Blair Loveday
Godzilla has had a long and fascinating history.
But of course I live in the west where my first experience was the Mathew Broderick version. Well to my childhood brain, that movie ruled. Much later we got some fantastic Godzilla movies, but I kept hearing about the Japanese ones being superior.
Well it was time to finally check one out!
Godzilla Minus One takes us to Japan at the end of World War II.
Shikishima is a kamikaze pilot who chickened out and lands on a little island. He says he couldn’t due to an equipment malfunction, but the military on the island seems to find no fault with the plane. That night they hear suspicious sounds, and are attacked by a pretty damn big monster. Here we are introduced to a much smaller, but still massive and agile, Godzilla. He stomps around killing almost everyone.
Our man Shikishima has the chance to shoot Godzilla with the guns in his plane, but chickens out again. He returns home to find his family embarrassed by a living kamikaze pilot. He goes through a fun journey where he winds up essentially adopting a young girl who has lost her family. Alongside all of this is the threat that is Godzilla.
The issue is, every time he is attacked, he heals stronger. Soon this fast agile monster is turned into the much bigger, much more powerful Godzilla. He absolutely decimates a city before returning to the water, where the humans hatch a plan and take the fight to him.
The biggest issue the movie has, is the period between first and second encounter with Godzilla we have a really long period of human storylines. It’s the same issue the newer western Godzilla movies had, the difference being this one is actually better and doesn’t drag as long, but still a little longer than I would have liked.
The biggest strength the movie has is, well, everything else. Godzilla looks amazing, and getting to see him in different stages is really fun. The human’s story and redemption arc that is a little predictable, is still excellent. There are genuinely tense moments, and some really solid acting, that makes this silly fun kaiju action flick not just fun, but engaging. And the action and fight sequences are absolutely top notch! This alone makes it well worth watching on 4K to really enjoy the exceptional CGI and action in the best possible ways.
If you want to start checking out some Japanese Godzilla films, then 2023’s Godzilla Minus One is a damn fine place to start. It acts as a reboot in the best possible ways, and is just everything I want in a Godzilla movie.
