Godzilla Minus One

A child can often be fickle when it comes to their entertainment tastes, moving from movie to music to video game in merely a few days, always looking for something that will capture their imaginations and show them something they didn’t know existed. But when they find that one film, nothing is more captivating to them. It’s all they want to watch, all they want to talk about, all they want to buy toys of, and most notably, all they want to annoy their parents with. 

For me, that was Godzilla. From the ages of 5 to 8, if I wasn’t at school, you would very likely find me parked in front of the TV, watching the world’s most famous kaiju battle against other monsters in all their rubber-suited glory with no regard for the destruction they were causing around them. Every time he would roar and let loose a blast of his blue fire breath, it was like Christmas for a young Godzilla fan. The cheesy dialogue. The iconic music. The characters who were just there to serve as plot devices to get the monsters together. It was all part of a miraculously engrossing package that made up almost every single one of the twenty-eight Godzilla films I spent much of my formative years watching. 

But then I grew up. I became interested in other things. My film tastes evolved and I didn’t think about Godzilla very much for about 15 years. I would occasionally stumble across the occasional YouTube video (likely while procrastinating over some homework assignment) reminding me of the monster films I used to love, reminiscing for around five minutes before moving on to something else. But besides that, I can’t say my life was one that was much impacted by the big lizard anymore… until a few weeks ago. I began to hear rumblings that “this new Godzilla film is good, like REALLY good”. It caught my interest and I figured I might go see it if it came to my favorite theater, but it wasn’t going to be a top priority. There were just too many exciting films this year! So it was merely luck of the draw that I had nothing planned the night my dad asked me if I wanted to go see it with him. But boy, am I glad I did….

As I sat in that theater seat, I was a kid again. The outside world, any concerns or responsibilities, they didn’t matter anymore once I witnessed a big monster lay waste to anything and anyone in his path or as I heard that iconic Godzilla theme start playing again. All of a sudden, memories of watching all the old movies with my parents while I played with my Godzilla action figures. It was a euphoria I haven’t felt many times in the cinema, and I’m sure any longtime Godzilla fan will know exactly what I mean.

But enough about my life. I’m sure you’re wondering about the actual film. Is it more than just shameless nostalgia bait? Fuck yeah it is. My jaw dropped several times from the sheer spectacle I was looking at. The cinematic experience of Godzilla Minus One is still tangible for me, from the way the sound shook the theater to the effects and design of Godzilla looking better than they ever have. The rubber suit days are completely in the past, ladies and gentlemen. This is full blown blockbuster filmmaking at its absolute peak. I have to give so much credit to the director, Takashi Yamazaki, and his team for what they accomplished here. It is genuinely breathtaking. You have sequences that feel like Jaws, and it is just as incredible as it sounds. I would go so far as to say that second to Avatar, I cannot remember the last film I saw in theaters that was this technically astonishing. 

However, as we have learned far too many times in the past few years, effects mean very little without a compelling story and characters behind them. So how are those elements here? Like practically everything else in this film, surprisingly wonderful! While cheesy acting and eye-rolling plots are hallmarks of Godzilla films, that is not at all the case here. Our lead actor Ryunosuke Kamiki plays a WWII kamikaze pilot struck with PTSD and survivor’s guilt after the war and the loss of his loved ones in the bombing of Tokyo. He conveys these emotions in a truly affecting fashion and I found no false notes in his performance. But to tell you the truth, the entire ensemble impressed me here. The characters had more chemistry with each other than in any Godzilla film I can remember, and I felt both their hopelessness as the big monster attacked and their determination to band together and stop his rampage strongly. I even shed a manly tear (or three) several times during the film, and that is not something I expected at all from a mere “Godzilla flick”.

Godzilla Minus One may not be the best film I have seen this year…. but boy is it pretty damn close. It sounds so cliché to say this, but it provided me with an excitement that reminded me why movies matter and why we should get so excited for them. It’s not just rehashing old IP. It is reviving it with a vigor the franchise hasn’t felt in decades, maybe ever. It is proof we can still make IP films that are special, ones that aren’t factory boilerplate slop. I urge you to go see this movie whether you are a Godzilla fan or have never heard that name before in your life (though I will question how on earth that happened). Do not be dissuaded by the subtitles or by blockbuster exhaustion. You would be denying yourself the chance to see one of the best films of the year on the big screen, a film that is truly enhanced by the theater experience. Why would you ever want to do that?

9.5/10