Review: GODZILLA Minus One, Annihilates Current Hollywood Movies

As someone who is not a Godzilla fan, it took me by surprise, this movie was actually good. It’s officially my first-time seeing Godzilla on the big screen. 

The story takes place in Japan just after World War II. A kamikaze pilot, Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), is suffering from survivor’s guilt for fleeing from his duty and failing to protect his comrades from their first Godzilla encounter. He is overwhelmed with shame and guilt as he returns home. Until, he encounters a lone woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and an orphaned child. He decides to take responsibility to take care of them. However, Godzilla has made its way to Tokyo, completely destroying everything within his path. Koichi is devastated from the loss of his loved ones and his hometown. He is determined to redeem himself by teaming up with a group of ex-military men to take down Godzilla.     

In Shin Godzilla (2016) they called Godzilla "God Incarnate" and that phrase does live up to its’ title. The new movie made Godzilla very terrifying and I felt the heavy weight of the that terror. Godzilla is immortal, he cannot be killed and he can heal very fast. You see him stampeding through buildings, ripping apart trains and releasing atomic beams which cause even more destruction. He is an unmovable force of natural that cannot be stopped.

Noriko played by Minami Hamabe

This movie is worth seeing it in theaters because it gives you a scale of how big and terrifying Godzilla is, compared to the people on the ground. Seeing the perspective of the people who were trying to hang onto dear life on a train being held by the kaiju, that was intense! It’s actually not bloody or gory, it just relies on the atmosphere, incredible music score, and the buildup of tension which made it so scary. (this movie makes Jurassic Park and Jaws look like child’s play)      

Besides Godzilla doing Godzilla things, it has great character development and an emotional human drama attached to it. In fact, Godzilla does not appear onscreen that often, but when he does, he makes it worth it. However, most of the time, you just see regular Japanese citizens coping with the loss of their loved ones and just trying to survive the aftermath of the atomic bombings + Godzilla. For a moment, I forgot that I was watching a kaiju movie because the characters were so well written. The melodrama reminds me of watching a Japanese TV drama, in a good way. But the cast were really good at portraying the emotional moments that they actually made me cry. The movie made me care about the characters and I wanted them to live. 

Koichi Shikishima played by Ryunosuke Kamiki

I also wanted to point out that Ryunosuke Kamiki was so good in this movie and he is one of my favorite Japanese actors. In the past, I’ve watched him in so many Japanese TV dramas, movies, and he even starred in many animated movies such as Your Name as a voice actor. He is a versatile actor and I expected no less from him because his performance was just phenomenal in the movie. I hope that he gets rewarded for his acting performance.  

Before this movie, I watched Shin Godzilla just to get myself hyped for the new movie. But it’s not necessary to watch any of the older ones to understand the lore. Since Minus One is a standalone movie and it takes place in a different timeline. I liked Minus One better than Shin Godzilla because the latter has a lot of political bureaucracy talk and red tape, it got boring for me. In Minus One, there were no government intervention, just regular people taking responsibility in fighting against Godzilla. So, it was nice change of pace.

Godzilla Minus One is actually doing pretty good in America’s box office. As of writing this post, it’s still holding at third place and it’s beating Disney’s two biggest movies, The Marvels and Wish. That’s saying something. I hope Disney and Hollywood take some notes - Most people are fatigued by bad movies and identity politics. Everybody wants to see an unconventional movie that brings people together, not divide them.

So yes, I would recommend this move to anyone. Minus One is not all doom and gloom, it does a hopeful message in the story. It’s nice to end this year on a good note by watching a satisfying-good movie.