I've never been a massive Godzilla fan. I love the idea of it - Japan's representation of the horror of nuclear warfare, an iconic creature design and also, you know, it's a big fucking monster wreaking havoc on the world, what's not to love... I even enjoyed, and still defend, Gareth Edward's 2014 reboot which captured the scale of the kaiju unlike any other movie. But, other than that, I haven't ever delved into the classic movies from the '50s onwards or felt all that passionate about the newer Hollywood efforts. Godzilla: Minus One - which is the latest Japanese made movie in the franchise - may have changed that. Because it is awesome.
Set in post-WW2 Japan, the movie is inherently a war drama, and a compelling one at that. Much of the movie centers around the traumatised survivors of the war, who have found a family with one another. In fact, it's not too dissimilar from the empathetic family dramas of Hirokazu Kore'eda (think 2018's Shoplifters), complete with an absolutely adorable young child. The comparison between their struggle to move on from the violence and grief of the conflict is reflected in their battle against a primal, dinosaur-like creature that leaves devastation in its wake.
The other part of this movie is - essentially - Jaws. A fantastic monster hunt adventure that balances its human elements alongside its tense action. The biggest complaint levied against the recent Hollywood Godzilla movies is their lack of compelling human protagonists. That's absolutely not the case here. Every character is easy to root for, including supporting performers with limited screen time.
The first two-thirds of the film features compelling drama and epic scenes of destruction and violence, but it's really the story's thrilling climax that blew me away and genuinely made me care about whether the main group of survivors lived or died. Between this film and 2022's Nope and Top Gun: Maverick, it's so amazing to see the return of exhilarating final battles in action movies. And Godzilla: Minus One's climactic sequence is incredible in every way possible - not only is the action itself fantastic (the classic music cue!! The aerial battle!! Genuine thrill and tension!! Godzilla atomic breath!! A last-ditch plan!!), but it centers around characters you care about working together, persevering in the face of impossible odds. The visual effects are also extraordinary for a movie that supposedly only had a budget of $15 million dollars (for comparison, 2014's Godzilla cost more than ten times that at $160 million), pairing with the sound design, score, performances and production design to give the effect of a much more expensive movie than this is.
Sure, there's a bit of melodrama here and there, and a few of the character beats are a tad repetitive, but in a modern cinematic age of quips, cameos and self-seriousness, I'll take stirring melodrama anyday. Overall, Godzilla: Minus One is a blast- a relatively straightforward central concept executed to absolute brilliance with a focus on characters we care about.
I'm working on my end of the year favourites list and Godzilla: Minus One has shot straight up to the top half, I loved it. I can't wait to rewatch it.
I do not own any of the images in this post.