Godzilla Minus One Review: Believe The Hype

Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic

Godzilla is a monster that has rampaged and stomped through movies for nearly 70 years, starting with the original Godzilla in 1954. I am nowhere close to having seen all of the Godzilla movies that have been released, and normally, I would look at anyone saying the most recent iteration of something was the best with great skepticism and chalk it up to recency bias.

Still, in this case, Godzilla Minus One is the best Godzilla movie I have ever seen.

While the Warner Bros Godzilla movies in the past decade have a modern setting, Godzilla Minus One takes place even before the original 1954 film, setting it in a post-war Japan still rebuilding itself and struggling with national identity. The lead character of the film is Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a failed kamikaze pilot who lives with the shame of being unable to carry through on his mission. He also encounters Godzilla on a remote island in the last days of World War II, being one of only two men who survive the attack.

Back in postwar Japan, Shikishima attempts to rebuild his life while harboring deep insecurities, trauma, imposter syndrome, and survivor’s guilt for having made it through the war and surviving the monster that attacked the island he was on. He crosses paths with a woman, Noriko (Minami Hamabe), who found an orphaned, abandoned child, Akiko (Sae Nagatani), and they fall into a domestic partnership of raising the little girl, with him eventually taking on a job as a minesweeper to provide for his unofficial family.

During this time, the traditional story of Godzilla being mutated by atomic testing in the Pacific happens. The monster grows larger than he was when Shikishima first encountered him on the island. Soon, Godzilla is attacking ships and makes landfall to terrorize the citizens of Japan. Without the government's help, a ragtag group of military veterans band together to try and stop Godzilla.

While the Hollywood version of Godzilla has grown the King of the Monsters to an almost absurd size, this Toho Studios version of the monster keeps him at a relatively normal size, still large enough to rampage through a city but not so big as to dwarf his entire surroundings.

This film harkens back to the original 1954 version, and probably a few other previous Godzilla movies, in a few different ways, but perhaps most notably by incorporating the classic original score from the 1954 film. The film also has its own take on the memorable train sequence from the original film.

Godzilla is not fighting other monsters or fighting on behalf of humankind here; he is a threatening monster that needs to be stopped. When Shikishima and his crewmates on the minesweeping boat eventually encounter Godzilla, it is reminiscent of Jaws. The crew's anxiety on the small boat being pursued by the giant monster is palpable. I enjoyed how the film has the people fighting back against Godzilla, attempting to defeat him with science rather than weapons of war.

The destruction that Godzilla unleashes is beautifully and tragically rendered. At one point, he unleashes a heat ray that causes a mushroom cloud that billows over the city, powerful imagery in a film set just after the dropping of the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

What really elevates Godzilla Minus One above so many other Godzilla movies that I have seen is the care and attention paid to the human story being told. Shikishima is a broken man in more ways than one, and much of the film is essentially him searching for redemption for his perceived failure to do his duty in the war.

He has shame constantly piled on him by the other survivor on the island, as well as his neighbor who lost her family in the war and blames him because he didn’t do what he was supposed to do. His nightmares make him question his reality and whether he is actually dying on the island. His belief that he does not deserve to be happy until he has made some atonement keeps him from pursuing an obvious would-be relationship with Noriko.

Godzilla movies are typically focused on destruction and monster mayhem, so I was shocked to find that this movie places a premium value on human life. It is a nice contrast from many previous times when human life was so disposable in these kaiju movies.

At one point, a former military leader requests the men who are volunteering for the mission to defeat Godzilla, saying that they would like to preserve life, compared to their government who, during the war, had just carelessly thrown human lives at the enemy with no consideration of the cost.

I was surprised to find myself so emotionally invested in the film as to be getting choked up at the end of the film. There are a few reveals at the end, and the first of these really resonates and was what had me fighting back tears (Seriously, I did not have crying at a Godzilla movie on my 2023 Movie Bingo card!!! What is that!?!?!?).

The second one, unfortunately, undermines a pretty significant emotional moment earlier in the film but is ultimately forgivable because the film has built up enough goodwill that it can be forgiven for wanting to have its cake and eat it too. Lastly, the film does leave the door open for a potential sequel. Given the quality of this one, I think most people would be on board for that.

Godzilla Minus One is not a movie I had on my radar until I saw very positive buzz online for it in the weeks leading up to its release. The monster effects are top-notch, and the human story has an emotional heft you would not expect from a Godzilla movie.

It’s refreshing to have Godzilla in a movie that is not part of a shared universe. This movie makes me want to check out other Godzilla movies from Toho Studios, particularly Shin Godzilla.

Believe the hype; this is one of the best, if not the best, Godzilla movies you will see.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars