Godzilla Minus One

The result is a celebration of homegrown courage, with the vastly overpowered citizens fighting to protect the fragile progress of their rebuilt lives and to banish Godzilla back to the depths of the sea.

Yamazaki’s screenplay has subtly framed Shikishima as a stand-in for the nation at large, sloughing off macho Imperial dogma from underneath a suffocating shroud of survivor’s guilt.

Godzilla himself takes up only a slim chunk of a run time largely devoted to people running around in awe and horror. That is why Godzilla Minus One is a great film rather than merely an impressive feat of monstrous visual effects.

It’s the rare kaiju movie that cares this deeply about the inner lives and motivations of the people scurrying out of the way of the monster’s ginormous thudding feet.

This prequel, similarly, yokes American imperialism, postwar malaise, survivor guilt and weaponised atomic power to produce the best action film of the year.

Godzilla is the draw, but equally at the wild and monstrous heart of this movie is a surprisingly optimistic exploration of PTSD, shame, survivor’s guilt, and how we are all more than the worst things we’ve ever done.

...goes beyond being a great monster movie to simply being a great movie - heartrending, frightening, and ultimately redemptive.

This is easily, by a pretty wide margin, the best human movie that's ever been in a Godzilla movie.

... a film as much about the legacy of World War II on Japan’s citizens as it is about a giant lizard rising from the sea to wreak havoc on the island nation.

Among the pantheon of Godzilla films, Minus One is one of the finest entries in the franchise’s 70-year history. It balances spectacle with substance, offering longtime fans and newcomers a reason to believe in the enduring power of the King of Monsters.