Godzilla Minus One: Film Review
You would think that the 37th film in any franchise would be a dud, yet, somehow, Godzilla Minus One rips up the rulebook and proves that is not always the case.
The movie, written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, is set in Japan as the people try to rebuild after the Second World War in 1945. Destruction comes knocking again – this time in the form of a giant prehistoric monster nicknamed Godzilla. The story focuses on former kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who teams up with Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), Shiro Mizushima (Yuki Yamada) and Sosaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki) to save the Japanese people from Godzilla.
Godzilla Minus One is such an enjoyable monster movie. The scenes where Godzilla attacks are awesome. After 37 movies (both Japanese and Hollywood), you would assume that we have already seen everything Godzilla can do and every way he can destroy something. But that doesn’t really matter here. The action scenes are executed so well, with flawless digital effects, that you are entertained regardless of whether it’s original or not. Hearing the classic Godzilla theme play during some of those scenes made them feel even cooler.
Monster movies don’t usually care too much about the human characters whereas Godzilla Minus One does. It grounds the sci-fi story with a human tale about PTSD, regret and redemption. Koichi is our main protagonist and we follow his attempts to rebuild his life after the war with his partner Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and their adopted daughter Akiko. He also becomes close friends with the three men after being assigned a job detonating sea mines around Tokyo and they later join the effort to defeat Godzilla.
I must admit that you could see inspiration from Hollywood movies in some of the sections – for example, the first encounter with Godzilla on Odo Island feels very similar to Jurassic Park, and the mid-section where the four men face off with Godzilla in a boat reminded me of Jaws a lot. However, they are both excellent movies and those scenes are done well so you can’t complain too much.
My biggest issue was the acting and writing. The dialogue was not the strongest and the acting was pretty poor at times, particularly when the scene called for emotion. Kamiki formed a believable bond with Hamabe but I was not convinced by his tears. The story becomes a bit corny and overly sentimental towards the end. My favourite was Yoshioka as the endearing Doc Noda, the brains behind the operation.
Godzilla Minus One features amazing creature design, incredible scenes of destruction and astounding special effects. This is one Godzilla movie you don’t want to miss.
In cinemas from Friday 15th December