Oh No! There Goes Tokyo In The New Godzilla Minus One Trailer
This is the year of Godzilla. We recently got the first images of the upcoming Apple TV+ MonsterVerse show that pits both Kurt and Wyatt Russell against the King of Monsters. There's also the upcoming "Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire" that is set to bring round two of the match of the century next year. Arguably, though, the headliner is the return of Toho's own Godzilla in "Godzilla Minus One," the first since "Shin Godzilla" seven years ago.
"Shin Godzilla" was a phenomenal reimagining of the iconic monster, with Hideaki Anno making an incredible movie that brought the King of Monsters to modern times, making it an allegory for the response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster —all while giving us an incredible redesign for the character.
Now, Takashi Yamazaki, director, writer, and VFX supervisor is helming "Godzilla Minus One." Yamazaki is no small name either, having helmed a series of VFX-heavy blockbusters, including many adaptations of anime and manga, like the 2010 "Space Battleship Yamato" live-action, and the 2014 "Parasyte" live-action movie. He also helmed the great "Lupin III: The First" CGI movie. While Anno reinvented the character for modern times, Yamazaki is celebrating the 69th anniversary of the world being introduced to Godzilla by bringing the character back to basics: specifically, the post-war era of Japan.
Oh my Godzilla
It has long and widely been accepted that Godzilla as a character was meant to be a manifestation of Japan's postwar trauma, and an allegory for nuclear weapons. In the year when Christopher Nolan makes a movie about the creation of the atom bomb, Toho is bringing back its most iconic character and once again making it a force of pure destruction: a monster born out of the atomic era, unleashing nature's wrath on humanity.
The trailer shows this, with a horrific view of the sheer destruction and death the King of Monsters brings about with him. Buildings are shattered with excruciating detail, and bodies fly off the ground with every stomp of the giant monster's feet. It is gut-wrenching, it is poignant, and it is pure "Godzilla." The trailer and its text narration explain the film's setting as the time when Japan lost everything, when it went from one to zero, all before the appearance of the monster brings it into a negative state. It makes it clear this is no thrilling blockbuster where Godzilla saves us all like in the American movies, but a frightening monster movie echoing the original.
It is no coincidence, then, that "Godzilla Minus One" will be released in Japan on November 3, 2023, 69 years to the day since the first Godzilla movie was released in 1954. It will then be released in the U.S. one month later on December 1, 2023.