By Gene Ching  

This article contains major spoilers

Asian Americans of my generation had limited access to Asian-led films. Only a few were being imported to the west back then. When I was growing up, the two main places where I could see Asians in lead movie roles were Kung Fu movies and Kaiju films. (Just in case you don’t know, ‘Kaiju’ refers to the genre of Japanese monster movies. The term Kaiju (怪獣) means ‘strange beast’; it’s the same Kai as in Yokai (妖怪), or as we say in Chinese, Yaoguai. Yokai/Yaoguai means ‘supernatural strange’ and it refers to the world of Asian magical creatures like ghosts, dragons, and nine-tailed foxes.) Consequently, when it comes to Kung Fu movies and Kaiju films, I’ve been a lifelong card-carrying nerd. When it comes to Godzilla, I’ve made a pilgrimage to Japan to visit the Godzilla stores in Tokyo and Kyoto. I’ve stayed at the Hotel Gracery in Shinjuku Japan, otherwise known as the Godzilla hotel. It was akin to going back to Shaolin Temple, only I didn’t have to spend time training in horse stance.

And lately, both Kung Fu and Kaiju cinema has delivered several major motion pictures, some of the best films for either type in years. There have been a few completely fresh feature films and some new exciting reinventions of the time-honored stories of yesteryear.

Godzilla got a major update in 2023 with GODZILLA MINUS ONE, written, directed and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki. This was the 37th Godzilla movie, released to commemorate the franchise’s 70th anniversary. It’s a new creation story for Godzilla, rekindling the spirit of the first film with a fierce blast of atomic breath that carried it all the way to Godzilla’s first Oscar ever.

GODZILLA MINUS ONE is a period piece, harkening back to Godzilla’s original post-WWII roots. It reclaims the atomic nightmare metaphor of the initial 1954 film with a vengeance, coupled with a more profound sense of the pitfalls of PTSD. Unlike the bombastic post-millennial Hollywood-made Godzilla films, G-1 is paced like the original with thoughtful slower scenes that ruminate on the human tragedy, in between epic battles of wanton destruction. The human story is astonishingly poignant, and there’s some wise war-weary gems dropped like A-bombs. G-1 is an authentic rebirth of the essential of Godzilla. When that classic Godzilla theme sounded, it was like how the Bond theme came in the end of Craig’s CASINO ROYALE (2006) claiming the venerated crown for a new generation. GODZILLA MINUS ONE is not just another monster movie; it’s a powerful statement about war and its repercussions, beautifully told. I got misty at the end.

GODZILLA MINUS ZERO is the second installment of Yamazaki’s G-minus-verse. He uses the same theatrical formula – a tearjerking drama about post WWII and atomic PTSD nestled in a Kaiju film with cutting edge special effects; He ratchets up the sequel a notch with higher stakes, deeper dramatic desperation, more Kaiju, and more gratuitous Akiko (Sae Nagatani) crying. Key actors reprise their roles including Ryunosuke Kamiki (Kōichi Shikishima), Minami Hamabe (Noriko Shikishima), Hidetaka Yoshioka (Kenji Noda), and the crew of the Shinsei Maru, Kuranosuke Sasaki (Captain Seiji Akitsu) and Yuki Yamada (Shirō Mizushima). And there's a major new addition Easter egg cast member: meteorologist Makoto Aoyama is played by Masami Nagasawa, who was one of the Shobijin (小美人) in GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. (2003) and GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004). The Shobijin, or 'little beautiful people' are the diminutive fairy women that accompany Mothra. 

GODZILLA MINUS ZERO takes place only two years after GODZILLA MINUS ONE. The stakes are higher because we know and love these characters. And something is gravely amiss with Noriko. They survived so much trauma after the first film that it feels so unfair that they must suffer more. But this is war, and the horrific repercussions of war, relentless, unforgiving and full of despair. Yamazaki digs deep into survivor guilt, hopelessness, abandonment, and nuclear fallout. The graphic depiction of an atomic blast is absolutely terrifying, as it should be. It cannot be unseen. 

Hail to the King

They say that when you’re an adult, people stop asking you what your favorite dinosaur is. As a card-carrying Kung Fu and Kaiju nerd, I feel the same way about Kaiju.

At the risk of sparking a debate, Godzilla is NOT my favorite Kaiju. Not my king. I know, I know. There were two films titled GODZILLA, KING OF MONSTERS: the gelded Hollywood re-edit of the original film with Raymond Burr playing the now awkwardly named American reporter, Steve Martin, spliced in to help translate for anyone who can’t read subtitles, and the 2019 Hollywood installment starring Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe and Zhang Ziyi. That was part of the new and distinct Hollywood Godzilla franchise known as the Monsterverse, produced by Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. Hollywood's Monsterverse sorely misses the point of Godzilla. Where Japanese Godzilla films are grim metaphors for the horrors of nuclear war, Hollywood's Monsterverse are just giant monster movies with no agenda beyond sensational special effects to sell tickets. It's a shallow take on a profound allegory that still holds true 72 years after the first film.

However, GODZILLA MINUS ZERO isn’t Hollywood. It’s Japan. The Japanese Godzilla multiverse is defined by the periods of the nation’s imperial reign in which the films premiered, beginning with the Shōwa era (1926-1989), followed by the Heisei era (1989-2019), which is clipped by the Millenium era (2000-2004). The two GODZILLA MINUS films are part of the present Reiwa era which began in 2016. Hollywood’s Monsterverse stands outside of Japanese imperial era categories. Clearly Hollywood views Godzilla as the king. I respect that. But when it comes to Kaiju, I bow to one king – King Ghidorah.

Here's the spoiler. Yamazaki ups the ante by bringing another Kaiju into the story. It’s been teased and leaked, so if you didn’t know, I warned you at the beginning.

King Ghidorah, and that is Ghidorah’s formal full name because he is the one true king, first appeared in the 1964 film GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER. Ghidorah’s name comes from the Japanese pronunciation of ‘hydra’ in Russian, which sounds akin to ‘hidora’. In that first film, it takes the combined efforts of Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra to take down Ghidorah. King Ghidorah is simply that bad ass. With three heads, two wings, two legs, two tails, no arms and wicked gravity lightning breath, King Ghidorah is the most powerful Kaiju of all.

Like Godzilla, King Ghidorah has multiple origin stories, although generally it’s extraterrestrial. In GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH (1991) Ghidorah is born from three silly dragon-like puppets called Dorats. Nonetheless, it’s Ghidorah’s three dragon heads that always attracted me. Originally, those were modelled after the Chinese ‘dragon.’

In GODZILLA MINUS ZERO, King Ghidorah is described as a ‘chimera.’ Chimeras come from Greek mythology, a non-binary fusion of a lion, a goat, and a serpent. The term has come to refer to a hybrid or combination of things. In genetics, chimera refers to tissue that contains at least two different sets of DNA. The Chinese ‘dragon’ is actually a more of chimera than a dragon. It has nine resemblances, each representative of ancient clan mascots. When China was united, the nine provinces each contributed a cultural emblem to a national totem. It’s a bit of a translation error to call it a ‘dragon’ because that evokes giant fire breathing winged dragon-like monsters of western mythology. A Chinese dragon is not that. The Chinese word is Long (龍 or simplified as 龙). Like a chimera, a Long’s head is comprised of several different creatures: antlers of a stag, head of a camel, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow and neck of a snake. That’s very nun-dragon-like.

Another Chinese chimerical beast is a Qilin (麒麟) which has the head of a Long and the body of a horse. Just like how the Long became a dragon, the Qilin is often translated as a unicorn, even though the only parallel is the horse body. With that Long head, a Qilin has two stag antlers instead of one unicorn horn. And just like the mythological Qilin became the Japanese Kirin with minimal evolution (just look at the label of a Kirin beer bottle), the Chinese Long is mostly unaltered when it emigrates to Japan to become the Ryū or Tatsu (龍 or simplified as 竜). In Japanese, the word for dragon is the loanword Doragon.

I have only one bone to pick with Yamazaki’s update of King Ghidorah and that is how he depicted his three heads. They look more like GAME OF THRONES dragon heads than the chimerical head of a Long. I know, I know. That’s so picky. But I retain the right to be uber picky as a card-carrying Kung Fu and Kaiju nerd.

Nevertheless, the version of King Ghidorah in GODZILLA MINUS ZERO is by far the most terrifying incarnation ever. When Godzilla and King Ghidorah clash, it’s gargantuan ultraviolence. It’s what any Kaiju fan wants to see - to feel - because the sound effects are deafening. Just like Yamasaki juxtaposes his drama with the Kaiju fights to increase the impact, the sound drops low for dialog to make contrasting bass booms of battle stand out. And a lot goes boom. Bombastic hardly captures the sonic impact. In advanced screenings, it's so loud that it has been setting off smartwatch noise warnings in the audience. It’s booms that you feel in your marrow.

Ghidorah’s gravity lightning is even more chaotic than ever. And when Godzilla’s bright blue spinal fin erections telegraph him charging up his big bad atomic breath in, get ready for bashment. This kaiju battle reigns supreme. It is the best Kaiju fight to date. As a lifelong fan of King Ghidorah, this new incarnation was totally satisfying. The King is back in all his cataclysmic glory. And Godzilla earns his star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame once more.

And just like G-1, I got misty at the end of GODZILLA MINUS ZERO too. The emotional story hit me like Godzilla stomping on the Ginza district. It’s even more impactful with its antiwar, anti-nuke message.

I hope Takashi Yamazaki continues to make Godzilla movies. His next film breaks with the franchise, a sci-fi mecha film titled GRANDGEAR. But I truly hope he returns to Godzilla because GODZILLA MINUS ZERO leaves the door wide open for a threequel. And I hope he faces Hedorah next. I know any other card-carrying Kung Fu and Kaiju nerds feel me on this one.

Bravo Yamazaki-sama. You are the true king of Kaiju.

The author repping his loyalty to his favorite Kaiju at the GODZILLA MINUS ZERO press screener with a shirt he got at the Godzilla store in Shinjuku, Japan. 

Author:

Gene Ching is the Publisher of KungFuMagazine.com and the author of Shaolin Trips.

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