Imagine a Roland Emmerich disaster flick (only good), with a script that's had some actual care put into it, and you'll be halfway to understanding what a huge achievement has been realized here. All for a meager $15 million budget no less! Godzilla Minus One is far and away the best Gojira film I've seen, bar none, and sets an impressive new standard for the Kaiju/Disaster sub-genres (while in many ways transcending them).
The monster-verse producers certainly have their work cut out for them if they hope to remain even remotely competitive going forward. Regardless, I doubt I'll be paying them much attention anyways. Indeed, now that my latent Gojira fandom has finally been rekindled (for the first time since I was 12), I'd much rather check out more of the classic Japanese entries instead.
After all, if I learned one thing from G-1 it's that Godzilla is inherently, and should always be, a purely Japanese tale at its core. With the story's roots/themes so intrinsically tied to that country's history and cultural sentiments, the filmmakers there clearly know better than anyone how to capture the essence of the idea, as well as explore its numerous metaphorical undertones in compelling and poignant ways. In the end, this makes for one hell of a monster flick that genuinely has something worthwhile to say.
Best of all, judging by the financial success of G-1 so far, a followup seems all but guaranteed; and though I'm honestly not sure if you can even make a Godzilla film better than this, I still can't wait to see them try!
"The mass extinction we feared has already begun!"
Rating: 8/10.
The monster-verse producers certainly have their work cut out for them if they hope to remain even remotely competitive going forward. Regardless, I doubt I'll be paying them much attention anyways. Indeed, now that my latent Gojira fandom has finally been rekindled (for the first time since I was 12), I'd much rather check out more of the classic Japanese entries instead.
After all, if I learned one thing from G-1 it's that Godzilla is inherently, and should always be, a purely Japanese tale at its core. With the story's roots/themes so intrinsically tied to that country's history and cultural sentiments, the filmmakers there clearly know better than anyone how to capture the essence of the idea, as well as explore its numerous metaphorical undertones in compelling and poignant ways. In the end, this makes for one hell of a monster flick that genuinely has something worthwhile to say.
Best of all, judging by the financial success of G-1 so far, a followup seems all but guaranteed; and though I'm honestly not sure if you can even make a Godzilla film better than this, I still can't wait to see them try!
"The mass extinction we feared has already begun!"
Rating: 8/10.