However, although Godzilla is undoubtedly the antagonist of the 1954 film, he is still a multifaceted creature even in his first outing. Although the suit and miniature effects have obviously aged, the film’s power stands because of how Honda commits to portraying Godzilla’s wrath as a snapshot of Japan’s cultural anxiety at the time. That movie, which Minus One parallels by setting itself in the post-WWII era that the original film was created in, starred Godzilla as an overwhelmingly destructive force, and a clear metaphor for the devastation caused by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. That means going all the way back to the original 1954 classic directed by Ishirō Honda, simply titled Gojira (and released in a heavily edited form in America as Godzilla: King of the Monsters! in 1956). To understand how Godzilla Minus One’s revamp of Godzilla fits into the wider legacy of the character, we first have to look back at said legacy. But what has given Godzilla such long-lasting popularity? Minus One is the 37th Godzilla film, and it’s being heralded as one of the best ones yet, so how is there still new material to mine from this single monster? Well, Minus One also provides an answer: Godzilla has lasted this long because he is perhaps the one character in film history with the greatest potential for reinterpretation, and filmmakers are still finding new things for him to represent seven decades on. Given that the film was produced to celebrate the franchise’s 70th anniversary (technically next year, but Toho and Legendary Pictures can’t release Godzilla films in the same year and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is coming up in 2024), the film’s success indicates the King of the Monsters is as popular as he’s ever been.īut does it tell us more? Sure, Godzilla is a cultural icon, and is one of the few non-American film franchises to have generational appeal worldwide. In fact, it’s already taken the throne of the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time at the United States box office. Between universal acclaim from critics ( including IGN’s), an A CinemaScore, and enough audience demand that production company Toho has extended the film’s North American theatrical run, the Big G’s latest outing is looking like an unqualified smash hit. Godzilla Minus One, the latest installment in the venerable kaiju franchise, is currently making big waves in theaters.
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