Godzilla Minus One (2023) Review

I just saw Godzilla minus one and here's my first impression I'm going to try to keep this short I'm going to try to keep this simple and spoiler-free this movie isn't going to be in theaters for very long and screening times are kind of limited so I'm going to cut to the Chase and say it's good that's good with like a 100 O's amazing you got to get your ass to a theater and see it before it's gone I'm sure it'll be streaming soon but if you're going to see any movie in a theater this is well worth it how can I adequately describe how good this is well if you've seen top gun Maverick and remember how good that was it's like that but with Godzilla imagine a serious War drama with a monster this is the first Japanese Godzilla film since 2016 Shin Godzilla and I still maintain for it to be an authentic Godzilla movie It has to be made in Japan I still enjoy the American monsterverse films but they're missing a certain ingredient that can only come from the source knowing that this was going to be a more serious Godzilla film I rewatched the original 1954 version and shin Godzilla to get them fresh in my mind again to see how they all compare while all very different they have some fundamental things in common Godzilla is the only monster they have a more Grim tone and the humans are the focus of the drama especially in the original in that final act when Dr Sarah zawa is morally conflicted on using the oxygen Destroyer on Godzilla since it'll introduce the world to a new weapon of mass destruction that scene has gone unmatched in the Godzilla franchise for nearly 70 years but now minus one goes all the way and takes that kind of drama to a whole new level this is a movie about rebuilding after tragedy this is a movie about the challenges of the human spirit this is a movie about the importance of family this is a movie about personal sacrifice and perseverance and yes I'm talking about a Godzilla film most of them you don't really care about the human characters you just want to hurry up and get to the monster Carnage but not this one I was fully engaged 100% all the way through there are no human scenes that feel like filler and Exposition this time the human scenes are the movie movie Godzilla probably has the same amount of screen time as usual but this time the monster spectacle is supported by a great story with relatable Concepts it's about a group of people that form a family in the aftermath of World War II a kamakazi pilot kichi who resisted his orders a woman named Naro and a little girl she's adopted named Akiko whose parents were killed in the Air Raids we see them try to build their lives back in the face of poverty and destruction from the war but then Godzilla comes and for kichi the war isn't over yet so you really care what happens to these people so much in fact that towards the end my eyes might have teared up a little it's that good the destruction sequences are awesome when Godzilla destroys you feel it and you can see it all in perfect clarity you're not going to get any of those dark nighttime scenes that are so murky you can't tell what's going on this is close to a perfect Godzilla film I say close only because there's a few minor issues I had and I wouldn't even call them issues just certain things I think could have been better just because they got everything else so right for one thing the pacing in the second half becomes a little too calm and this is not a unique problem it's common in Godzilla and kaju films and has never been solved you know how somewhere in the middle usually Godzilla comes ashore he goes into the City and that's when most of the damage occurs and after that Godzilla goes back into the ocean takes a nap or whatever and then all the scientists gather around in meeting rooms talking about their big master plan to stop him well let me say the master plan in this film is one of the more interesting and wellth thought out and and I loved how it's not a big government operation it's a voluntary team of people who get together all bringing their own expertise and all having to endure C personal risks if kichi doesn't survive Akiko would be orphaned a second time the stakes are high and it really makes you want to see it succeed well here's my little problem it takes so many scenes for them to build up to this plan and they even have a set date to carry it out and all that time Godzilla is just conveniently taking a break this is what always happens but I just hope they would find a way to fix this nothing seems as urgent as it should it's too leisurely paced there's even a part where they're having dinner uh there shouldn't be time for any of that Godzilla could come back any minute you know for once I'd like to see the meeting go like this check this out the scientist gets out his big chalkboard and slide projection all that and then all of a sudden Godzilla appears in the window and nukes the place yeah that'd be great the other thing for me that I wasn't totally satisfied with was the look of Godzilla I think he looks too similar to the American monster verse so similar that I almost wondered if this was meant to fit into that universe as a prequel or something to be more specific I preferred how he looked in Shin Godzilla it's hard to explain why but I think it has something to do with how upright he stands in Shin Godzilla like a huge lumbering statue and the way he walks like a zombie very slowly um it may be because I grew up on the Godzilla that was always an actor in a suit so so you could say that he looked more stiff that way but I think the CG Godzilla is a bit too flexible I felt the more subtle movements were more ominous even Godzilla 98 used animatronics for some scenes Shin Godzilla had an animatronic upper body but apparently it wasn't used for any of the final shots so it seems the Practical effects have now been completely phased out and I don't mean to say that they don't do a great job with all that CG in fact in Godzilla has the best Godzilla Rampage scene ever in my opinion the middle 20 minutes where he's wrecking the city and the militaries blasting him with everything they got that's Perfection that is what Godzilla is all about it's not just Godzilla's posture and the look but how he's photographed in Shin Godzilla there's more shots from a distance where you see him far in the background approaching which to me is more imposing and scary like watching a tornado coming Godzilla is a force of Nature and you should be looking on with horror as well as Fascination so in a nutshell best monster action Shin Godzilla best human drama minus one if you took the Godzilla scenes from Shin Godzilla and put them into minus one you would have the best Godzilla film ever actually wait I think minus one is the best of the franchise it might not have my favorite personal style of Godzilla effects but without a good human Story the effects wouldn't mean so much even just the acting the way the humans react to Godzilla is what sells the effects when they first see what Godzilla is capable of when they're on the boat I mean their faces tell you everything if you saw a Monster breathing fire you wouldn't just be like oh no no your brain would freeze up you wouldn't even be able to comprehend what's happening and that's what they managed to pull off here I see see their faces and I buy it it should also be noted that this movie has a much smaller budget than the monsterverse films it was only $15 million us while all these major Hollywood films we're seeing are 150 200 million or even more so I really appreciate what they were able to pull off with less money I've watched Godzilla films since I was 11 or 12 I've seen them all and this one I have no hesitation saying is the best one so there I said it I'll probably talk more about this film at some point perhaps I'll do a more in-depth spoiler review in the future I'm I'm sure we'll be talking about this movie for years to come it's a great addition to a franchise that spanned many generations and even many genres from outer space to Tropical Islands to robots and Aliens I think now with this more emotional and dramatic addition it's made this the most varied and multi-toned monster franchise I can think of all right big A+ from me check out the movie I'm going to get back to work on nerd I'll see you soon

Channel: Cinemassacre

Views: 473,129

Keywords: james rolfe, godzilla, minus one, godzilla minus one, james rolfe godzilla, monster madness godzilla, godzillathon, cinemassacre, cinemassacre godzilla, avgn godzilla, james rolfe godzilla minus one

Id: xubEPzbUUms

Length: 9min 14sec (554 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 05 2023