Arguably the best Godzilla film ever
Summary
I’m sure plenty will argue but I don’t really care. Godzilla Minus One has plenty of destruction scenes but this very much is a human story with characters to actually care about and Godzilla himself has never been more terrifying. If you get the chance, see this in IMAX and thank me later.
Plot: Japan is already devastated by the war when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster.
Review: It’s a great time to be a Godzilla fan right now as we have Monarch: Legacy of Monsters on TV, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire coming out in a few months and now we have Godzilla Minus One.
I’m a little late to the party with this review as my schedule has been hectic lately but I finally got to see Godzilla Minus One in IMAX tonight; everyone has been raving about the film so my expectations were high and this surpassed them all. It might arguably be one of the greatest Godzilla movies of all time; I really do enjoy the American Monsterverse but seeing an actual Toho Godzilla film in IMAX is something special.
Godzilla Minus One is set shortly after World War 2 and Japan is still recovering from the air raids; the country is decimated and just as they start to rebuild a monster known as Godzilla appears and starts to wreck havoc upon the people of Japan.
This is Godzilla at his scariest; at no point are we cheering him on like we usually do as there is nothing to like about him this time around. His whole face and body is jagged and fierce looking making this iteration the nastiest to date.
Normally with many of the Godzilla films the human element is the least interesting aspect as we’re usually just waiting to see the big guy destroying cities or fighting other monsters but here we arguably have the best human characters of any Godzilla movie. I love that our protagonist Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a coward afraid of doing his duty as a kamikaze pilot and he actually goes through character development giving us the most human and emotional Godzilla film ever. After a barnstorming intro the pacing slows a little to let the plot and characters breathe but it is never boring as we become so invested in our leads that we want them to succeed at destroying this new threat.
Godzilla actually looks like a real creature in this movie with nearly faultless visual effects and I think this is my favourite look for him; fear not, action fans as despite having actual plot and characters there is still plenty of smashy smashy but as impressive as it all looked as I said I wasn’t cheering Godzilla on. There are some incredible set-pieces especially when he uses his atomic breath giving some amazing and memorable sequences.
Hearing the iconic Godzilla theme tune in IMAX was a dream come true and it’s never sounded better.
Overall, Godzilla Minus One is maybe my favourite movie of this year and one of the all-time great Godzilla films. Godzilla x Kong will have to go some to top this but I’ll enjoy it anyway as I just adore these movies.
