This movie actually affected me pretty strongly. Something about the personal story really hit home for me. Great movie, and glad I went to go see it. I’m home for the summer and hoping to show it to my family over the next couple of days.
Same for me. The manner in which the story uses the orphaned child in contrast with the main character’s guilt was extremely effective. Maybe that effect if more applicable to someone like me who have kids. The scene where the girl calls him dad and he rejects it, not because he doesn’t want to be but because he is guilty about it, is just so heartbreaking and effective. This all leads to that final act and the main character actually having something to live for but also something other than his own life to protect. I was glad with the happy ending where the woman ending up being alive but I wonder if it would have been more effective if she didn’t. I am a sucker for a happy ending and really like the implication they will be a family but it may have been more effective the other way.
@@patrickthomas2119 Yeah, I kinda wish they had the guts to kill off the love interest, since the stereotypical way to end these movies is that everyone lives happily ever after. But they're clearly setting it up for a sequel where she gets infected by something and turns into an evil human-monster hybrid antagonist, and I'm curious to see where that goes.
@@raakymusic4336 the infected route I am not sure about. That can get really cheesy really fast. Good writing can make anything work but that is a difficult premise to play with. And I kind of hope they don’t do a sequel. I Am perfectly alright with a solid stand alone film with a happy ending
@@patrickthomas2119 I don't believe there will be a sequel. That's only theorised because of our Western interpretation of the last scene. If this was made in the US, then that last scene is to set up a sequel. In this case the scene had to be added, because that's one of the rules of a Godzilla film. That scene is a requirement that I'm sure the director wouldn't have added if he had any other choice. The rule I'm talking about states that Godzilla can never die in a Godzilla movie. Toho make the rules, as the rights holder to Godzilla.
Interesting aspect of the movie that really worked was highlighting how Japan is a "shame culture" as seen through Koichi trying to get back into the good graces of what Japanese society expects of a person. It's a nice contrast for Western audiences which experience more of a "guilt culture" which is a more internalized personal feeling for doing wrong.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I’ve not seen it as I missed it in theaters and I am waiting for the home video release as I don’t have a way to stream it right now. Thanks for the video David, hope you’re doing well. Take care!
its a simple story that's incredibly well-acted. every single person I've talked to about it has seen it and been surprised by how good it was. its the only Godzilla film that remains compelling if Godzilla was removed; but Godzilla puts butts in seats and got a massive audience interested in a post-war human drama. every element was pretty well scripted and I was amazingly interested in the story of the people. 5/5 easily.
It was a great movie and story with ordinary people, partly broken people, who rise to heroism. The greatest part of Koichi was that he was a hero throughout the movie, taking care of an orphaned child and some random woman, and not until the end can he overcome his shame. In a way it's very Japanese, but it's also universal themes of honor and courage and redemption. Also, great point about how the vets are doing this on their own, not the state. It was a bit rushed regarding the Godzilla kill plan, but that did not bother me at all because, to me, Godzilla was just a tool to express every day heroism and the Japanese concept of civil duty and social pride.
As a long time fan of the Big G I was happy we got both a thought provoking horror drama thriller(?) with Minus One, as well as a bombastic, turned up to 11 bonkers action movie with New Empire, in rapid succession, really showing how versatile the property is. Both did very well and its cool to see Godzilla do as well as it is right now. Just wish there wasnt so much discourse about what Godzilla "is" when these movies just came out, it was honestly insufferable. We got two movies that excel in their own thing so everyone should be happy
It's not bad for godzilla to change and adapt over time heroic godzilla, apathetic godzilla, and evil godzilla all have their places and its why the character has lasted since the 1950s i do agree that making a well written human storyline helps make the overall movie better i just think that its not wrong for godzilla to be a wrestler character especially if its a comedy movie
Incredible to see what can a true filmmaker make with ~12M dollars compared to Disney spending literally billions on two decades of live action schlocks. I wish I saw this in the cinema. I can't believe they made it look SOOO good on such a low budget. Some VFX shots were amazing. A few parts in the writing felt a little formulaic, but on the other hand, it all resolved in a really satisfying manner and the themes were incredibly strong. Yamazaki seems to be a super competent guy. The writing was remarkably good, the directing as well. I'm so glad we can get this type of a movie from someone else than musty Hollywood. I concur with your assessment of the franchise. The 1954 film was super philosophical, with really deep themes. Then it turned into a wrestling show (very well put). 😅 G-1 was a return to form. Even Shin Godzilla was already a really interesting film (shame they won't make a sequel, the concept deserves it). But TOHO wants to continue with G-1 being the foundation of a new series... Man I hope it won't degenerate into the wrestling escapades way too soon. 😄 (Btw, I liked the 2014 Godzilla a lot. Edwards was able to make it feel truly awesome and mysterious. All the sequels were really weak compared to it. Same with the Planet of the Apes reboot. Wyatt made a great first entry, then it went downhill, the usual course of Hollywood franchises.)
One of the things that puzzled about the final battle is how on earth Godzilla standing over a very deep sea trench where the humans set up a trap for him. Even before reaching the trench we saw Godzilla firing his nuclear blast at the decoy destroyers in a swimming pose. Then, after breaking free from the trench trap he in standing pose followed by a scene of his body sinking back into a black abyss after the plane blew up his head. Post WW2 Japan must such in disarray. The government couldn't even stop some veterans and toy fsctory from taking over a whole naval base and then commandeered a whole fleet of destroyers to hunt down a giant lizard.
The 50's movies analogy is very appropriate, I think Japanese media in general still gravitates towards a more genuine and exaggerated (in a good sense) acting through the expression of emotions. Currently in Hollywood everything is so cynical and ironic that something like Minus One would be impossible. You can see the same thing happening in game dubs, I rarely prefer the English dubs because Japanese VAs convey so much emotion and personality in comparison.
Hey, a video entitled exactly what I've been saying to people since I saw Godzilla Minus One. I write myself, and I've always thought the most irritating thing about monster movies is the lack of any real depth to the characters. Even an effective classic like Jurassic Park (which I adore by the way) I have to admit is replete with shallow characters whose only motivation is to survive. Godzilla Minus One envelops a very human story around the skeleton of a monster movie. Koichi Shikishima's redemption story could play out without Godzilla. His trauma could have had nothing to do with Godzilla, it could just be from some other horrors he witnessed during the war, and it would still work. Substituted for war trauma is Godzilla trauma. It's not about the monster, the monster is simply a metaphor for his fears and anxieties. It's not all about survival, but about living with oneself given the choices made and the actions taken. I never really had any interest in the Monsterverse films, they appeared to me like flamboyant spectacle pieces with little focus on the human characters. Godzilla Minus One is only the second Godzilla movie I ever saw (the first being the Godawful Roland Emmerich version). This isn't just my favourite Godzilla film (not difficult in fairness, given Emmerich's as the only competition), it's not just my favourite monster movie, it's the best film I've seen in about a decade.
I've heard great things about this movie, but never committed to sitting down to watch it. Luckily we have a Godzilla aficionado in the family, so there's no reason not to watch *Godzilla Minus One* with him sometime! I enjoy a good negative review/takedown, but sometimes it's nice to hear that the entertainment industry actually puts out good stuff on occasion.
I think I’m allowed to watch this, as it’s Japanese, I dropped all TV, movies and comics 3 years ago and switched entirely to manga & anime. But since this is Japanese I can watch it, I haven’t bothered since I’m just not a Godzilla fan, never really cared about the other movies.
I'm not a Godzilla fan either. I'm a fan of well constructed narratives that explore the human condition. This falls into that category, and is already one of my 5 favourite films ever. I didn't see it in the cinema because I couldn't convince anyone to go with me (subtitle phobia or something I guess). See the film, it's amazing. I haven't said that about a film in about a decade.
The Godzilla anime movie trilogy is also pretty good. Very character focused as well. A spacefaring mankind returns to Earth to try to take it back from Godzilla after they lost the war against him. Meanwhile, Godzilla has terraformed Earth into a new Lost World where life has taken on his biology.
Gareth Edward's Godzilla had the same great ingredients, the Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson characters are two havles of Kamiki's but where as in -1 his arc is paramount 2014's utilized them as insignificant filler, mainly because in the thematic core mankind is insignificant and the deeds of the nuclear physicist father and soldier son are really rather irrelevant in the grand "King of Monsters" scheme.
Contrast this movie with that new Kong x Godzilla where the humans are so boring and have nothing to do. It's really amazing to compare the two sensibilities in dealing with the same monster.
Taking the wrestling analogy - the humans are reduced to commentators on the kaiju fight, explaining what is happening. Kong X Godzilla was definitely not the first movie to fall into that.
Don't know if you're aware of this creator, but Possum Reviews had a good point on why Godzilla Minus One looked so good despite having a budget under $15 million. It's actually the low budget that keeps the production studio from micromanaging. Disney's $300 million flops need to gross in the billions in order to make their money back, so companies get nervous and begin demanding certain elements get reworked in order to chase market trends to protect its investment. This leads to digital artists not having enough time to do their job, leading to a project that looks like it was banged out in a day in After Effects with 72 hours no sleep, because it was. When you have a clear vision that isn't being torn in 5 different ways from 5 different investors because they NEED this project to turn a profit, you can give your effects teams all the time they need to turn in a satisfying product.
Minus One's strength is definitely it's character drama. But I don't think the timing and CG Godzilla were all that spectacular. And the timing and CG were kind of co-dependent. A lot of the action with Godzilla, the model was animated very little, a lot of times just frozen. Albeit it was the best design and most detailed of Godzilla, maybe too good to fully animate. The timing I think was spent too much on the suspense of an action scene, that if edited down could've hid Godzilla's stiffness.
