Godzilla minus one...

(Image credit: JBSommerset Copy write 2024)

I was surprised when I first heard about this movie and how good it was. I am a big Godzilla fan, I love watching that monster tear a city down while he battles some ridiculous creature with super weird powers. However, lets face it, no one watches Godzilla movies for the plots and character development. Same with other Kaiju films such as "Pacific Rim", and "Cloverfield". We watch them to see giant freak'n monsters have at one another while destroying everything in their path. Which is why I was surprised to see a lot of people saying that "Godzilla Minus One" was no ordinary Godzilla flick. That is was in fact a masterpiece.

I did some research and found out that not only was this movie critically acclaimed, it has a 98% on rotten tomatoes, it's been nominated for several awards, and it's budget was only 15 million dollars. The budget is pretty standard for Godzilla movies. But the rest, just doesn't happen. So naturally, I got really interested in this one. It's been declared by other Godzilla film makers and directors as the best Godzilla film of all time. 

It does not disappoint, and puts to shame most of the recent American movies made by the big studios. Especially those of "Legendary Pictures". "Godzilla Minus One" is made by Toho Studios, the makers of the original Godzilla movies... Which means that all I have to say is, Toho my friend, you have ninja-kicked the industry in the nuts, I salute you good sir. 

So let get on with the relevant details. What makes this movie so great?

Well for starters, it's back to the basics. Back to when Godzilla was not the hero we have made him to. He is a terrifying force of nature who doesn't care about the ants he is stepping on. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about your child. And he already killed your mom. Not because he is evil, but because he is a vicious predator who does what predators do- kill stuff and eat stuff. This was what the original creators intended for him. He's not some cute lizard here to save us from ourselves or punish the wicked humans. He's a beast and doesn't play well at such things. This gave the creative geniuses at Toho the flexibility to use Godzilla anyway they chose- and they chose correctly. 

Another thing that makes this movie so great is that the story is universal. The hero isn't a hero, he's a flawed individual who has let his country down by not doing his job (Spoiler, he's a dishonored kamikaze pilot, returning from war means he didn't do his job). A good deal of the movie is about that shame and dealing with his dishonor. This movie is about the ramifications of war, not just shame, but the human loss and the destruction of home. It's about what mankind does to each other. Its about family and what that means- blood or chosen. It's about what it means to get by when things are hard. It's about cultural fear and what happens to people after the trauma of war. Espcially when you are the only country with not one, but two craters where cities used to be- Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The story in this movie is brilliant. It is so well put together and the use of Godzilla as a metaphor is so subtle and clever that it can be interpreted many different ways.  It's well thought out and makes since. If you have half a brain, this movie will draw you in with it's unique ability to tell a story and make you feel. In fact if you don't feel something when watching this movie, you might be a sociopath. By the end, you genuinely care about the characters in this story, to the point where you are concerned with them when Godzilla shows up. And the acting, it backs it up. The acting is good and fits every sequence the way it should. 

The director and story writers used Godzilla sparingly in this movie. Most likely because of the budget, but we'll get to that here in a moment. They decided to use him only when needed, and it works out spectacularly. He's one badass lizard in this movie, he's an exclamation point to the show. He doesn't need to flex every five minutes, he's that much of an O.G. He highlights the story in all the right places. I would argue that this movie is not a Godzilla movie, more that it's a movie in which Godzilla is an actor who has many faces. When he shows up, it is epic! But he's about making an entrance and doesn't want to overstay his welcome, so he parties hard, and then fades away into the night and the ocean. 

The budget in this movie is one of the most gobsmacking things about it. It's whole budget was 15 million. Thats right, Fifteen Million dollars. $15,000,000.00. These guys could lead a master's class in how to stretch every dollar in ways no American studio has in a long time. True, it's not perfect. There are some gaps in the film where it is clear that they didn't have the budget of a "big studio", but while watching it, you will not care. You will overlook those spots because it has a story, characters you care about, and makes you think. The budget is one of the reasons it was nominated for an Oscar. I am frankly shocked at how well this movie works out for that sum. As of now, the movie has brought in $105,000,000.00, thats seven times more than it cost to make the movie.

The only unfortunate part of the whole thing is that it's not on streaming services yet. When it hits streaming, I am willing to bet that it's view will go through the roof. I am willing to bet that there are some execs at some big companies that are pretty nervous at this point. Toho does such a better job with this IP than any other company has. I don't know if there will be a sequel to this one, and I am not sure I want one, I think this is a stand out work of art. Having watched the "Monsterverse" movies, and "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters", which were "meh" at best, I think this is a good way to use Godzilla as was intended; to tell a story.

Cheers!