GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) - Movie Review

Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Starring: Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure
Writer: Takashi Yamazaki
Runtime: 124 min
Rated: Rated PG-13 for creature violence and action
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), 4K Ultra HD, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.

Review:

As a kid I've watched quite a few of the Japanese Godzilla movies, but I never was much of a die-hard fan, so I wasn't that offended when Hollywood started making their own big-budget versions featuring the legendary kaiju. I don't have a problem with Roland Emmerich's schlocky 1998 flick, even though that one is more of a "Jurassic Park" ripoff than a Godzilla movie, quick to cash in on the CGI monster craze sparked by Spielberg's dino franchise. I still love Patrick Tatopoulos' creature design, even though it's a radical departure from the classic look. Then we have the newer Godzilla/Kong movies, which can be undemanding fun, but Warner Bros' insistence of making a Marvelesque Monsterverse is becoming increasingly tiresome.

For those disappointed by Hollywood's handling of this iconic franchise, look no further than Toho Studios' "Godzilla Minus One". The new kaiju movie bears no connection to the 2016 reboot "Shin Godzilla", but is a prequel to the original 1954 film "Godzilla". Set in post-war Japan, the film is heavily focused on the idea of loss as we follow a cast of characters who have already suffered immensely during WWII, and must now face a new devastating threat to their existence. Their crisis becomes a symbol for the post-war situation that Japan founds itself in, the need for people to come together and overcome adversity, while the monster basically embodies the fear and despair that the nation faced at the time.

What immediately jumps at you while watching this movie is how real the charcters feel. It's standard fare when talking about monster movies to point out how cool the creatures look and how awesome the chaos and destruction are, but it's a genre that rarely gives its characters any thought. Well, "Godzilla Minus One" is one of those rare movies where the people are not upstaged by the visual effects, and they are constructed as three-dimensional human beings that we come to care about. I love that writer/director Takashi Yamazaki devotes ample time to their stories and interactions, and I was surprised at how emotionally satisfying this movie is. The cast is universally great, with leads Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe offering a couple of very powerful scenes. The powerhouse score by Naoki Satō also helps increase the film's dramatic potency with epic orchestral swells.

The action and Godzilla's ferocious attacks are spectacular, and the filmmakers really do a great job making the kaiju feel like a terrifying and unstoppable force of nature, not a CGI cartoon. They also avoid overloading the movie with non-stop mayhem and destruction which would have diminished the breathtaking presence of the monster. It's the lesson Steven Spielberg taught us so many years ago with "Jaws". Less is more.

Yamazaki was also a visual effects supervisor on this movie, and it's impressive how good it looks, especially considering it only had a budget of $15 million and a small team of only 35 VFX artists. I can say that "Godzilla Minus One" towers above much more expensive Hollywood movies. The water simulation, Godzilla's highly detailed texturing, the miniatures and breathtaking sense of scale in particular are awe-inspiring. This was the first Godzilla film to be nominated for an Academy Award, and the first Japanese film ever to receive a nomination in the Best Visual Effects category. It went on to win the Oscar, a historical and well deserved achievement. The sound team, however was snubbed, and I feel they deserved more recognition for the movie's intricate and immersive sound design.

"Godzilla Minus One" is a historical landmark in the franchise. It surpassed "Shin Godzilla" as the most successful Japanese Godzilla film, and it arrived just in time to remind audiences what a good creature feature looks, sounds and feels like. It's a movie I can absolutely recommend even to those who are not necessarily Godzilla fans.

SCORE: 9/10