Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki
Distributed by: Toho Co., Ltd.
Written by Nick McCann
99/100
There is no better time to be a Godzilla fan. Since 2014, there has been a steady influx of material both in America and Japan. Legendary Pictures has been maintaining a healthy cinematic universe on our end, proving an American approach can be lucrative and enjoyable. Meanwhile, Toho has been offering up occasional experimentation to varying results. Coming on Godzilla’s 70th anniversary, their latest movie is sure to be a high mark by many measures.
We see Godzilla placed much earlier in the canon, right on the tail end of World War 2. Director Takashi Yamazaki puts a firm dedication to a human presence that’s fragile, sensitive and endearing. All while retaining the atomic fear aspect that joins at the character’s hip. It’s as classic of a Godzilla feel as they come, suspenseful the instant the big guy shows up. Perhaps some emotions can be a hair overdone, but there is no denying the giant beating heart at the center of this compelling story of unity and redemption.
These are easily some of the most compelling characters in the series. So good in fact that they make the action breaks completely engaging on their own. Ryunosuke Kamiki offers a layered performance that’s stoic, conflicted and emotionally vulnerable. You look at this man and pray his pain wears down quickly. Opposite him, Minami Hamabe brings a bright presence to this ruined world around them. Everyone else gives likable and hard-hitting performances overall, encompassing the anxieties and hopes for deliverance in the crisis.
For this go around, Godzilla is at one of his most terrifying. His look and the way he performs have him no different than a wild animal savagely wrecking everything around his territory. Every action sequence packs visceral intensity, for as exciting as it is to watch him. Cinematography is not short on amazing shots and the visual effects have quite a breathtaking quality. It also sounds incredible with a booming mix and dread-inducing score by Naoki Sato. His rendition of Akira Ifukube’s iconic theme music, as well as some other surprises, are clean and have great energy.
“Godzilla Minus One” is one of the year’s most thematically potent and dramatically engaging spectacles. True to the character, Godzilla is as much of a destructive presence as he is representative of man’s folly. That’s backed up by the most likable human element of the series since the 1954 original. All that is needed for the best possible kaiju narrative is on full display and is not to be missed.
“Godzilla Minus One” Trailer
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