PREMISE
Post-war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.
THE GOOD STUFF
THE HUMAN ELEMENT- It dawns on me that the biggest weakness of all of the Godzilla films done by Legendary Pictures is not necessarily focusing on the human characters too much, but not having interesting human characters to root for. By making Godzilla into a hero you kind of make the film into a technical showcase, a really flashy CGI way to show off various instances of mass destruction on screen while having Godzilla hit the badass scream poses that we’ve become so used to. And hey, that’s fine by me personally. Godzilla as a hero minds his own business until jabronies start to agitate him, and then he starts smacking individuals around. Awesome entertainment.
But when Godzilla is an antagonist, then the human element of the story must be much more engrossing. The stakes have to be raised extraordinarily high for that to take place, and that is exactly what this movie does. The family at the center of the film’s focus, as well as the citizens of Tokyo who have to deal with the Godzilla problem with very little assistance from their government, are all very much worth investing in and rooting for. Ryunosuke Kamiki kills it here, giving the type of leading-man performance that very few people in America can pull off.
THE GODZILLA-NESS- This movie cost 15 million dollars. That needs to be stated and emphasized because of the work that is done in terms of displaying the destruction that an angry D-bag version of Godzilla can cause when he is in full-blown tantrum mode… Is really really impressive. Most of the budget goes to portray Godzilla as more of a horror creature, and a lot of the activities that take place with Godzilla are just him chasing boats in the ocean or toying with his prey in other ways. It sounds simple enough but man, this is as intense as It gets. What helps to magnify this intensity is…
THE SCORE- First of all, the original Godzilla theme is a top-five “s*** just got real” song ever. It appears here remastered but untouched. (Unlike the legendary picture Godzilla movies which really wanted to make their own thing out of this song which is a huge mistake because of how unnecessary it is) All Godzilla movies should be seen on a big screen in my humble opinion, and there really is nothing that you can experience in a loud large projection theater like watching Godzilla destroy things whilst that song is playing.
Aside from that, the score of this film is where it’s most appropriate to start talking about the awards this movie should win for. This is deeply emotional stuff all the way around and perfectly accompanies the depth of the emotions that this film puts you through.
THE BAD STUFF
THE GODZILLA MODEL- The one edge I’ll give to Legendary Pictures when it comes to their Godzilla movies is how Godzilla looks. My theory on why so many people tend to dislike what Godzilla looks like in these newer American films is because of how Godzilla is shot and how poor the lighting tends to be when you’re getting your money shots of Godzilla Godzilla-ing on folks. This may be kind of a hot take but the 2014 aesthetic of Godzilla is the most Superior that’s out there, and this one is kind of subpar in comparison. It’s not bad. Believe me, it’s not exactly the abhorrent-looking 1998 version but not really spectacular either.
THE UGLY STUFF
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This is a movie that gives you everything at once. It’s a wonderful war movie told differently, with wonderful characters, and powerhouse performances, it’s more of an underdog story than previous Godzilla movies have been, and it more than satisfies when it comes to making Godzilla scary and unpredictable.
This is one of the top five movies of the year, one of the better foreign language films I’ve seen in quite some time, one of the most impressive movies I’ve ever seen given the budget, and a movie I definitely will be seeing again before it leaves theaters. This is more than worth your time. Â
GODZILLA MINUS ONE is in theaters now