Toho has unleashed the king of monsters in “Godzilla Minus One.” This marks the 30th live-action Godzilla produced in Japan.
Japan has already been devastated by the impact of World War II and the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but Godzilla’s arrival makes things much, much worse. Director Takashi Yamazaki is going to take the king of the monsters back to his roots as a horrific metaphor for nuclear devastation.
Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II at a time when Japan had been left hobbled by the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Godzilla Minus One tells the story of how the country plunged even further into turmoil and chaos when the titular kaiju is awakened for the very first time. Between ongoing efforts to rebuild destroyed neighborhoods and the countless people left injured by the war, resources are already stretched in the new trailer as Godzilla emerges from the sea, and starts trampling people while rampaging through a city center. Interestingly, there’s a brief flash of a document from the US Department of War that likely contains intelligence about Godzilla and his origins.
But the trailer makes the Japanese government’s going to be left on its own to deal with the creature, and with the country’s military forces so wiped out, it makes it that much more of a one-sided battle when Godzilla starts to unleash his fury. As terrifying as shots of flying train cars are, what really stands out in the trailer.
Godzilla made its cinematic debut in 1954, since then, it has become an enduring icon, gracing the realms of literature, television, comics, and including numerous screen adaptations, such as “Mothra vs. Godzilla,” “The Return of Godzilla,” “Godzilla: Final Wars.”
When a lead actor Ryunosuke Kamiki was offered the role of Koichi Shikishima, a survivor of the war, he said “I was happy to be involved in the ‘Godzilla’ that everyone knows, but I felt a lot of pressure” that he revealed his hesitation, but “I still decided that I really wanted to be involved.”
On the other hand, a lead actress Minami Hamabe played the role of Noriko Oishi, a character living strongly on her own in postwar Japan, a burnt-out country. During the filming, Hamabe said, “As a woman who strongly survived the postwar period, I wanted to run through to the end, chanting over and over in my mind, ‘Only by living,'” she said.
The two actors co-star in the NHK television series “Ranman,” in which they play a married couple. When the morning drama story was confirmed, Hamabe said “We will be working together for a long time from now. We have become good friends up to this point,” she said gratefully.