Yeah, I don’t have anything funny or clever to kick this off with, I just want to talk about the movie about the Big G. So let’s go.
Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “Godzilla Minus One”!
Still reeling from the destruction caused them during World War 2, the people of japan find themselves having to endure another crisis when a giant, nuclear monster called Godzilla rolls in and starts wreaking havoc on the already struggling country. And we see all this from the perspective of Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a young man struggling with PTSD. I found the story here to be absolutely spectacular, a gorgeous and nuanced human drama about trauma and feelings of guilt, about how a man struggles to cope with what’s come before and find some way of making amends. And they weave it together with the big monster stuff marvelously, creating a stunning balance of grounded drama with the kaiju carnage to create one of the most riveting and, to my joyous surprise, emotionally charged narratives I’ve experienced in a while. Had me glued to the screen and even tearing up in parts, it’s stunning.
The characters in this are great, all really interesting and believable, with clear motivations, conflicts, and arcs. Just take our leading man, Koichi, struggling with his past trauma, which is stunningly handled and used to craft one of the best character arcs I’ve seen in a while. And Ryunosuke Kamiki is fantastic in the role. Entire cast is great in general, with Minami Hanabe, Sakura Ando, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, and many more delivering top notch work.
The score for the movie was composed by Naoki Sato, and I think it’s absolutely spectacular. What he’s made here is a dark, eerie, oft brooding soundscape that more often than not seems to aim more for lingering anxiety rather than big, bombastic popcorn music. That’s not to say that he doesn’t go big sometimes, because he does, and when he does it’s fantastic too. But in the middle of the tension and horror is at times also this occasional feeling of hope, like there’s a spark within the people that will live on despite everything that’s happened to them, and I think that’s beautiful. We also get a few moments where tribute is paid to the franchise’s musical past and I think it’s handled incredibly well too. It’s just a stellar score.
“Godzilla Minus One”, based on the classic movie monster, was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who also acted as the film’s VFX supervisor. And my word, the craft behind this film is just stunning to behold. It’s really well shot, the editing is great, and the much talked about special effects are out of this world. Godzilla, in terms of effects at least, has never looked better. The redesign itself is brilliant, but the way he moves and the detailing on his body is flawless, especially when you seem shots where he interacts with the world. He’s been brought to life in a way that I feel like we haven’t seen before. Even the way he’s framed in the movie, it never feels like he’s small in any way, the weight’s right, and they do a good job of showing things to scale.
This movie’s been very well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 98% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 81/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7.9/10. The movie also managed to win 1 Oscar in the category of Best Visual Effects.
I absolutely adored “Godzilla Minus One”. It has a fantastic story, great characters, fantastic performances, fantastic music, and fantastic directing/effects. Time for my final score. *SKREEEONK*. My final score for “Godzilla Minus One” is a 9.9/10. Which means that it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.
My review of “Godzilla Minus One” is now completed.
This one’s special.
TheMarckoguy 