Why Godzilla Minus One DESTROYS Modern Hollywood | Video Essay

so um this was a bit of a surprise now it's going to come as no mystery to any of you watching this video that Hollywood is in a pretty bad State at the moment just the other day I released a video deep diving into why Hollywood is falling apart and almost as if it was written in the clouds a film has come along that has just hammered that point home and that film is Godzilla minus one a film that essentially shows Hollywood up in every single way from the quality of the Story the characters the themes Godzilla himself and the minuscule budget that still manages to outshine the 200 plus million dooll Hollywood Blockbusters this is a film that is honestly just embarrassing for Hollywood and a lot of people are talking about it this film has completely outshined the latest Hollywood Blockbusters in terms of sheer quality and what an unlikely source for it to come from a foreign Japanese film that's essentially doing exactly what Hollywood would is trying to do but just doing it better at every single turn and you know what I think this film could be the wakeup call that Hollywood sorely needs because fans and critics have United for once and are hailing this film as one of the best if not the best films of the Year naturally a lot of people's heads are turning toward Hollywood because of this film how has Japan managed to make a film this great of a mere budget of $15 million and still m maintain the scope and or factor of a $250 million Hollywood Blockbuster So today we're going to dive deep into Godzilla minus one and why it absolutely destroys modern Hollywood just before we do though I just want to extend a massive thank you to every single one of you who checked out the new game overload channel it's really exciting that we're expanding and there's plenty more to come so check it out if you haven't already if you love video games and you love this channel you'll love that one but Shameless promo aside let's talk about Godzilla minus [Music] one so Godzilla movies are currently in the spotlight in Western culture since 1998 with Roland emer's Godzilla we've had a variety of Godzilla movies each varying in quality the 98 Godzilla was not very good but Gareth Edwards brought the famous Kaiju back in 2014 with Godzilla essentially kicking off the legendary monsterverse which comprises of the 2014 Godzilla movie Godzilla king of the monsters Kong Skull Island Godzilla versus Kong and next year Godzilla and Kong the new Empire I know it's it's a mouthful there's a lot of them now look these films are the definition of junk food Cinema it tastes good in the moment but you know it's not good for you at best these are big dumb increasingly absurd Kaiju movies that you forget about as soon as the credits roll well let's just say Godzilla minus one is basically the complete opposite to that the legendary Godzilla movies are multiple hundred million junk food Godzilla minus one is $15 million Cinema minus one takes the biggest complaints about legendary Godzilla movies and turns it into its greatest strength that being the human characters the human characters in the legendary Godzilla movies they are trash let's just be real they're trash they are there to convey the plot to the viewer and nothing more there is just simp nothing interesting going on with them having said that I will defend 2014's Godzilla a little bit here as that's really the only one that tried to flesh out the human characters in any way but the rest the humans are terrible and frustratingly you spend a lot of time with them making many of these films drag Godzilla minus one forces you to spend even more time with the human characters than any Godzilla film I have ever seen and I loved every single second of it I didn't expect to go to a Godzilla movie and care more about the human characters than Godzilla himself and I'll get into why that is specifically in part two of the video where we dive a bit deeper into the film itself but the use of Godzilla in minus one was honestly just perfect they don't overuse him and if Jaws taught us anything it's that the big monster doesn't need to be on screen for the entire runtime for it to be effective in fact it's actually quite the opposite 2014's Godzilla used used Godzilla quite effectively he wasn't on screen a whole lot and it kind of worked because they at least tried to make the human characters interesting but the more recent Godzilla films just haven't even tried and just throw Godzilla on screen because the writers don't have the talent to actually create human characters that are interesting minus one makes a major deal out of the presence of Godzilla so when he's actually in the movie he is used to full effect the reason minus one is able to pull this off and not have the film be a total snooze Fest is because the human characters are actually the strongest part of the film which is something that Hollywood's interpretation could never even dream of but one of the most annoying things about legendary Godzilla movies is that they always turn Godzilla into an anti-hero a necessary evil to fend off threats worse than him like from a human perspective Godzilla he's a dick but he's our dick I could have worded that better but I'm not going to minus one just does away with that anti hero crap completely and takes Godzilla back to his roots a straight up force of evil Godzilla was created in the first place as a representation of the destruction released on Japan at the end of World War II he's been depicted as many things throughout his time in cinema but Godzilla is mainly a force of evil a force of Nature and Hollywood has completely left that behind and they've made him into this anti-hero and probably a hero now in the new film so they can MCU the hell out of the the Godzilla Universe now is this entertaining maybe is it stupid given the origins of the character definitely like just compare any Godzilla scene in minus one to this shot in the new Godzilla and Kong trailer and the problem is laid out for you one looks like a superhero movie with a big lizard the other is something so much more it's kind of just a perfect example of Hollywood today the Blockbusters lack substance everything is about a connected Universe poor writing Bland and uninteresting characters are the in and the portrayal of Godzilla alone when you compare Hollywood's interpretation to Japan is more than enough to signify how dumbed down Hollywood Blockbusters have become and I love that minus one highlights [Music] that but let's dive into the details of minus one and why it is perhaps the best film of the year yeah I know that's a big claim but this film is genuinely that good and let's also just get into why it completely destroys Hollywood Blockbusters the thing is this film delivers on what you want from a Godzilla film a big ass Kaiju laying waste to cities Atomic breath a good score but it weaves intricate themes throughout the story whilst giving you what you're there for it's not just a great Godzilla film it's a great film period minus one isn't even necessarily A godz film first and foremost even I'd actually argue that it's not it's a film about guilt it's about PTSD and the horrors of War it just so happens to have Godzilla there as well now this film takes place at the tail end and in the few years following World War II we get an interesting look at postwar Japan we see a broken country with no faith left in its government it offers a very interesting lens into the lives of the people of Japan after the biggest tragedy you could imagine and we see it Through The Eyes of shikishima I've butchered that pronunciation I know I'm not Japanese don't judge me but he is our lead character he is a kamakazi pilot who has returned home from the war now he's obviously a kamakazi pilot who is still alive so you know that means he hasn't really done his duty meaning he lives with extreme guilt and shame and Godzilla actually acts as an allegory of sorts for his guilt even though the war is ended his War hasn't ended not until Godzilla is defeated it was actually a really smart way of getting the lead character in Godzilla into some form of rivalry because how can you set up beef between a big lizard monster and a human like it's pretty hard to but the way they did it here sums up why this movie is just so damn good using Godzilla as an allegory for our protagonist postwar trauma worked very well in helping to get the audience on the side of what is a cowardly and broken man Godzilla being used as an allegory isn't exactly new he's been in allegory for post-war Atomic fear for 70 years but the way they tie it into our lead character here is something fresh that works on all fronts like we spend 95% of the movie with our protagonist and not once was it ever a SLO because the character is so rich and there was so many layers to peel back as the viewer you simply barely ever get this in Hollywood Blockbusters anymore and you sure as hell don't get it in Hollywood's Godzilla movies anyway let's talk about this version of Godzilla Godzilla in minus one is this Unstoppable force that can't be reasoned with he seemingly can't even be killed and must be stopped and setting this film just after World War II within a broken and slowly rebuilding Japan was a master stroke of a decision we spend a lot of time with the human characters postwar as they try to put their lives back together whilst dealing with the trauma they've gone through through and right as it seems like they're starting to build a new life Godzilla comes into the fry and the human characters are forced to confront the fact that they've survived one war and now they have to face another one but this time they have no help this is the only Godzilla film I have ever seen where I was actually hoping the humans won and when I came to that realization I knew this film was something truly special a Godzilla film where you want the humans to win and Godzilla to die like I feel like I'm taking crazy pills but I'm not I'm just watching a Godzilla movie that Hollywood couldn't even dare to dream of the use of Godzilla in this film in terms of screen time is also extremely smart he only shows up a handful of times but each time he shows up it's memorable it's terrifying we spend 10 to 20 minutes with the human characters as they deal with their post-war trauma and then we get the action sequence relief with Godzilla and every single time it sends the characters down a further spiral I'd argue the best scene of the film doesn't actually even have Godzilla in it it's when our lead character has a complete mental breakdown and is convinced that he died in the war and the present isn't real it's a Dream It's a nightmare it's one of the most effective scenes I've seen in a film in a long time and you are not human if it doesn't affect you it's that good like the more I think about minus one the more I appreciate it the more I reflect on it the more I discover that I just didn't noticed whilst watching it it's one of those films that has you thinking long after the credits roll my previous top film of 2023 is Oppenheimer reason being it keeps you thinking long after the credits roll plus it's just a great film in its own right minus one does the exact same thing and I have never wanted to rewatch a movie recently more than what I have with Godzilla minus one now you'll probably notice that I've left certain plot elements and character Fates out of my analysis here and and I've done that intentionally because you need to see this movie minus one is a massive middle finger to Hollywood and if you're disgruntled with the way Hollywood is handling Blockbusters today then go and see this movie minus one is a smart heavy intelligent thought-provoking and entertaining film that I would honestly consider as one of the best films of the year it is film perfection now one of the biggest talking points to come out of Godzilla minus one is regarding the budget or lack thereof because this film was made for $15 million and that figure truly blows my mind I actually had to double take when I read what the budget was after I'd seen this movie because at no point did I ever feel like it was cutting Corners at no point was their CGI where I thought yep that looks and looks like it's from the latest Marvel movie I had had none of that so naturally a lot of people are wondering if minus one can pull this off with a $15 million budget and maintain the scale scope and visual Fidelity of a $200 million movie then seriously what are Hollywood doing with all this money that they are funneling into their films for example Indiana Jones 5 this year was around $295 million minus one's budget was1 15 million yet out of these two movies which ones did I think were smaller in scope and had poor visuals and just looked like a poorly rendered video game cutscene yeah you probably guessed it Indiana Jones 5 with a nearly $300 million budget or even the latest Marvel movie the Marvels it had around a $274 million budget and was absolutely slaughtered for its bad visuals my question is how can minus one pull this off with a budget that is a mere fraction of what Hollywood is injecting into their Blockbusters now I know a lot of people are going to say budget doesn't matter when you're making a film some of the best films were made off literally nothing and yeah you're right but we're not talking about Sho string budget horror movies here at the level of scale and scope that minus one provides it's more than on the level of the big Hollywood Blockbusters with these enormous budgets and if you have seen the film you'd know that there is a reason the budget is such a massive talking point with this F film because if too can make a film like this off a budget of $15 million why can't Disney do anything even close with a budget of nearly 300 million in my last video where I went into why Hollywood is falling apart I discussed the problem with current Blockbuster budgets in Hollywood and that for some reason Studios seem to think that the more money you spend on a movie equals earning more money minus one has literally gone and embarrassed Hollywood like if I was a major executive within Hollywood I would be tucking my tail between my legs and running how they are greenlighting films with budgets so big that look like dog when films like minus one exists it's just beyond me there is a scene in Godzilla minus one where Godzilla destroys an entire city he tears buildings apart he throws trains around and then for the cherry on top he uses his Atomic breath which was one of the most visually stunning and jawdropping moments I've seen been in a Blockbuster in years and having seen many Hollywood films and become accustomed to their budget if I were to guess I would have said that set piece alone would have cost over double the film's budget and this was a mere 10-minute sequence of the film this doesn't even take into account the opening Godzilla sequence or the multiple scenes where Godzilla is attacking boats in the ocean or the climax of the film which has the most action out of any of the set pieces this film's budget honestly is staggering and Hollywood need to have a long good hard look at how this film was made because not only does it look better than 99.9% of Hollywood's bloated budget Blockbusters say that 10 times fast but it was made for hundreds of millions of dollars less now the reason this is such a problem for Hollywood and why it's just so embarrassing is because Blockbusters these days flop consistently sure 5 years ago you could have said that yeah this film cost 200 million to make but it made 1.5 billion back but realistically how often is that happening anymore there's like one or maybe two films a year that break the billion dollar barrier these days most of these major Blockbusters fail and they fail on paper because they're trying to make back their stupidly inflated budgets plus the marketing that goes into it and they simply just can't do it if they were making films with budgets like minus one the amount of money these Blockbusters would make would be sickening you just do not need to spend $200 $ million to deliver a Blockbuster experience Godzilla minus one is evidence of that instead you need talented filmmakers with talented writers you need talented VFX artists and you need to stop this content Factory formula that so many major Hollywood franchises go for nowadays it seems the high budgets in Hollywood are a reflection of an over Reliance on CGI making everything a problem for later like remember when that clip went around over the unnecessary CGI and Marvel films that is part of the problem I would love to see the MCU try and make a15 million movie because they'd actually have to get creative for once the story in the characters would need to be able to carry the film which is something they simply can't do anymore I think we're all sick of the over bloated CGI infused vomit that Hollywood keeps spitting out so I'd love to see a change made and given how embarrassing Godzilla minus one is for Hollywood and how much noise it's starting to create I really hope this film is one that inspires change and finally wakes Hollywood up so if there is anything you should take away from this video it's go see Godzilla minus one if you haven't already it's a smart intricate well-written and well- told story with likable and sympathetic characters that offers a peak through the lens of postwar Japan and of course it more delivers on the Godzilla goodness that you come to expect this may well be right on par with Oppenheimer as my number one film of 20123 if you have the means go see it it's worth it and the better this film does the more likely Hollywood wakes up and makes change

Channel: Movie Overload

Views: 993,725

Keywords: godzilla minus one, godzilla, toho, video essay, hollywood, woke, movie overload, film video essay, godzilla minus one review, godzilla vs kong, godzilla 2023, woke disney, film analysis, woke hollywood, godzilla toho, film, movie video essay, godzilla x kong the new empire, disney, marvel, mcu, gojira, movie, 2023, kong, analysis, star wars, rachel zeglar, box office, oppenheimer, legendary godzilla, the marvels, superhero, godzilla x kong, marvel studios, movies, critical drinker, 2024

Id: U6aV6OjBRLM

Length: 18min 48sec (1128 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 10 2023