Godzilla Minus One is a throwback movie celebrating seventy years of Godzilla movies. The first Godzilla movie was released in 1954 and to quote wiki: "spawned a multimedia franchise that was recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-running film franchise in history".
Having said that - the Godzilla franchise has been a mixed bag to say the least spawning some absolutely yawn-worthy efforts (regardless of the budgets) so it's nice to see a return to form in this stylish homage to the original.
The movie is awash with trivia for Godzilla super-fans (eg the Godzilla roar is taken from the original 1954 movie) but I'm just a regular punter so viewed it as such...
I loved the monster and the special effects - great sound and sonics too - atomic laser beams and all - somehow more scary for its scale and minimalism than the ridiculous efforts of Hollywood to make everything more huge and crashy-bashy than everything else. It won an Oscar for best visual effects and it's easy to see why. A great attention to detail and perspective.
Awesome musical score (by Naoki Sato) reminiscent of the orchestral ambient drones and choral work of Philip Glass - very moody and suitably old school at times (classic horror chords).
The storyline - such as it is in a monster verses mankind horror - is simple to follow and revolves around a young pilot who returns to his devastated homeland after the war but finds it difficult to move on - looking for redemption.
There are many who are more qualified than me to comment on the cultural and social relevance of Godzilla to Japan but, certainly in this movie, the monster is the dark internal chaos of a troubled conscience - both individual and national. Individual because the protagonist, Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuki Kamiki), is a 'failed' kamikaze pilot and national because - as one character puts it "We all came through war - this time we're making it right"
There is in the midst of all the carnage and destruction though a light of hope and positivity which works well and brings the whole thing to a satisfactory end (until next time of course!) All in all I thought this was an enjoyable and fitting Godzilla tribute - if you're going to watch one Godzilla movie - you could do worse (a lot worse!).
Having said that - the Godzilla franchise has been a mixed bag to say the least spawning some absolutely yawn-worthy efforts (regardless of the budgets) so it's nice to see a return to form in this stylish homage to the original.
The movie is awash with trivia for Godzilla super-fans (eg the Godzilla roar is taken from the original 1954 movie) but I'm just a regular punter so viewed it as such...
I loved the monster and the special effects - great sound and sonics too - atomic laser beams and all - somehow more scary for its scale and minimalism than the ridiculous efforts of Hollywood to make everything more huge and crashy-bashy than everything else. It won an Oscar for best visual effects and it's easy to see why. A great attention to detail and perspective.
Awesome musical score (by Naoki Sato) reminiscent of the orchestral ambient drones and choral work of Philip Glass - very moody and suitably old school at times (classic horror chords).
The storyline - such as it is in a monster verses mankind horror - is simple to follow and revolves around a young pilot who returns to his devastated homeland after the war but finds it difficult to move on - looking for redemption.
There are many who are more qualified than me to comment on the cultural and social relevance of Godzilla to Japan but, certainly in this movie, the monster is the dark internal chaos of a troubled conscience - both individual and national. Individual because the protagonist, Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuki Kamiki), is a 'failed' kamikaze pilot and national because - as one character puts it "We all came through war - this time we're making it right"
There is in the midst of all the carnage and destruction though a light of hope and positivity which works well and brings the whole thing to a satisfactory end (until next time of course!) All in all I thought this was an enjoyable and fitting Godzilla tribute - if you're going to watch one Godzilla movie - you could do worse (a lot worse!).
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