Godzilla Minus One (2023) – Film Review

Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada
Certificate: 12

By Roger Crow

In post-war Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror. That’s the premise for one of the most acclaimed monster movies of recent years.

Writer/director Takashi Yamazaki does a great job with Godzilla Minus One, tapping into the passion for literal blockbusters, soaking up that gung-ho World War Two adventure in the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and in a few key scenes, Jaws.

“Looks phenomenal”

The stuff on the ocean when the eponymous lizard is threatening military forces may as well have been scored with that John Williams theme, though Naoki Sato’s theme and score itself is actually superb.

A solid cast including Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe and Yuki Yamada help ground this fantasy, and though the whole movie is 20 minutes too long, the epic set pieces are well worth a look.

In 4K UHD, this looks phenomenal, especially when Godzilla looks like he’s swallowed one of those blue pills; his spine pops out in individual segments, and there’s a glorious blue atomic blast which must have looked amazing on the big screen. This is the next best thing, and while I could have done with less domestic stuff, the kitchen sink elements do help ground the fantasy.

“Greatest monsters”

Though I saw the not bad dubbed version, it’s probably worth checking out the original offering as some of the dialogue may lose a lot.

The effects won a well-deserved Oscar, which was a first for one of cinema’s greatest monsters in his 70th year. ‘Minus One’ maybe, but this Godzilla is a definite plus, on so many levels.