Godzilla Minus One has finally been released in the UK, and three weeks ago when tickets became available for my local Vue cinema, you know I booked mine immediately. To say I've been excited about this film is putting it lightly; I haven't been this excited for a film since 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters and as I said in my What is Godzilla series, this is the first time I'll be watching a Japanese Godzilla film in a cinema. Except on its opening night, things got even better as the screening was packed, and two hours later when the credits were rolling, all everyone was talking about was how good it was; one woman in my row said "that was ace." Now, maybe they were all Godzilla freaks like me, no doubt some of them were, but it's one thing to see the internet going wild for a film, it's another thing entirely to actually see and hear it on the ground, and for a Japanese Godzilla film to get that kind of reaction, if nothing else, is a vindication of my obsession with this franchise. The short of it is that Godzilla Minus One is unbelievably good, unironically one of the best films I've seen in years, and you should believe the hype, because this is not your dad's Godzilla movie, this is a beast all its own. 
Godzilla Minus One wastes no time getting its story going. In the final days of the War, we meet Koichi, a Kamikaze pilot who lands on Odo Island and claims he's having mechanical problems with his plane, then the base comes under attack from a massive reptilian creature that one of the soldiers identifies as Godzilla, Koichi is given an opportunity to kill the creature but freezes, allowing it to continue its rampage and kill a lot of people. This happens in the first five minutes of the film, giving us a glimpse of the carnage and the suffering to come. Right from the start, Godzilla Minus One is a strange Godzilla film, whereas other Godzilla films tell grand stories with ensemble casts, Minus One is the exact opposite; it is an intensely personal film that focuses entirely on Koichi and his family. The film really takes its time to establish its characters and conflict, but while other Godzilla films use this time to pad themselves out and provide some complimentary human action, in Minus One, the human action is the point, and Godzilla is very much in the back seat. In other Godzilla films, that would be a massive problem, but Minus One's human action is its greatest strength, even the Monsterverse, for as much as I love it, and for as much as it tries, is totally eclipsed by the storytelling and character drama on display in Minus One. 
There isn't a single character in this film I don't remember, there isn't a single one I don't love either, and the relationships these characters have with each other are so well realised and so well presented that when Godzilla reappears in the story, you're not rooting for him, you're rooting for them. Koichi joins an eccentric crew of Minesweepers, and while Captain, Doc and the Kid as they're nicknamed, provide the film with moments of levity, they accompany Koichi through every step of his journey and when shit hits the fan, far from getting lost in the shuffle, it's them, with Koichi, leading the charge. While Koichi's neighbour starts out antagonistic towards him, she too is brought into this strange family; helping him and Noriko take care of the baby. Even a character like Tachibana, who also survives the Odo Island attack, is not wasted or left behind, not only playing his part in the film's climax, but being a vital step on Koichi's redemption ark. But where this film goes it's absolute hardest is with its central trio, Koichi, Noriko and Akiko, the baby. At its heart, Godzilla Minus One is a film about trauma; about a broken man finding forgiveness and redemption. Koichi is a coward who is now suffering with survivor's guilt and struggling with constant nightmares. 
At several points in the film, he begins to break; wondering if he ever deserved to live or even made it off Odo Island alive and isn't simply trapped in a nightmare created by the men who died because of his cowardice. In these moments, it's Noriko who pulls Koichi back from the darkness. And despite being a Godzilla film, the scenes that stuck with me the most are these ones, as Koichi crumbles into despair and Noriko tries to comfort him. Contrast that with all the adorable moments they have together, like when Noriko tells Koichi that he'll never find a wife with her around, or when Koichi's co-workers are completely perplexed upon learning that the pair aren't married. Their relationship is the sweetest part of this film by far and there were several moments with these two where I teared up. Then there's Akiko; in the original Godzilla, there is a scene that makes me cry every time, in Minus One, Akiko has a very similar scene that brought me very close to crying, and I have no shame admitting that because Jesus Christ, this film is rough at times. But it's Koichi's journey that makes this film what it is, his ark is a thing of beauty, going from a coward cursed with the shame and guilt of surviving the war, to a desperately determined man who will stop at nothing to redeem himself and protect the people he loves. His past as a Kamikaze that deserted his duty hangs over him for the entire film and comes full circle in the film's finale.
Godzilla Minus One is very much a film about the value of life; not just of Koichi's life, but of life itself, or as one of Koichi's friends puts it, it's not about fighting to the death, but about fighting for the future, fighting for Akiko and Noriko, and yes, there are many moments in this film that are designed to pull on the heart strings, and if I were a cynical bastard, I'd call it manipulative. But Minus One made me forget that I was a cynical bastard for two hours, I was completely along for the ride with this film and it hit me in the feels more times than I can count. This is not what I was expecting from Godzilla Minus One at all. Being set in 1947, I was expecting the film to deal with the Politics of post-war Japan, I was even a bit worried that the film would be anti-American. But Godzilla Minus One has none of that. Sure, there is an aspect of Japan getting back on its feet and making up for the shame and trauma of the war, but it's presented entirely through the people, through Koichi and his friends. Far from a country looking to restore its past glory, this is a story of broken people learning to let go of the past and find peace with their trauma, it's a complete rejection of the fatalism of the Imperial Japanese, and proudly embraces classic values of friendship, bravery and fighting for who you love. For all the death and loss and pain there is in Minus One, and there is a lot, it's a shockingly uplifting and optimistic film where even in the deepest, blackest pit of despair, its characters continue to survive and search for the light.
In the end it's not the Government or Military that saves the day, but people, the men of Japan who have come home from a terrible war and finally have a chance to make a difference, not for the honour and glory of their Nation, but for love and a need to protect the future, which is a hell of a lot more potent and universal a message than Government Bureaucracy bad. Along with the period politics, another thing I was surprised by the absence of was the fear of fallout and radiation. Whereas the fallout left behind from Godzilla's rampage was as radioactive as it was personal in the first film, here it is entirely personal, with the aspect of Godzilla contaminating Tokyo only being briefly mentioned, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are never mentioned either. But Godzilla Minus One doesn't need any of that, which is the really surprising part. Godzilla Minus One doesn't need to provide commentary on the politics of the period, or reflect the fears and anxieties of the period, instead, it uses its setting as a springboard to tell an intensely personal story that, in a Godzilla first, fires on all cylinders from beginning to end. After watching Shin Godzilla, my appreciation for writer and director Hideaki Anno did not change, but with Minus One, I am in awe at what writer and director Takashi Yamazaki has achieved here, Godzilla Minus One genuinely is that good. 
We've made it this far without actually talking about Godzilla, which is a bit strange in a Godzilla review. But perhaps for the first time in the series' history, Godzilla is not the star of the show. That isn't to say that Godzilla doesn't deliver however, and oh boy does he deliver. As is typical for the series, Godzilla has limited screen-time; showing up for the big set-piece moments in between the human stuff, and in typical fashion, when Godzilla shows up for said moments, it is epic and glorious, but Minus One twists the King of the Monsters in a way that very few Godzilla films have. Godzilla is the villain of the film, and not only that, but Minus One's depiction of him might be the most evil depiction in the series, maybe even worse than GMK, where he was literally death incarnate. Very rarely in a Godzilla film is the human cost in such sharp focus, and even more rarely do we see Godzilla causing destruction intentionally, yet in Minus One, he's ripping buildings apart, he's throwing and kicking public transport around, and he's stomping down the street and crushing dozens of people with each step, he's mean, he's angry, and he's terrifying. I've felt many things about Godzilla as a character in my life; awe, fear, excitement, pity, admiration, but I can't say I've ever hated him in a film, as in hated the monster himself rather than just the film he's in, but in Minus One, Godzilla does something that makes me hate him, and from that point in the film, and for the first time in the series, I wanted Godzilla to die, I wanted nothing more than to see Koichi and his friends put that mutant fucker in the ground. 
To have a Godzilla film hook me so completely with its human drama that I come to hate Godzilla as much as they do is completely new to me, and has completely changed the way I look at the Monsterverse, which I've always insisted get too much flak for their storytelling. Minus One humiliates the Monsterverse in the storytelling department, but then again, it humiliates everything in the storytelling department. In all sincerity, I feel that Godzilla Minus One raises the bar for the kaiju genre in a way that no films I've seen have since the Heisei Gamera Trilogy in the 1990's, again, it's genuinely that good. And like all the best interpretations of Godzilla, Minus One's monster is more than just a big lizard, his existence and actions are symbolic of something larger and uglier than himself, but in keeping with Minus One's style, it gets personal. Godzilla is a representation of PTSD in Minus One; not just a literal monster from Koichi's past, come to ruin his life again, but a figurative monster, a manifestation of his trauma, and a chance for Koichi to right the wrongs of his past and avenge those he feels responsible for the deaths of. Koichi's redemption ark is directly tied with Godzilla's fate, as killing Godzilla is how Koichi will finally be able to forgive himself, and seeing the transition Koichi has from nervous wreck at the start to cool, driven and determined at the end is incredibly poignant and empowering, it rocks.
All that being said, I'd be dishonest if I said I had no issues at all with the film, though those issues are incredibly minor, nit-picks really. For starters, the film's effects; the film was made on a very small budget compared to Western films of a similar scope and scale, less than fifteen million dollars. Like Shin Godzilla before it, Minus One's Godzilla is also made completely with CGI, and while the film looks far, far more expensive than it is, there are times where you can see the corners that had to be cut to pull it off. That being said, fifteen million dollars is less than the cost of a single episode of a Disney Plus series; for the amount of money Marvel put into the Marvels, you could make a dozen Godzilla Minus Ones, which should put into perspective not just the devilish efficiency of Minus One, but the downright criminal inefficiency of Hollywood. But the quality of the effects is only a problem if the film fails in its characters and storytelling, and to have eight out of ten in effects really doesn't matter when in other areas, the film is a solid ten. And while Shin Godzilla reused music from previous Godzilla films for much of its soundtrack, Minus One's soundtrack is almost completely new, and it slaps. But when the Akira Ifukube music kicks in during the film's set-piece moments, it hits that much harder thanks to the god tier level of the film's sound design. 
The film uses music from the original Godzilla, King Kong vs Godzilla and Mothra vs Godzilla, all originally composed by Akira Ifukube, in addition to new music composed by Naoki Sato, and for as much as I love Alexandre Desplat and Bear McCreary's scores for Godzilla and King of the Monsters, respectively, Sato's score, like Yamazaki's writing puts them to shame. And as a testament to both of those things, near the end of the film, there is a moment where the film goes completely silent for a full twenty seconds, and in all four of the screenings I attended, two of which being packed, you could hear a pin drop. I haven't heard silence like it in such a crowded cinema since Thanos snapped away half the universe, which shows the kind of effect the film was having on the crowd, they were all just as invested as me. I'm supposed to be talking about negatives but even then, there's something good in there to talk about. Another niggle I have with the film is it's pacing in the second half. The film's got a lightning pace for the first half, but once Godzilla comes to Tokyo and does his thing, the film slows down a lot as the characters put together their plan to kill him. But again, the film's characters carry you through, until we finally reach the finale which, even with the Monsterverse in mind, might be the most epic and most satisfying finale of any film in the series. 
And then of course there is the film's ending, which is where the film breaks massively from its most obvious influence. While the original Godzilla's ending was sombre and tragic, and riddled with ominous and discomforting implications, Minus One's ending brings Koichi's journey full circle and completes the film's story in as complete and fulfilling a way as it needs to, even if aspects of it are a little contrived. That doesn't rob the ending of its emotional punch, and like the original film, the ending is dripping with sinister implications, wrapping the film up in a twisted little bow that leaves you satisfied while also wanting to know what happens next, and wanting more desperately than ever for everyone to just be ok. Is it a bit sequel baity, kind of, but then again, is the film a bit emotionally manipulative too, yes, do I care, no. Ultimately, it's not a story about a big lizard that destroys a city, it's about one man freeing himself from the horrors of his past and overcoming his own inner darkness for the love of his family and friends, it's a story that flawlessly translates across languages and cultures, and it opens up the Godzilla franchise to new audiences that might have never given it the chance, and yes, it's better than Shin Godzilla in every single way, eat me.
My War Isn't Over Yet
When I went into my third screening of Godzilla Minus One, the people I was with were all doubtful of the film, refusing to believe it was as good as I was telling them, I told them they would eat their words and guess what, they all did. Godzilla Minus One is, without exaggeration, a masterpiece, delivering the thrills and terror that only Godzilla can and then some, but hammering it home with the most wonderful and powerful story this series has ever told, yes, even better than the original, and while I still don't think it eclipses that first film, it comes pretty damn close, closer than I ever could have imagined was possible, and it's not only set a new standard for the series, but set a bar that I highly doubt any film I'll see will reach for years to come, unless Yamazaki makes another Godzilla film of course. Godzilla Minus One is a one-of-a-kind film that I can't insist enough you go and see right now, and it is absolutely, beyond any doubt, a must watch.
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