Winner – Shin Godzilla
Just looking at the face of the Godzilla in Shin Godzilla, it’s terrifying with a zombified expression. The creativity of the lore is one of the coolest things I’ve read in a while. And the lore isn’t just “expanded universe” for fans. It’s the answers you find when the movie ends on that haunting shot of Godzilla’s tail and the unexplained creatures attached to it. Even without the lore, watching Godzilla tear through cities like a natural disaster and presented in a raw, non-movie fashion, gave the character his bite back in a way that Godzilla Minus One, while still really good, never quite achieved.
Results: It’s a tie!
Both Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One are amazing entries from Toho. The best thing about them both is that they both explore the subject in different ways, and they both succeed immensely. Godzilla Minus Zero has just released its trailer and here’s hoping that Takashi Yamazaki has more great storytelling and action up his sleeve.
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