Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla Minus One (Gojira -1.0) (2023)

96% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 85 reviews)

Runtime: 125 minutes

Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki

Starring: Ryunosuke Kamaki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetake Yoshioka

From: Toho

Is this the best Godzilla film ever? There’s always recency bias-not to mention my own biases-but I will explain why my rating is so high. Many of the films in the franchise have been seen by me, and some have put a strong focus on the human characters… to varying success. In this film, they nailed that aspect just about perfectly. I’ll try to be on the vague side as I went into this rather blind (only knowing the setting was right after World War II) and I presumed it would be like the original Gojira in the movie’s themes blatantly based on Japan’s guilt about the war combined with fear of nuclear weapons… which this was.

The focus is only on a few characters; one in particular goes through a LOT—it was an arduous journey for him. Like in Shin Godzilla, a random group of people have to work together to defeat a foe; unlike in Shin, it is not a satire inspired by the Fukushima disaster. Minus One is a far more sober piece that revolves around such themes as survivor’s guilt, fear, and PTSD. It doesn’t mean that Godzilla’s path of destruction is anything less than satisfactory.

In fact, when we do see G appear, it is a terrifying event; the amount of devastation it causes each time is rather cataclysmic. The effects look great for an alleged budget of only 15 million bucks-I’m sure there are many nebulous reasons why movies made in America are so darn expensive and/or CG on its own is so pricey. No matter the reasons, it makes too many of the modern Hollywood movies look bad in comparison… that’s not entirely the fault of those effects houses, but let’s avoid a heated debate over a topic I should learn more about beforehand.

The movie has its share of bleak, depressing moments; Japan after the war was devastated & we see characters who can barely survive as they live in ruins. At the same time, through the whole ordeal I became quite sympathetic to the plight of the main characters and henceforth was delighted when they and others got together (despite various issues they may have had in the past) to try and defeat a seemingly unstoppable enemy against all odds.

Admittedly, there was more than one “hey, wait a minute now” moment. This did not ruin the experience when I was so enveloped in the plot and in a rare moment for the franchise, actually felt rather emotional at times for the leads. It is in fact a Hollywood blockbuster of yore; I phrase it that way as most modern blockbusters are just sterile and cold, if not crap the bed terrible. If you’re a franchise fan, this is a must, especially if you can attend a screening at your local cinema.