THE SUNDAY MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Godzilla Minus One'

'Godzilla Minus One' (2023)

When I finally watched “Shin Godzilla” from 2016, I have to say that I was pretty disappointed in Toho’s film, especially since it had been over a decade since they had released their own Godzilla movie. I was disappointed due to dodgy visual effects, a weirdly evolving Godzilla whose earlier forms turned me off almost right away, and for having a bunch of characters that I really didn’t care about.

Now, Takashi Yamazaki has written and directed a film that makes up for all of that film’s shortcomings with the 33rd Toho produced Godzilla movie entitled “Godzilla Minus One”.

The new movie is set in post-war Japan and they are still reeling economically, physically, and psychologically from the war. The movie primarily follows Ryunosuke Kamiki as Kōici Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot that abandoned his mission during the last days of the war. At a small airfield, he and a group of engineers have a run-in with Godzilla but Shikishima is too scared to do anything. Most of the engineers are killed and this leads to even greater shame for Shikishima who had already abandoned his mission.

When he returns home to Tokyo, Shikishima finds that his family has been killed by the Tokyo bombings. As he and others try to rebuild, a woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe) shows up with a baby Akiko and soon they become an adopted family. The only problem is that Shikishima has trouble getting too close to either Noriko or Akiko due to his extreme survivor’s guilt and shame from the war.

Godzilla is back in full force in 'Godzilla Minus One'!

Soon enough, though, Godzilla returns after nuclear testing awakens him and gives him even more strength and power. Godzilla has marked Tokyo as his territory and now it is up to Shikishima and others to try and stop this powerful beast once and for all. Part of that team is Shikishima’s minesweeping crew which includes Dr. Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), Captain Yōji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), and the young trainee Shirō Mizushima (Yuki Yamada).

The reason that I want to mention all of these characters was that I was surprised by how much I truly cared for these people. They were not just fodder for Godzilla or thinly developed. Let’s just face the facts and acknowledge that in most of these films, the human characters are secondary to the monsters. That’s especially true of the MonsterVerse films from Legendary Pictures here in America even though I like those movies as well.

In between all the action, we find ourselves caring for Shikishima and his struggling with PTSD and we end up loving the crew of the minesweeping boat that Shikishima eventually joins. Back on the homefront, we also care for the story of his unintended family that not only includes Noriko and Akiko but also their neighbor Sumiko Ōta (Sakura Ando), all of whom try to get Shikishima to see that he does not have to feel guilty for surviving a terrible war that has affected all of them deeply for different reasons.

Ryunosuke Kamiki stars as the emotionally scarred Shikishima in 'Godzilla Minus One'!

Of course, you come to a Godzilla movie to see the big boy in action. Keep one thing in mind, though, this is not the loveable antihero that pops up in some of the other films. This movie takes its cues from the original “Godzilla” in 1954 and this Godzilla is a lethal and devastating force of nature that you don’t want to be around and he can be genuinely scary as well.

The visual effects from writer and director Yamazaki are top-notch and I found myself watching the movie while being astounded by the fact that this movie only cost $15 million to make. Take note, Hollywood, you don’t have to spend $300 million a pop to make a movie look this good! When Godzilla attacks, you feel the weight of the creature and the devastation that he leaves in his wake and this movie shows a huge leap forward with special-effects in Japan.

The effects are, of course, enhanced by the incredibly human story that is told, but there is also something else that brings this movie home. Naoki Satō is the film’s composer and he has created a truly haunting score for the movie that just helps enhance the action and the emotional depth contained within the movie. In fact, I’m sitting here listening to the score while I’m writing this review and I’m almost tearing up just listening to it.

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that the new Toho Godzilla movie would be one of the best films of the year, I might not have believed you. I probably would have thought that the movie would be good, but this is more than good. This is one of the best Godzilla films ever made!

So, here I am telling you one undeniable fact: “Godzilla Minus One” is one of the best films of 2023!

Toho's latest Godzilla film is one of their best and one of the best films of the year!