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I didn't expect to fall in love when i watched Godzilla Minus One today but-

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Whew, wow, I was going to dismiss this movie away... until the last few minutes changed my mind. A great example of how an ending makes or breaks a story. Not a Must Watch. But still a watch for the curious.

Godzilla Minus One is a 2023 Japanese epic kaiju film directed, written, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki. Produced by Toho Studios and Robot Communications and distributed by Toho, starring Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando and Kuranosuke Sasaki. 

Films Watched in 2023: 115. ゴジラ-1.0/Godzilla Minus One (2023) - Dir. Takashi Yamazaki

Godzilla Minus One (ゴジラマイナスワン)

Summary: In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Japan has a new threat to deal with - a giant ocean-dwelling monster nicknamed Godzilla.

Two hours of masterful balance of Angry Cancer Lizard action with genuine human characters and drama. Tiny budget well used.

Rating: 4.25/5

Photo credit: Indie Wire

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Godzilla has appeared on the big screen regularly for nearly 70 years. The character has been around long enough for his fans to have grown up and become filmmakers who can actively contribute to the property they fell in love with as youths. That’s a precarious position for your franchise to be in. It means the creators are excited to preserve and add to the existing legacy. It can also derail it. I could easily see someone receiving the reigns to a Godzilla film and saying “Let's have wall-to-wall Godzilla action! Drop everything else and give me monsters, monsters, monsters!” Godzilla Minus One, the 37th film in the franchise, is not merely good, it’s one of the best films to ever feature the character. This movie knows what the audience wants to see and is legitimately interested in the poignant drama at its core.

In 1945, near the end of World War II, kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) flees from duty by feigning engine trouble, then fails to fire when a monster the locals call “Godzilla” emerges from the sea. Nearly everyone on the island is killed during Godzilla's rampage. Returning home, he learns his parents were killed in the bombing of Tokyo. Plagued by this new wave of guilt, he allows Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe), whose parents also died in the bombing, and an orphaned baby, Akiko, into his home. In 1947, a mutated, even more monstrous Godzilla emerges once more from the waters surrounding Japan.

This film will play very differently to Western audiences than it will in Japan. When we meet Kōichi, he’s treated like a coward. In the war, his job was to ensure Japan's victory by fighting to the death. His neighbor blames him for the children she's had to bury - if he had given up his life, Japan might’ve won the war. To us, he seems sensible rather than. That’s even before we see him reading the last letter his parents sent, a letter begging him to stay alive. You think he made the right choice but understand why he has doubts. When he takes Noriko and Akiko into his home, it validates his decision to you, but not to him. It’s heartbreaking seeing him constantly push everyone away and denying himself happiness. He could have a wife, a daughter, a good job in a new world that’s rebuilding but he’s haunted by the trauma of combat. All of this would be more than enough for a whole movie. You want him and Noriko to fall in love, to rebuild Kōichi’s ruined childhood home and raise Akiko together but the weight of what happened during the war means he can’t.

You have all of these emotions to preoccupy you, then Godzilla arrives to raise the stakes to an impossible level. Its presence adds to Kōichi’s guilt because he was there when it first attacked. He “let it get away” and now, Godzilla is back. You worry about his role in the strategy to fight back against the colossal, radioactive dinosaur. The movie introduced him as someone too afraid to give up his life for “the greater good”. Will he heroically sacrifice himself to defeat Godzilla? If he does, it will be a bittersweet victory. It may save millions, but you care so much about him, Noriko and Akiko that it would be the biggest heartbreak of all to see the makeshift family torn apart. His inner turmoil fills you with questions. Is Kōichi choosing to work as a mine sweeper because he’s secretly hoping a workplace accident will kill him? Is it because he sees it as a dangerous job that needs to be done - the least he could do to repay the people he let down? Is he putting himself at risk solely to provide for his family? A combination?

Set in its own continuity, this picture features the most frightening iteration of Godzilla we’ve ever seen. When Kōichi’s boat is in the water and the kaiju’s dorsal fins emerge in the distance, you see the influence Jaws had on writer/director Takashi Yamazaki. When Godzilla sows destruction, it’s awe-inspiring because the special effects are spectacular - supposedly, the film cost less than $15 million, which makes it a stunning technical achievement - and horrifying. Your anxiety grows with each scene because this film is a period piece. Japan is being asked to take down the King of the Monsters when the country was sent back to zero.

Godzilla Minus One contains an engaging human story powerful enough that it could stand on its own. The fact that Godzilla appears as both a metaphor for the protagonist's trauma and as a real, terrifying, physical threat to humanity elevates the picture to be one of the great films of 2023. It looks fantastic, the performances are moving and the writing constantly gives you what we want to see, and what the story needs to succeed. Even for non-Godzilla fans, it’s a great film. (Original Theatrical Japanese version with subtitles, on the big screen, December 6, 2023)

Godzilla Minus One teaser released

Toho have posted an “Anti-Godzilla” teaser trailer for the upcoming Godzilla Minus One film. Taking place in Japan after World War II, the film will also commemorate Godzilla’s 70th anniversary as the symbol of despair is now revived for the Reiwa Era. It stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki. Written, directed,…

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Godzilla Minus One (Gojira Mainasu Wan, ゴジラマイナスワン) - Movie Review

TL;DR – A visual riot and fascinating story that shows that Godzilla still has it after 70 years. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4 out of 5. Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.Disclosure – I paid to see this film. Godzilla Minus One Review – Few icons can last 70 years and still feel fresh and engaging, but Godzilla is very much the exception. There is something so iconic that even a single…

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Godzilla Minus One (2023) - REVIEW

SYNOPSIS

Kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima returns home to a Japan that has been left devastated by the Second World War. With his family killed in the bombings and wrecked with survivor's guilt, Shikishima takes in displaced Noriko Ōishi and orphaned baby Akiko as they try to rebuild their lives in the ruins of Tokyo. But soon their world faces destruction once again by the arrival of Godzilla.

If there ever was a film that could teach Hollywood a lesson in how to execute large scale spectacle while telling a compelling and emotionally involving story, then it's Godzilla Minus One. In one of the most unexpected cinematic experiences I've had this year, I was genuinely shocked to find myself absorbed in the characters and story even during the longer sections when Godzilla wasn't on screen. The film doesn't of course lack spectacle but director Takashi Yamazaki finds a perfect balance between set pieces and humanity that makes this one of the most satisfying and best films of 2023.

The film wouldn't work for me if the central performance of Ryunosuke Kamiki didn't deliver but Kōichi Shikishima is an instantly compelling and sympathetic lead as a kamikaze pilot whose fear of completing his mission plus a brutal early attack by Godzilla, leaves him with intense survivor's guilt. Even when the films tone becomes more lighter and even funny with the arrival of the post-war minesweeper crew (Yuki Yamada, Hidetaka Yoshioka and Kuranosuke Sasaki), you can see that guilt on Kamiki's face which acts as a barrier to him moving on and starting a new, fulfilling life with Minami Hamabe's Noriko and Akiko. The 1940's post war period is exceptionally realized and their survival in the ruins of Tokyo is a fascinating and absorbing drama in itself before you even factor in Godzilla.

The large scale destruction doesn't disappoint and would fit perfectly alongside the big budget offerings that Hollywood has given us over the years. A particular highlight is a chase sequences that feels familiar to Steven Spielberg's Jaws and had me on the edge of my seat. The biggest factor that makes this film so compelling is the way Yamazaki balances the film between the human parts of the story and the monster movie its trying to be and for me this is the films biggest success. Thanks to the time spent with all the main and side characters, the set pieces feel like they have consequence as you care what happens to them. The attack on Tokyo is particularly stunning with Godzilla's 'heat ray' looking very reminiscent of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which thematically played a huge part in the creation of the original Godzilla movie. Thematically this deals with similar themes of life and death and has a refreshingly positive approach to its message which is backed up by an ending that feels very well earned.

VERDICT

Godzilla Minus One is exceptionally well balanced and tells a compelling human story alongside large scale destruction and action set pieces. The drama, spectacle, shocks and a few pleasant surprises make this one of the years most satisfying experiences.

5/5

Time 18-Dec-2023 14:30 Day Monday Where Cineworld - Rushden Lakes Screen 12 Seat J9 Price £4.85

Godzilla Minus One (2023) Review

Post World War II, Japan is at a truly low point and it’s about to get worse when a new crisis emerges in a form of a giant monster but will anyone actually believe it? Named Godzilla. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ *Original title: Gojira -1.0* Continue reading Untitled

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