Godzilla Minus One

One of my greatest blindspots as a movie nerd is that I have never seen a single one of the original Japanese Godzilla movies. I have seen most of the more recent ones (the 1998 "Godzilla" was the first movie ticket I collected), but I have never gotten around to watching the originals. There is a Criterion Collection release that I have been putting off buying, but given the movie I am about to review, it has become a priority (once I see it for a decent price).

Set in Japan just after WWII, "Godzilla Munis One" finds the country confronted with the emergence of a monster.

This is easily the best "Godzilla" movie I have seen. It balances caring about the people with the monster scenes better than any of the other "Godzilla" movies I have seen. It was my biggest issue with the 2014 "Godzilla." I could not care less about the people in the movie; I only wanted to see the giant lizard.

"Godzilla Minus One" follows failed kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) as he looks to regain his honor. On the mission where he was ordered to die, he claimed his plane was malfunctioning. You cannot help but feel for him. He was ordered to die in a war that Japan had already lost. His surviving the war is seen as a disgrace. He becomes driven by this need to die in service of his country. He takes the dangerous job of removing mines before joining with other veterans to stop the attacks.

Now, let's get to the star of the movie, Godzilla. I love the design of this version. It is an homage to the original film with some modern updates. He is a CGI creation, but he has been animated to move like a person in a suit (much like the original). These giant CG creatures often have no weight, but Godzilla feels skyscraper-sized.

I hope that the box office for this is enough to justify a sequel. I would love to see another movie in this series. It had an actual story with characters the audience cares about, and the monster at its center is as ferocious as ever.

9/10

Rated PG-13 for creature violence and action.

2hrs. 4mins.