GODZILLA MINUS ONE

This is my first Godzilla film.  Given how good it is maybe I should try some others?  Probably not - I suspect this one is unusual in that the marauding monster plays second fiddle to a compelling human drama.

That drama concerns Shikishima, a WW2 kamikaze pilot who at the start of the film is on a remote island, pretending that his aircraft has mechanical problems in order to shirk his duty. To add further shame he panics and fails to shoot when Godzilla appears, thereby contributing to the death of nearly everyone in the garrison.

Returning home after the war he learns that his parents are dead.  Things are bleak but life must go on - Shikishima meets Noriko, who is also an orphan, and a baby she has rescued, and together they try to scratch out an existence.  The relationship between Shikishima and Noriko, two lost souls, is a touching one.

Meanwhile Godzilla has not gone away.  In fact it has become even more powerful thanks to the US nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll.  It now has a heat ray (cool!) and I must say as someone who is usually turned off by CGI the special effects throughout this film are terrific.

I also enjoyed the scenes mid-film concerning the attempts of a slightly crazy naval engineer Noda to rally resistance to Godzilla, against a backdrop of the Japanese government doing very little.  Noda is a fun character.

The other important character is Tachibana, a mechanic who survived Godzilla's initial attack at the start of the film, and who therefore knows of Shikishima's shame.  He plays a pivotal role in an exciting conclusion in which Shikishima, erroneously thinking that Noriko is dead, seeks redemption by embarking on a suicide mission to destroy Godzilla.  

Pleasingly there's a happy ending - all in all very satisfying.

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do