GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Takashi Yamazaki
Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Sakura Ando,
Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Munetaka Aoki
Leave it to the Japanese to make a big-budget Godzilla movie and get it right. It starts out late in World War Two, with a kamikaze pilot touching down on a small island, having chosen a life of dishonor over certain death. The pilot has barely made it out of the cockpit, when lumbering out of the depths comes Godzilla, the world's biggest, baddest, most epically pissed-off reptile, stomping everything in its path. From there, the movie follows two connected narrative tracks - the pilot struggling to survive in the aftermath of the war, and Godzilla wreaking horrific destruction and providing both the pilot and the Japanese people a chance at redemption after the war's humiliating conclusion. The effects look good, the sound work is awesome, the story resonates, and the monster is scary as hell. What more cold you ask for from a Godzilla movie?
