Review: ‘Godzilla Minus One’: An emotional period piece with a terrifying monster
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You know who Godzilla is by now. The big guy will be turning 70 years old in just a few months, which means he has been a pop culture icon for a lifetime.
"Godzilla Minus One" is the 33rd Godzilla movie produced by Japanese company Toho Studios, and the 37th Godzilla movie when we count the American-made films. You would think that this cash cow has been milked dry by now. However, I am here to tell you that "Godzilla Minus One" is special.
First and foremost, "Godzilla Minus One" is a character-driven period piece, which is a first for the franchise. The film opens during the final days of World War II, when kamikaze pilot Koichi decides against sacrificing himself for his country, and lands his plane on Odo Island feigning engine failure. The mechanics at the military base find nothing wrong with the plane and question Koichi.
Later that night, Godzilla appears in a smaller, more dinosaur-like form, killing everyone on the base except Koichi and a mechanic named Tachibana.
Koichi returns to Tokyo which has been absolutely devastated by fire bombing, only to find that his family has been lost to the air strike. A neighboring woman recognizes Koichi, telling him that cowards like him are the reason Japan has lost the war. Koichi also encounters a young woman named Noriko, who is caring for an orphaned infant. With nowhere else to go, Noriko and the child stay with Koichi in his war-torn shack. The three strangers form a heart-warming family, born of dire circumstances, and build new life together in post-war Japan.
"Godzilla Minus One" is a masterpiece that makes us care for these characters deeply. They warm our hearts and we want them to survive. When this movie has worked its magic, you will forget that Godzilla is even in the film. The human story is so engrossing, that by the time Godzilla shows up again we immediately recognize him as a threat. For the very first time since the original Godzilla film (1954), we root against Godzilla. Each scene that includes Godzilla is genuinely terrifying. The destruction he causes is truly devastating. The people of Japan have just survived a war, and are now confronted by a new crisis. You feel the complete helplessness of these people. You feel their exhaustion and sorrow.
This is the scariest that Godzilla has ever been. During the mid-point of the film, Godzilla makes landfall in Ginza, a district of Tokyo. This is when you will get the classic destruction scenes you are used to in a Godzilla film. However, things are different here. When you see Godzilla crushing people underneath his feet, you don't feel excitement, you feel anguish. When buildings crumble, you hope that no one inside was harmed. Godzilla's atomic breath is also the most destructive it has ever been. Japan's military tries to strike back with whatever weapons they have left, but it is laughably futile. Godzilla destroys the entire line of defense with a single beam, causing a mushroom cloud, leaving miles of destruction and black rain.
Despite these moments of terror, "Godzilla Minus One" is a delightfully hopeful film. These characters have seen the horrors of war, and are driven to persevere. Their government once treated them as disposable, and now the remaining citizens are determined to snuff out the monstrous threat.
"Godzilla Minus One" adds a more personal dimension, allowing audiences to experience Koichi's trauma and survivorship guilt. It makes the final confrontation with Godzilla so bittersweet. I have not felt this much tension during a movie's climax in years. The armrest at the theater probably still has my claw marks on it.
"Godzilla Minus One" is not the Godzilla you are used to. If you were expecting this film to feel similar to "Godzilla vs Kong," you will be pleasantly surprised.
At the time I am writing this review, this film has a 98% critic approval on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 98% audience approval. This makes "Godzilla Minus One" the most well-received Godzilla movie in history. More importantly, this is one of the highest rated films of the entire year, even above the likes of Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" or Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer."
I saw "Godzilla Minus One" with my wife, and we were both blown away. We cried multiple times and we're still talking about it days later. I feel completely comfortable saying that "Godzilla Minus One" is an instant classic. If you can stomach watching a film with subtitles, you will be doing yourself a favor by seeing this in theaters now.
"Godzilla Minus One" has a limited run in the United States, so run, don't walk, to the nearest theater.
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Jordan McCloskey is Advertising Manager of The Express.