海角大神

Godzilla has towered as a colossus of pop culture for nearly 70 years. Across three dozen movies, the titanic lizard has leveled city skylines with its atomic ray. Its destruction leaves audiences in awe, yet often eclipses the human plot. Until now. The latest iteration, 鈥淕odzilla Minus One,鈥� is the 37th film starring the terrible tyrant. But it also might be the first one to make you care about the human characters. 聽

In North America, 鈥淕odzilla Minus One鈥� raked in more than $12.6 million in its first four days. Setting a new record for Japanese live-action films, it has become the highest-grossing foreign language film of the year, with a global take of $52 million after two weeks. It also has a 97% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest of any Godzilla movie in the past three decades.

As with many monster movies, Godzilla鈥檚 enduring popularity hinges on its metaphorical meaning for society鈥檚 struggles. From its Cold War origins, Godzilla has always been a messenger of destruction. Over time, its symbolism has changed to address issues like nuclear weapons, environmental degradation, Japanese nationalism, and more. 鈥淕odzilla Minus One,鈥� set right after World War II, instead tells an intimate human story with a minuscule budget. It鈥檚 a movie about redemption and how one man rediscovers meaning in his life.

鈥淲hat shines through, in the end, is a kind of warm humanism, in people rather than in organizations ... and the ultimate power of human relationships to endure and conquer everything, including a civilization-destroying monster,鈥� says Bill Tsutsui, author of 鈥淕odzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters.鈥� 鈥淲here can we put our faith as people in times of crisis? That鈥檚 in our family and in groups of like-minded people to come together and find solutions.鈥�

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, the film is set in the aftermath of World War II. The film is practically a love letter to the original 1954 鈥淕odzilla鈥� film, using its iconic soundtrack and Godzilla鈥檚 original earth-shaking roar. But it also returns to striking social commentary, covering themes of redemption, military duty, and sacrifice.

In the film, Japan has already been devastated by the war when a new crisis emerges in the form of a titan-sized terrible lizard. Viewers follow a kamikaze pilot who, in the final days of the war, abandons his suicide mission and flees to Odo Island, where he encounters a prehistoric reptile that the locals call Godzilla.聽

The film鈥檚 success among superfans and movie reviewers stems from the sense that 鈥淕odzilla Minus One鈥� feels more like a war movie than your average Hollywood blockbuster.聽

Fans say that with the growing popularity of giant monster, or kaiju, movies, the human storylines are often forgettable. That鈥檚 not the case here.

Mr. Tsutsui says the film has a better human story, 鈥減erhaps than any other Godzilla movie ever made.鈥�

The sincerity in the story pays off, Godzilla fans say. 鈥淭ruthfully, the human story was more important than any other 鈥楪odzilla鈥� film that we鈥檝e seen,鈥� says Wayne Conway outside a Boston theater, sporting his favorite graphic T-shirt from the 2001 film, 鈥淕odzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah.鈥�

鈥淭his movie is hands down the best Godzilla film I鈥檝e ever seen,鈥� says Josh Hernandez, who wore his own fan-made Godzilla sweatshirt to the theater.

鈥淕odzilla Minus One鈥� also stands apart due to its reported $15 million budget, which pales in comparison to $155 million for 鈥淕odzilla vs. Kong鈥� (2021) and $180 million for 鈥淧acific Rim鈥� (2013).

In a panel at Tokyo Comic Con, Mr. Yamazaki said even that low budget for the current film was exaggerated, adding, 鈥淚 wish it were that much,鈥� according to user Kaiju No. 14 on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Far from its miniature sets and rubber monster suit origins, the new film has excellent visual effects.聽

Longtime Godzilla fan Sam Munoz says the small budget didn鈥檛 mean less mayhem. He says he鈥檚 never seen Godzilla so devastating, describing the creature as 鈥渃atastrophic鈥� and 鈥渁 civilization-ending level threat.鈥澛�

鈥淵ou鈥檙e not watching a monster fighting other monsters. You are being chased by the monster,鈥� says Mr. Tsutsui.

The original 1954 鈥淕odzilla鈥� offered a warning against the dangers of nuclear proliferation and the existential threat of nuclear annihilation. It arrived in the wake of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States and during the nuclear arms race between Russia and the U.S. In the new film, the creature鈥檚 origins tie in with nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean and its atomic ray releases a mushroom cloud of destruction.聽

鈥淲e need Godzilla to do different things. We didn鈥檛 want it to just scare us,鈥� says Mr. Tsutsui. 鈥淏ut how Godzilla scares us is going to change with where we are as a society in the world at any time. And the fact that Godzilla can continue to change and morph over the years means it鈥檚 truly an evergreen monster.鈥�