GODZILLA MINUS ONE Movie Review **SPOILER ALERT**

[Music] that's Nick and that's Joseph and today we're here to talk about Godzilla minus one which I believe is the 20th film directed by tekashi yamazaki uh it is being released stat Side by too International on December 1st 2023 notably this is the 37th Godzilla film uh I know we haven't seen any of this director's other films but he's a prolific yeah he's quite prolific uh and known for his visual effects uh capabilities this movie 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 what's your pull quot a surprisingly emotional melodrama bolsters would May stand as the most enjoyable Godzilla movie ever made made in yamazaki call back to the nuclear creatures Origins mine what Godzilla minus one lacks in a sensical plot it makes up for in heart and amazing action sequences uh I really like this movie I did too surprisingly considering the last three uh Hollywood studio revamps of Godzilla I thought were absolute trash I mean immediately after Julia BOS dies in the 2014 film that you could throw all the rest away so the first Godzilla film was 19 54 Shiro Hondas which is Criterion has a really nice set of all of the old Japanese uh Godzilla films but you have seen that with me and I believe we out of curiosity watched the American release of it which uh inserted the actor rayan Burr so that American audiences could have a white face to look at so apparently Godzilla is the longest running franchise like Cinema franchise in history MH that's impressive yeah I mean is sure so Straight Out The Gate what does the title mean well apparently because this is Set uh in 1945 at the waiting days of World War II right before Japan's defeat uh and the country is at zero per se because of like morale morale well and everything decimation they need to rebuild uh so the fact that they're terrorized by this uh Atomic creature uh puts them at below zer so minus one so the nomenclature should read more like negative uh one for us sure perhaps yeah but the way it reads out yeah it was a little confusing to me MH um okay so the story is like you said 1945 the end of World War II and we are at this military base called o Odo and Godzilla attacks and this military base is like it's a smaller one that's specific to like maintenance for the comic a planes so we focus on one character named kichi kichi shikima mhm and he is a kamakazi pilot who got cold feet and turns back to the base but he's trying to lie and say well I think there was something wrong with my plane but everyone side eyeing him like yeah right you're just a coward so that night Godzilla just pops up out of the ocean and like decimates everyone except for one mechanic who's important to the story tachana and kichi so he goes back home to the main island I think he's near Tokyo I don't know that he's actually in Tokyo but he goes back home the area he lives in has been decimated his family's died everyone's dead there is one woman though her name is suo played by sakur Ando who uh you might know from cor's shoplifters or my favorite San Sono film love exposure so so I recognize her oh well so she shames him too like you're a coward thanks to you not doing what you were supposed to do that's why our area got bombed so he feels terrible and one day he's in like a public space with a lot of people and some lady just runs up to him and throws a baby at him M but it's clear she's running from someone and it turns out that that lady whose name is noico played by manami ham oh we didn't say who koichi's played by oh uh Ruki kamiki mhm who I I don't think seen any of his previous work so noro throws a baby at kichi and just runs off and he waits all day like is she going to come back he finally catches up with her and she's like well I didn't approach you cuz you were sitting in the Middle where everyone can see you like I'm clearly trying to hide but he says well what's your story okay you can come stay with me and it turns out noro was handed that baby from someone who said please take care of her mhm so she's kind of like the adopted mother but she doesn't know how to take care of this baby neither does kichi they live in this shed uh Sumo who has lost her children ends up being sort of like their Fairy Godmother Guardian Angel yeah it it suggested that this kid might might die CU well it's not even getting proper nutrition um but we get a little Montage where time has passed and we see like two years I believe and we see the things are you know life like Japan's rebuilding uh noro gets a job the baby is healthy sidebar this is the cutest little kid I've ever seen she is very in a movie Aiko is that character name he's so cute but one day kichi is like oh I got a job and it's important to know that kichi and noro are not a couple he won't marry he has um significant survivors guilt yes and over also uh kind of doing what he needed to do to survive but they're living like a mared couple and he's taking care of you know these two but they're not together it's almost like he's paying penants yes so he tells noro I got a job offer it pays really well because it's dangerous I basically have to go on to the ocean and uh locate mines that the US and Japan planted during the war so that's what he does and while he's out there Godzilla pops back up 2 years later and obliterates a warship mhm and this is like at the hour mark and then this is where the part of my pull quote saying it's nonsensical kicks in which we can I I'll get into it more detail but basically Godzilla pops back up the Japanese government is not willing or able to assist in getting rid of Godzilla related to like us Russian tensions which we can get to so so of this like private Citizens Brigade gets together to come up with a plan and their plan is they're going to get they're going to going to lure Godzilla to the deepest part of the ocean and then wrap this like Freon Cloud around it a cloud of bubbles because that will cause him to sink because this Godzilla's skin won't have contact with the sea water so the Godzilla will sink so fast that the pressure will kill it and if that doesn't kill it Plan B is they will also attach balloons to Godzilla that will cause Godzilla to rise to the surface really quick and maybe that pressure change will kill it so so then they're working on that we can get to the details but plan C is that kichi who was a kamakazi pilot ends up getting a hold of like a fighter jet like this experimental fighter jet which I didn't quite understand why it needed to be a special jet CU all he's doing is flying a bomb into Godzilla's mouth well that's his personal plan be to uh uh run into the death that he has avoided but but uh I don't think that his cohort to expect him to to kill himself so they need a plane that can fire these weapons so the they do execute plan a and plan be they do sing Godzilla Godzilla Rises to the top Godzilla is not dead I don't know if Godzilla's male or female or I keep feel like I'm confused they are not dead Godzilla is not dead so koigi out of nowhere flies into the mouth of Godzilla with the bomb and Godzilla's head blows off but and we can get to the mechanic but the mechanic it's kind of a gag that the mechanic built in an emergency exit button yeah we need to talk about that but so kichi is able to escape the plane before it hits Godzilla so kuichi lives and then noro we also need to talk about this there's so much didn't make sense to me but noro we think is dead mhm because we see her get like obliterated in Ginza yeah but uh at the very very end after kichi um saves the day and lives he finds out that she's in a hospital a last minute telegram from by via a last minute telegram too mhm and we we get to the hospital and she looks like she just hurt her eye and her hand so they can live happily ever after and then the final shot is Godzilla's body sinking to the bottom of the ocean but we had seen earlier in the film the opening scene actually with go or the second fight scene with Godzilla that Godzilla can regenerate very quickly so as Godzilla is sinking they're regenerating so hopefully there's a second one from this filmmaker at that from this filmmaker because I don't well there's another one another Hollywood film coming out I don't need that but uh no I cuz this was good yes what did I like so I understand with this sort of genre of film in this region there's a certain style of acting that's popular like over the top oh and I like that kind of stuff well this is it's very like a soap op yeah because there's a lot of sentimentality too so it does feel like a soap opera I was super into it but sentimentality very easily can be schaly and I think this does a good job of taking something very serious and making actual human characterizations out of it yes so I enjoyed all that then the visual effects I really liked how the movie looked I did too and yamazaki does his own VFX and are they at the level of like a $500 million you know like like a James Cameron movie No but but the film also is not meant to look like that it kind of has like a you you referenc Sky Captain in the World of Tomorrow I think it looks it's better than that less hazy than that yes it's less H it's better than that but it kind of like it was shot in a way that kind of makes up for the fact that a lot of it is CGI it worked very well for me and I think maybe because the filmmaker is is also doing the VFX it feels like there was a lot of care Tak well there's some uh there's some Dimensions to Godzilla that I don't see in the American films at all cuzz uh in in those he feels like a burning piece of charcoal who you can barely see thrash around I think there's a lot of detail yes and that and specifically Godzilla I think looks fantastic and there were so many moments where I was kind of creeped out mhm yeah he seems actually predatorial yeah I mean I mean it almost I was getting like Jaws Vibes sometimes yeah Jaws I thought of a couple times mhm well because there's so many times where you want to say you're need a bigger boat in this movie okay so I really really did enjoy this movie but a lot of the plot does not make sense to me so first off when Godzilla attacks that military base in the opening scene of the film Odo the people know about Godzilla yeah they already have a name for him so I don't understand how Godzilla is the product of the atomic bomb that was dropped during the war but then like there's this Legend of this creature mhm I thought that was confusing using then we find out the government doesn't want to tell the public about Godzilla but we also hear on the news that Godzilla attacked we get there there's one little because it's all in Japanese the film The dialogue but there is one moment where we hear what sounds like us news talking about Godzilla so I was very confused why there's like there are several moments where people seem confused that there's Godzilla around mhm how could they not know well yeah who knows what and when and where and how and why yeah okay probably the biggest thing that I didn't understand is we're told that because of tensions between us and Russia and also because of the aftermath of the war that Japan certainly can't expect help from the US but also they can't help themselves well yeah because to deploy uh certain types of planes would look like they're preparing for for some other kind of Act of aggression which I think you saying it makes sense but I feel like in the film that point needed needed to really be nailed in because we get a big scene where we have this General who shows up and he's saying all you private citizens we need to band together to stop Godzilla and there's so much time spent on that that I feel like we really needed to understand why the Japanese government's not helping at all like they can't even get access to I mean but then we do see that are battleships that are deployed I just think that entire scenario was confusing sure okay then after the second attack this is so the little job that kichi had getting the mines there are four guys on this wooden ship this tiny little wooden ship and we're told it's wooden because some of the mines that are in the ocean are magnetic so they can't use anything metal and the main guy on the ship we find out he's kind of a big deal he Dr NOA he was like a technical officer for the military the Navy or for the Navy so he's the one who's in charge of figuring out how to stop Godzilla but his three Compadres don't know about it until they show up and the captain of the military or this military person has him go up and give his plan MH um but he says we have 10 days Godzilla is going to be back in 10 days I don't know how he knows this yeah and then within 10 days so much happens mhm that it's all confusing but one thing is maybe like a halfway through I don't know how much time is passed because maybe like halfway through kichi says I need a a plane like so I can fly and like sort of cuz they have to get Godzilla to go to the specific part of the ocean and kichi is saying well maybe I can coers Godzilla I need a plane okay well here and they take him to this like experimental fighter plane that was developed for the war but was never really used but it's in bad shape we need a mechanic and kichi says oh I know a mechanic his name is tabana MHM played by monaka Aoki and that's the person who survived the Odo attack in in 1945 and saw what a coward kichi was and knows that kichi abandoned his post we get a scene where kichi is writing numerous letters like dozens of letters because he can't figure out where this mechanic is and then he mailed them off and then one day the mechanic shows up Beats him down I sent a letter a package to your sister and it took it's going to take a week to get there I don't know how I don't know how somehow all these letters got to him and the mechanic is holding all of the letters yeah he throws them in his face and there are sever several many so I don't know what like I don't know what that was about and then the mechanic beats up kichi so he has a big old black eye but then by the time we get to the the part where we're ready to like execute the plan the black ey is gone uhhuh yeah so I just don't think that 10 days pass well some continuity issues certainly also when they get to the point where they have Godzilla where they want Godzilla one of the guys who worked on the Mind ship hurts his arm so they tell him you can't be a part of the mission but he's like I want to help Japan I was never a Soldier so he comes out at like the 11th hour right as Godzilla is about to like use its uh well no Godzilla's hovering at this point when he shows up at the eight he's 800 M under the surface so on you know Plan B is stalled and this character shows up with like 20 tugboats the the fleet of tugboats M saying we're here to help cuz the two battleships are trying to pull Godzilla out of the water but they're saying Godzilla weighs 20 tons so the two B B ships aren't strong enough so somehow in the course of minutes I guess all these tugboats are somehow arranged in front of the cruise ships and with big lines tied to them you would think that would take hours and hours and hours it would it would so all of that seemed crazy but they just added that to the next scene which is fine I mean again I don't know I don't know how they know it would take 10 days I don't when there there's a scene where the technical officer Dr Nota is saying like he's calculating Godzilla's trajectory like how do you know where Godzilla's going right and they're like at about 11:00 he should be right where we need literally not just trajectory but timestamps and then he's like uh oh we we we just have to lure Godzilla we've already seen Godzilla wreck shop all over the place y'all really thought that you were going to get Godzilla to go where you wanted to and then as soon as Godzilla comes back what does it do make land and then tear up the like the city before for kichi and his plane coers Godzilla back into the water so that was all chaos just utter chaos I think the actor playing Dr Nota hitaka yoshioka he looks a lot like the German director Vim venders to me he has great hair that's mostly it yeah but let's just getting through my notes so we're told at the opening scene at Odo the base kichi says oh the deep sea fish cuz we see all these ugly fish floating in the water they kind of like big sperm I thought they were sperm I thought it was Godzilla sperm that's what I thought at first too but no they're deep sea fish and we're told oh the deep sea fish meme Godzilla's coming yeah so everywhere he's wandering around it kills everything so how y'all know if if if Godzilla just I'm so confused um but these action sequences with Godzilla pretty good first of all I didn't even mention in what I liked the sound editing I highly recommend watching this movie like in IMAX or Dolby whatever cuz the sound editing was spectacular I also really like well the score during the action sequences fantastic by Nai s yes and then they they have that the the one uh sort of element of the score that we all know like the which is I know from that phoh monk song and even genuine has a song where he uses Godzilla's roar I thought that was all done so well in this movie but yeah the action sequences with Godzilla like you said Godzilla just seems like a straight up Predator cuz I know in one movie we watched recently a US movie it was made to seem like Godzilla wants to help people well yeah there's a the part of the trajectory of Godzilla is he also starts to protect the Japanese people but in this one no not in this one no Godzilla's tearing [ __ ] up then the second time we see Godzilla I thought the creepiest scene is Godzilla sort of stalking the little wooden boat M which reminded me of Jaws and it it really made my skin crawl it looks so good and then the way Godzilla's eyes look they it's not like uncanny valley but it just looks like Godzilla's kind of Dead behind the eyes in a way that makes it seem like there is no stopping this animal creature mhm I also like when he's following koichi with his head too there's a lot of there's a lot of movement there that I I don't think we're used to seeing with Godzilla the character of suo the the one who helps raise the baby I thought she was kind of funny MH cuz she seems miserable and angry but then she cares for the kid and for the couple but when we she first sees the baby she's like y'all don't know how to take care of baby you're not even like breastfeeding it it's malnourished and she hands them some rice but tells them it's not for them I just thought that actually did a fine job oh gosh so when speaking to like the soap opera nature of it all when kichi tells noro that he took this dangerous job she screams at him like I forbid you to die but then immediately he's like well go on and get that money then well what's touching about that afterwards is she we learned that that's what her parents said to her yeah don't die uh well I forbid you to die oh gosh koichi so the little girl Aoki Akiko Akiko I'm sorry she is so cute and she calls kichi Daddy and he's with his Compadres like they're eating with the little girl and he tells her like I'm not your father and they're all like that's so mean don't tell her that but the little girl's so cute and there's a scene where she has to cry and I was very impressed cuz that little girl had to like recite some lines like do some placement hand over a picture yeah do some physical acting there's some blocking yeah yeah and then she has to cry and the face she made it's so cute yeah that little girl I would just watch a movie with her in it um so how does Godzilla look very good creepy but I thought Godzilla's kind of bottom heavy oh yeah he reminded me of that alien the the gay alien from American American Dad well I was watching Godzilla when uh they're stomping around on land being like I've i' I've seen people with bodies like this the um there's a scene where norico is riding the train to work and Godzilla pops up and grabs the train and it was very reminiscent of the last mission Possible movie with Tom Cruz hanging I thought that looked really cool yep okay when we think noro dies it is because Godzilla like tears this city up and like when Godzilla shoots his Heat their heat ray it's like an atomic bomb went on so we see all this debris flying at nor Rico like just it would be impossible to not be obliterated I don't know how she survived well also she falls in the water at one point you know all the little fishies that are in the water around Godzilla turn belly up she's radioactive but I feel like she'd have some kind of poisoning and then poor koichi like you said not only does he have survivors guilt but for sure he has some PTSD he just seems so fragile and shaky and after we see noro die so we think he's like in the rain screaming I thought that was that was a fun scene I mean it's not funny but well and it's also because he believes she's dead that he decides you know this is this is where he's going to sacrifice himself he's so dramatic he's like it's my fault like I don't think you're that important but go ahead right uh but yes and it does seem a little crazy that's like the one you have to find this one mechanic and that's because that he's going to provide him with his retribution I did think the film did a good job of showing maybe like sort of the condition of Japan and maybe how people saw saw life after the war not not in a serious dramatic way but if you think that this is kind of just like an action sci-fi Creature Feature type film I I did think the story took more care than I would expect from like the US equivalent well oh yeah of course but of course you know when kichi comes back to the mainland and he's a kamakazi pilot that's still alive you know that automatically sends a signal like well you didn't do your job right and you're part of the reason why we lost so that's thing that he has to be confronted with that you wanted to talk about you had something extra to say about the pilot ejection button oh so how that scene is laid out cuz uh tach andana gets the uh this P This Plane ready and then he's showing him what to do and then they have a little speech where uh kuichi shows himself to be remorseful he's taking the pictures of the dead of the dead bodies of the men that you he feels responsible for helping die in Oda and at that point tacha ban is like oh by the way hey there's a like he wasn't going to tell was going to tell him there was an eject but then because uh koichi sort of redeemed himself that's when he said well you could you could save yourself you don't have to die I will say at the end when kichi flies into Godzilla's mouth and then we see that he didn't die I did shed a tear yeah it it's very it does a a good job of uh bringing us to that moment where you should have those emotions yeah because the plot goes exactly where you think it would go but somehow yeah it still had me like waiting and and I was very satisfied and that you know that in comparison the problem with the last three American films like I said after Juliet BOS is a very good death scene in the opening moments of the 2014 Godzilla from Gareth Edwards but everything after that it's like they forgot to make these people human like you're supposed like part of part of the this form formula is that you should care somehow for these people and you I don't my final note is we sat through all of the end credits because I was thinking there might be an after credit scene a post-credit scene there wasn't but all of the credits are in Japanese except for one job and that job was wind effect operator which made me laugh cuz like is there no Japanese term for wind effect operator well also and maybe that's the print that we saw that wasn't completely uh subtitled through the end but I thought it was funny but at the very end we do get that tekashi yamazaki uh wrote directed and did the VFX I'm very impressed I'm very impressed uh what would you give this movie well I I also wanted to say that this Godzilla movie is very much giving me that uh that Gwen Stefani lyric about how she can't wait to go back into back into Japan and get her lots of brand new fans oh yeah what you waiting for yeah uh I would give this three and A2 I would give this film three and a/2 out of five I thought it was very good anything else no hit the thanks button listen to our podcast bye

Channel: Fish Jelly Film Reviews

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Length: 27min 9sec (1629 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 02 2023