Godzilla Minus One tells the best human story in a Godzilla film but seems at odds when Godzilla is actually in the movie.

Score: 3.5 / 5

Godzilla Minus One is a live-action Godzilla film produced in Japan. Instead of the Hollywood machine’s importance on pushing visuals above all else, this production puts the story front and center. It’s a welcome change that I enjoyed, but it also begs the question, was Godzilla needed in this movie? Going into this movie, I will admit that I came in with a bias from word of mouth. I read numerous spoiler-free takes, that this was the best Godzilla ever, that it has to be seen on a big screen, and that anyone could enjoy this movie. Having watched the movie, I’m not so sure.

First, the good stuff. Minus One starts at the end of World War II in Japan following a kamikaze pilot, Koichi Shikishima (played by Ryunosuke Kamiki). From the get-go, he does not want to perform his duty for his country out of understandable fear. The situation compounds when Godzilla arrives on the remote island where Shikishima is stationed. The small team stationed there is slaughtered, and Shikishima is knocked out cold. When he wakes up, the war is over, and he is left with survivor’s guilt in a war-torn Japan. The movie follows this theme of overcoming fear and the guilt of not dying in war, wrapped around an increasingly growing threat of a nuclear Godzilla. This struggle and attempt to make peace with himself to live again is a powerful story. It’s acted passionately and truly does make this a movie that anyone can go into and relate to. That’s the good. The stuff I didn’t necessarily enjoy was the Godzilla stuff.

Godzilla Minus One did not have a massive budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Last I could find, it was closer to $15 million. This is not a problem at all for the character-driven scenes and plot. It is for the Godzilla parts. Some shots and moments look impressive, but many action scenes, especially involving people with Godzilla, did have that cringe of watching special effects from early 2000 video games. It was noticeable enough that whenever these scenes would pop up, I was perplexed about where all the takes I had read about seeing this on a big screen were coming from.

Pushing aside the visuals, the Godzilla scenes swung from terrifying to goofy. That can work in some contexts but not ones where the human story is so serious. That clashing of tones did not work for me. The movie picks a lane in that drama category, but because of the execution, I wasn’t impressed. It was enough of an issue to negatively impact my thoughts on the film. However, the on-the-ground human story is the most interesting one within a Godzilla movie I can remember. That alone gives this movie something worth seeing. Just maybe keep those expectations in check that this is the best movie to come out this year.