What a perfect time to be alive if you’re a Godzilla fan. With the current MonsterVerse from Legendary Pictures stepping into television with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire expected to be bigger and better than its predecessor, writer-director Takashi Yamazaki and Toho Studios take the popular creator back to basics to celebrate the 70th anniversary their 37th film in the franchise, Godzilla Minus One. Truthfully, I never had nostalgia for the character, unlike those who grew up watching dozens of his films since childhood, which includes the 1954 original. Most of the time, I had watched the American versions that were either straight-up failures, such as Roland Emmerich’s 1998 version, or anything nearly ten years ago that hasn’t quite reached amazing. They’re fun for what they are, but nothing spectacular. Everything I’ve been hearing about Godzilla Minus One for over a month made me want to see it despite not being attached. And coming out, or at least an hour in, it baffles me how I didn’t see this as soon as it came out when this is the kind of blockbuster worth seeing on the big screen.

What’s the Story: Near the end of World War II, a kamikaze pilot named Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) lands his plane on the Japanese base on Odo Island after claiming mechanical problems. However, he’s avoiding his duties as a soldier. But that night, a dinosaur-like creature dubbed Godzilla attacked the garrison, blaming Shikishima for not shooting down the monster when instructed. With the air raid bombings of Tokyo causing the death of his parents, Shikishima unexpectedly takes in a woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and an orphaned infant named Akiko, whom she rescued. A few years go by, and he takes a paying job as a minesweeper, detonating bombs underwater with a crew of three others on a boat. But once the sights of Godzilla brims from the ocean after some nuclear test conducted by the United States, a new threat facing Japan leads to more trouble than they previously suffered.

Only some things follow a traditional formula for any Godzilla movie, whether alone or in gigantic battles with other monsters for world domination. Better yet, he’s either an anti-hero or a bad guy. When they wanted to take things back to the classic to make it a reboot of sorts and not a continuation, they made him a straight-up villain in post-war Japan with no motivation to why he showed up and ruined everybody’s lives, and it’s clear why the Kaiji monster was always represented as a metaphor for the atomic bomb. Even with a predictable story and somber tone, you’re ultimately rooting for the people to defeat this monster with whatever they can. You can tell Kamiki’s most considerable influence in making this was without question Jurassic Park, Jaws, or even a bit of Dunkirk in the third act. 

But though anyone will go into Godzilla Minus One expecting to be nothing more than your average monster film, it’s almost more of a horror drama built around its human characters you don’t want to see killed. When it comes to the Transformers franchise or the Monsterverse movies, we all care about the non-humans fighting. Except the unneeded focus is on the bland characters nobody paid to see. Remember when we were all sincerely invested in the character played by Bryan Cranston in Godzilla (2014), only to have him killed off halfway through? That left us waiting for the monsters to return before anyone else became interested.

The human element might be the film’s strongest suit. Shikishima is suffering from survivor’s guilt from not only leaving his duty (who wouldn’t with that position?). Our attachment to him is brought on early on since he didn’t dare to defeat the monster when all his fellow men died. Maybe it’s because of Kamiki’s excellent performance, but this made him relatable to those who had PTSD and needed anything to keep their life going with honor, especially when he had this makeshift family with Noriko and Akiko. Who knew the characters would be worth caring about more than the giant lizard that legitimately had me tearing up more than once?

Speaking of which, even when you might think of Godzilla as almost a secondary character, this might be the first time I’ve ever found Godzilla threatening and frightening at the same time through size and scale. A film like this should’ve had me constantly questioning where he is after a while, but the investment in the other characters was at full lock. The visual effects work by Yamazaki and Kiyoko Shibuya made me relieved we’re past the days of a guy in a cheap costume. Probably the only time it didn’t work was when Godzilla weirdly walked like he was about to break into the robot. What’s even shocking to discover afterward is this only had a budget of $15 million.

Much like The Creator, it’s unbelievable how sci-fi costs this low but looks significantly better than half of the movies that cost over $200 million worth being considered for an Oscar nomination. The only downside is that I didn’t experience this in IMAX or Dolby when the mayhem occurred, which is similar to sitting through a war film. But all the destruction once Godzilla attacks the city of Ginza, destroying buildings with no remorse, you feel the terror of the citizens running away from what’s behind them, and just when they were rebuilding everything back up. However, nothing could’ve prepared me for this atomic breath of radiation that might be one of the best moments in cinema this year.

Ultimately, Godzilla Minus One does everything one can expect from a blockbuster in an ongoing franchise. From its terrorizing spectacle that balances surprisingly emotional storytelling with its characters, fans of the character won’t feel disappointed with what Yamazaki brought to please everybody. I didn’t expect to love it, but I’m glad I didn’t wait to see it at home and found more enjoyment from this than most sequels this year.

Grade: A-

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Release Date: December 1, 2023

Runtime: 124 Minutes

Rated PG-13 for creature violence and action

Distributions: Toho