Almost every Godzilla movie would be better with half the human story removed, it is just clumsy and silly. This is the first one that really floored me with the gripping story.
Agreed! Normally in these types of movies I don't care about the human characters and I just wait for Godzilla to show up and destroy shit but in Minus One, Godzilla is actually intimidating and I was worried for the human characters whenever they were around the big brute! I love this movie, man. I saw it at the cinema a few months ago and it was one of the best cinema experiences I've had in a while!
We are currently living in THE golden age of Godzilla films. On one side you have Japan doing these serious, well thought out films with message and meaning, and in the other you have america going full bonkers with the fun campiness. What a time to be a fan.
I think the _Monarch_ TV series on Apple TV+ is really good too. It takes place in the same universe as the 2014 and later Godzilla/Kong movies from Universal, but it also ties into the original 1954 film. I like that it pays attention to the characters, like this movie (although not in such a heartbreaking way).
I wouldn't say America's going full campy, rather we're just in that stage right now. There were some Monsterverse films that were more serious but I digress. It is indeed the peak condition to be a Godzilla fan right now.
"Campy" doesn't mean "poorly written and horribly directed". Evil Dead is campy, but it is not poorly made; the Adam Wingard films are legit badly made.
The title refers to the state Japan is in after the war. They have been reduced to zero. Godzilla shows up, now they are at -1. It’s a very Japanese concept. Also, the original intent has been lost through the years, but Godzilla was supposed to be a representation of how terrified the Japanese were of atomic weapons.
The original Gojira is a much more complex allegory. Post ww2 there was a collective guilt over the 'beast' within their culture that had led to the Americans having to use Nuclear Weapons. As the cold War moved on that meaning developed into including a fear and hatred that nuclear weapons were now a threat on society and the end of the world. So Godzilla represents a divine punishment, collective guilt, fear of nuclear weapons and the Americans who could launch them.....whereas the American movies just go for big thing attacking us without any nuance
What I love most about this movie is, you can take Godzilla out of it and you still have a gripping drama of survivor guilt, PTSD, people trying to rebuild a life after tragedy and trying to move on. Then you add Godzilla and it's the whipped cream and cherry on top.
In case you two didn't know, the music used in the city attack and final battle is the original music score from the original godzilla films. It was really cool that they used it in this film.
Shin Godzilla is the most out there design for Godzilla, speaking of, you guys should watch Shin Godzilla next. Personally I really do like the American rendition of Godzilla from 2014 onwards. Minus One could be considered a remake of the original '54 film as there was even a BnW theatrical version of Minus One and there's quite some references to the original. Godzilla represents the tragedy and damage from the nuclear bombing as the original's Godzilla's head looked like a mushroom cloud. This Godzilla in Minus One was a prehistoric type creature that after the nuclear testings mutated him into what he is now. Godzilla's existence changes for different films normally separated by eras or just directors, but normally is just the representation of an uncontrollable force or consequence of the arrogance of mankind with how irresponsible they are with the powers they have. Also during the water chase scene the director mentioned to Steven Spielberg that he wanted to recreate the tension in Jaws. Small note to Simone, reptiles like crocs and lizards will have their arms and legs placed close to their body to increase mobility, becoming more hydrodynamic and mostly use their body movement and tail to swim. As for George regarding the treatment of soldiers and other people who disobeyed higher up orders, they were normally lose their positions and be given a shameful status in society. An example would be Mr. Sugihara who saved many Jews by allowing Visas to be given against his higher up's orders. After he returned to Japan, he was forced to resign due to "downsizing" and in Japanese culture they tend to force people to quit than outright fire them. His dishonor would make it difficult for him to get good work opportunities within the country, and would have to look for menial jobs or work out of the country. Israel did recognize his actions, but he would live in obscurity of what he did until after his death to his own country and to others around the world.
I have yet to see Shin Godzilla, but I have heard quite a bit about it. The Godzilla in that film is depicted as a creature in pain, constantly mutating from one form to another. This portrayal serves as a response to some of Japan’s recent disasters, such as the 2011 tsunami near Fukushima that caused a nuclear accident, and critiques the government’s response to those events.
This wasn’t just the best Godzilla movie, this was a great movie, period. Should have been nominated for best picture, not just special effects. It was a great drama that just happened to have a giant monster in it. For me, best design of Godzilla, too. Man, he was pissed!
Frankly, I don't blame Big G for being pissed off. You bomb my joint, radiate me *without my permission* ...and then *DO IT AGAIN* a few times??! Oh, yeah...I'm coming for blood, ass and all.
Japanese here. We were taught that the imperial army did atrocities during the war but not too specific and not the total magnitude. The focus is on how we went into the war and how the civilians suffered under a military regime under the name of the country and why we should never engage in warfare again. Conservatives complain that our education vilifies japan, progrssives complain how the details of the atrocities are omitted.
I’m commenting while watching, ever since the US occupation and post war reform, kamikaze pilots and other self sacrificing missions are seen as victims of a government that refused to surrender. However there must have been a reality of shame given the environment during that time.
Nationalists: "We weren't so bad. We didn't do anything other people also committed." Historians: "It was bad enough and other's actions are not an alibi."
@@s0l0poly71 During the war, despite claims that the kamikaze corps was volunteer, there were people who refused the "honor" of dying. They knew it would change nothing. Those people were shamed and ostracized until they complied. They were accused of cowardice and being unpatriotic. Saburo Sakai was a fighter pilot and Japan's highest scoring ace to survive the war. When he heard about the plan for kamikaze attacks, he frankly thought it was stupid. He saw no point in the attacks that would only get men killed for nothing. Japan had already lost the war and no amount of suicide attacks were going to stop the US and its material might. If anything, this fanaticism and Japanese behavior during the Battle of Okinawa convinced US war planners to drop the atomic bombs.
I think for most Japanese, World War II is perceived as a war with the United States. The story goes like this. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, the US counterattacks, B-29s drop tons of bombs, the atomic bombs, and Japan surrenders.
Earlier there was a line specifically saying Japanese planes didn't have ejector seats, so it was definitely odd to see German writing on a seat in a Japanese plane. Clever audiences (that don't know what it said) might have still figured it out.
@@testfire3000 I prefer when movies give me clues and I can feel smart figuring out where it’s going, as long as the story is good. It’s satisfying. A movie that leaves out clues and just goes somewhere unexpected just to have a twist isn’t as fun.
George, as a Korean, I felt it SO MUCH when you said that you had to "put personal feelings aside"; my grandmother, born in 1925, had to live through 20 years of Japanese occupation. And while she talked freely about the atrocities she saw in the Korean War - her husband being killed, having to flee hundreds of miles to Busan with my 5 year old mother and carrying my 2 year old uncle, she never said ONE WORD about what she saw during the occupation days. So you can imagine that I was a bit apprehensive when I walked into the theatre, knowing what the basic storyline was gonna be. Japanese war veterans suffering? I'm not proud to admit that yeah, I had ZERO problems with that. I think very few Asians whose countries were occupied by the Japanese would have. But then this movie did the IMPOSSIBLE. It made me EMPATHISE with post-war Japanese people and Japanese veterans. Because they, too, were the victims of a government that threw away their lives for nothing. Because in the end, deservedly or not, they suffered horribly for their government's crimes. Millions dead. Millions more traumatised. Two cities nuked. Every family torn apart. And this movie draws a line between the people of Japan and the cruelty and incompetence of their government. In the movie, it is civilians who rebuild Tokyo; it is civil protection that comes up with a plan to defeat the monster; it is civilians who show each other kindness, who realise that life is worth more than the death their government made them worship. I cried in the theatre. For the Japanese. As a Korean. That a movie can do that - it is something to be in awe of.
Remember that many more Koreans volunteered for the Japanese Army than were accepted. And competition to be accepted into Japanese Military Academy was fierce. Many of Korea's postwar leaders were graduates of Japanese Military Academy. The Japanese greatly increased education and literacy and built alot of infrastructure. So it wasn't all bad.
We need more movies that can do this. Help someone who hates, learn to empathize with the 'enemy'. In the end, we're all human beings. Sometimes even more so when we've been the most wrong.
Godzilla Minus One is the best Godzilla movies ever made and the best film of 2023. The black stuff on Noriko’s neck is probably Godzilla cells which it is Godzilla which nearly killed her but also Godzilla that likely saved her through regeneration
My wife who is Japanese, first thought it was the beginning of radiation sickness from the black rain. Sometimes reality has a way of getting in the way of things.
At times, you can tell that Minus One was made with a relatively low budget. Godzilla’s movements were sometimes stiff when walking. Godzilla stopped moving while in the water was so abrupt.
Seeing this in IMAX when it came out was incredible. Every stomp and roar and boom just shook the seats and you could feel it through your whole body. One of the best movie-going experiences in recent memory. I'm just mad I missed the one night only screening of the black & white version they put out.
I saw it five times in regular theaters including once in black and white. It's such a great film that it's great to see any alternate version, but to me, color was much better than black and white. I'd like to see the color IMAX version, but it is rare to find an IMAX theater with a decent screen size these days; they're almost all too small.
@@TB-wvvvw - I just got tickets for an upcoming double feature of this film and "Shin Godzilla" both in their b&w versions i one of Hollywood's old movie palaces (the Egyptian Theatre just down the street from the Chinese Theatre and currently owned by Netflix who spent a bunch o' money doing a big restoration of it) and I'm SO excited.
The ashen rain or “black rain”, as it was known, that starts to come down was an effect of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. This was due to the amount of debris and smoke in the atmosphere. The 1989 Ridley Scott film Black Rain is a crime-noir set in 1980s Japan, and the title refers to post war Japan and the ways the country was effected by the American occupation. I guess the implication here is that Godzilla’s atomic breath has now re-created the black rain-giving a feeling that the war will never end.
This is the most brilliant version because somehow they have captured the style of the original Japanese movie version and implemented genious cgi . It feels like a 50s version even with the acting but visually flawless. They so deserved the Oscar for this
Much of the special effects were practical, with excellent miniatures and compositing. CGI was mostly used to smooth out the seams between the miniatures and the live-action footage.
Very small effects team, working directly with the director, on a shoestring budget. But they had focus and vision and executed very precisely on it with nothing wasted. Everything was planned out, they just needed to do the work exactly once. Compare to the bloated Hollywood productions where they don't even finish the script until after two rounds of reshoots, and they figure out what effects they need when they're almost done editing footage that was made with a "we'll fix it in post" attitude two weeks before the movie goes to theaters.
I was born in the USA to a Japanese Mother. I never learned about Japanese atrocities from her. Her stories to me were on a more personal level on how the war affected her personally. I had to learn about the other stuff in history books
I have been watching movies in theaters since the 80s, and in the last decade, watching Godzilla Minus One was the first time in years I felt the electricity of watching a movie where the whole theater was dialed in. Everyone was hooked and it really was magical. Also, as a fan of the older Godzilla movies, I was glad they gave this one the proportions and kind of lumbering movements of a guy in a big rubber suit. Fun fact that guy was Haruo Nakajima, and was also in Seven Samurai (as a bandit) just before he became Godzilla. This move is also the poster-child of what story over budget can do. I'm hoping it helps movies move more towards story over spectacle in the long run.
The former navy destroyers and the cruiser they show in the film are all historical vessels that survived the war. They met different fates afterwards, either scrapped or given to China/Taiwan, or sunk as targets. The final destroyer they ride at the end of the film was considered the luckiest of the bunch, having been through many battles without losing a crewman or taking combat damage.
So to my knowledge there’s no laws against portraying the Imperial military in a negative light, and there have been Japanese movies made about how bad the military and government were, with anti-war and anti-authoritarian themes. There’s even a documentary where a former Imperial soldier tracks down his former superiors and confronts them about their actions in the war, including outright beating them for it. The issue is like the US- good luck with the discourse fallout and getting money depending on your project.
The Godzilla in this movie is a mish mash of other Godzillas. The roar is OG/Showa Zilla era, the Dino version is from Heisei Zilla era and the regenerative portions are from Millenium Zilla era. This movie will make you say "I cared about the people... In a *Godzilla* movie!"
For Simone's benefit, "Gojira" is a portmanteau of gorilla and kujira (whale). It was the nickname of a crew member at the original studio. It became "Godzilla" for US consumption. He was awakened by nuclear testing. The original film was considered by some to be a political comment on nuclear weapons.
The deep sea fish are messed up because they've been dragged up with Godzilla from the depths and aren't able to survive on the surface. It's a hint towards the use of ocean pressure on Godzilla later and also makes an ominous sign Godzilla is near
To see this effect in real life, if you google "blobfish," it doesn't actually look like that at depth, just when it's brought up, the decompression messes it up in the worst way.
bro.... i saw it 6 times in theaters. I saw it for the first time and headed to see it again the next day. i took my ex best friend to see it a few days later. then another friend. then my brother and my cousin. And i then saw it alone as my first movie of the year 2024. such a superb film.
@@kaiviru Yes I agree. I believe the final budget was estimated in the 10-12 range, where US$15M was what was originally touted. Of course, exchange rate changes, etc etc.
The only way it shames most recent Hollywood films is the fact that it has pretty decent CGI for the budget that they had for this. You can definitely see the hallmarks of CGI, even with the plane that Shikishima was flying. An impressive feat nonetheless.
Godzilla is a metaphor for nuclear weapons and natural disasters. His spines pushing out then in is like the control rods of a nuclear reactor with the blue glow representing Cherenkov radiation. After the bombings of Japan, black rain fell from the radioactive fallout. Godzilla is just an animal, part of nature. Not good or bad. This is by far the best Godzilla film since the original that captured what Godzilla really is.
Like Superman, Dracula, James Bond, Godzilla is one of those cultural icons that can invoke a place and time in people's minds. Some people even forget what created it and "Godzilla Minus One" reminds us of it. There was the later era where Godzilla became a commodity of sorts, coming close to similarities to America's Disney and Mickey Mouse, so ingrained he was in the national identity. But now and then Toho does look upon Godzilla as a symbol of man's hubris with his technology finding retribution, and Japan looking back at its history. Otherwise he's battling monsters. I think Godzilla exists on a spectrum, where "Godzilla Minus One" and Gareth Edwards' "Godzilla" are both great and entertaining examples. It's funny that the directors of both incarnations were in some way inspired by Steven Spielberg's work.
I am not a big Godzilla fan as I thought they were goofy, but seeing this in the theater, I just cried. This was my favorite movie of 2023, and I saw all of the Best Picture nominees. If they put their submissions in for more than one category it could have won more Oscars. The soundtrack is so haunting and epic.
As you may know, awards shows like Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, etc don't tell you who the best movies, shows, or music are. They're primarily a tool for business and promotion, primarily in California. That's why you can see things like a thug assaulting a comic on stage, then getting a standing ovation, or a group getting an award for music who never sang any of it. Awards are nothing to me. What's more meaningful to me is, I watched one of director Yamazaki's movies, and now I want to see all the rest of them.
For Godzilla films. The first one, Godzilla 1954 (Make sure it's the one with *out* Raymond Burr, as that was heavily edited for US audiences) After that, Shin Godzilla. Both of these films mirror each other in that they're born out of frustration and anger at the Japanese government and Nuclear disaster. The First one is about the failures of the Meiji government that allowed the Atomic Bombs to happen (not surrendering fast enough, etc) and the second is about the Tohoku Earthquake and Fukushima Reactor disaster and the government's inability to act and the resulting disasters from that point.
By ultra rare co-instances, when I was in Japan at Camp Fuji. we used to take the bullet train to Tokyo. I ended dating a Girl named Noriko who lived in Ginza.
As someone that grew up in the 70s/80s watching the original movies, this is, in my personal opinion, the best Godzilla movie I have ever watched. Granted, I have not seen every single one, nor do I plan to.
I love how they managed to give the scenes with Godzilla a bit of the look of the special effects of the old Godzilla movies from the 70s-90s. Also the use of the old musical themes are wonderful too.
In the beginning, the thing in the water was a fish which had come up from the depths quickly. It's swim bladder didn't have time to shrink and is sticking out of its mouth. I thought "Toro, Toro, Toro" was about Pearl Harbor. but still a great movie.
"Tora! Tora! Tora!", but yes, it was the first serious movie about Pearl Harbor and tried portray both sides. The phrase was the code for having achieved surprise.
My understanding of the "why minus one" is that because after the war Japan had been bombed to the point of "zero" the introduction of Godzilla brought Japan below even that, to Minus 1.
HOLY CRAP, do I believe the Oscar hype!!!! Minus One was beautifully done and animated. I wasn't expecting Noriko to have survived, but those Godzilla cells literally saved her neck.
Godzilla is the atomic bomb disguised as a monster. That was the intent of the original movie and MINUS ONE reminded audiences where Godzilla came from and what it represents. Godziller was a living dinosaur that inadvertently got irradiated by the United States testing atomic weapons.
"He flared his pewter" is from kickass Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Pewter allomancers (or pewterarms) can burn ingested pewter to enhance their physical abilities, or flare it to briefly gain a burst of strength or speed.
Many people miss it, but early in the movie when there is a brief flashback to nuclear testing (it was when Simone said, “what was that!?”) we get a glimpse of Godzilla’s eye in fire and a Godzilla roar. It’s on screen for maybe a second and a half, but that is the living dinosaur Godzilla getting nuked and becoming radioactive and a literal nuclear weapon. It’s humans who “create” the nuclear Godzilla who is just a part of nature originally. This is the same theme of the OG Godzilla from 1954. Metaphorically the OG Godzilla film is the post War Japanese coping with the horror of the nuclear attacks by the U.S. This follows that logic and does it the best of any Godzilla movie ever.
Regarding your question about Japanese World War 2 movies, this same director did a film called The Eternal Zero in 2013 which was accused of glorifying kamikaze pilots. He insisted that wasn't his intention, and this film is very much a deliberate attempt to correct that.
The emotional depth of this movie is off the charts. The reason it's so good isn't because of Godzilla, it's because we care about the humans. Godzilla is the cherry on top of an already amazing sundae.
This was a difficult film for me. I went to the cinema with my friends whose parents are originally from China, so my friends did have a totally different experience to everybody else. What they talked about after was how the film tried to make the audience feel sorry for what happened to the Japanese and yet didn't even touch on the atrocities that the Japanese Imperial army did in mainland China to the civllians. After discussing this with them, the film actually left a pretty sour taste in my mouth with how it tries to make us feel sorry for the Japanese soldiers.
Many of the people caught up in this don't have any agency. If war were only between the parties responsible for it that would be great. This movie didn't touch on atrocities committed by the Japanese, the Germans, the Soviets, and it only briefly mentioned the Americans compared to how many awful things they were a part of. Atrocities committed away from home also have an air of deniability that having a concentration camp next door do not. It's not the era of the internet.
I like to think G's spines in this version are like control rods in a nuclear reactor, so they're not popping up *because* he's powering up, he's forcing them up to make his reactivity more severe.
Never will I understand how this masterpiece of monster cinema only cost a measly $15 million to make, literally 10 or even 20 times less of a budget than big Hollywood blockbuster films. Absolute deserved Oscar win for the effect work! This movie will make you FEAR Godzilla! I've never seen him depicted as such a force of nature before. The scene in Ginza when you look out the train, see Godzilla in his full glory, and - to top it all off - the classic Godzilla theme comes on, was one of those rare "OMG they're really doing this!" moments that make you delighted to witness this with your own eyes. One of my favourite moments from ANY Kaiju film ever!
* Takashi Yamazaki (director) explained that post-war Japan was at “zero” and the attack by Godzilla, Tokyo was at “minus one” - hence, Godzilla Minus One. * Amazing that Godzilla Minus One (2023) was made for under $12 million - just 1/13 of the budget of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024). The American Monsterverse Godzilla is like a juicy hamburger while the recent Japanese Toho Godzilla is like a gourmet steak - both are “delicious” depending on your mood. * The latest American “MonsterVerse” Godzilla movies were full of CGI “eye candies,” and did not require me to think very hard. In licensed “monster” movies such as Godzilla vs Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), I just “kicked back” and enjoyed the CGI spectacles. More importantly, these two big-budget (over 130 million USD each) “popcorn flicks” were hugely profitable globally. This contractually restricts when and where the Japanese Toho could release or stream its Godzilla movies. * The latest Japanese “Toho” Godzilla movies were allegories of Japan’s traumas, which required me to think deeply. In Shin Godzilla (2016), the bureaucratic Japanese government failed to address the 2011 (rapidly unfolding) triple disasters of earthquake -> then tsunami -> then nuclear plant meltdown using an “evolving” Godzilla as an allegory. In Godzilla Minus One (2023), the people-led effort defeated Godzilla (temporarily) as Japan rebuilt after World War II (post-1945) with a compelling human story of “survivor guilt.” These two low-budget (under 12 million USD each) “monster” movies won numerous awards including Best Picture in Japan (both) and Godzilla Minus One won an Oscar in the US for Best Visual Effects (the first-ever for a low-budget monster movie).
In the first original movie, Godzilla was a creature taking his anger out on humanity for his pained existence brought about by the Atomic Weapons of Man. Later on in the Showa Era he become something of a protector of Earth from other Kaiju who would threaten it. Mostly King Ghidorah, Godzilla's most well known rival. The Heisei Era rebooted Godzilla, starting him out again to be an angry monster destroying humanity but then he was slowly changed again to being an anti-hero protector of Earth, before the final movie of the era, Godzilla vs Destoroyah, which had one of the saddest endings of any Godzilla movie. The Millennium Era of movies were largely unconnected, motivations for Godzilla were same-old same-old. The Monsterverse American Godzilla is undoubtedly a protector of Earth, but in an anti-hero way again. Unlike being a mutated creature like before, here he's a naturally evolved animal, one of the "Titans". Shin Godzilla brought it back to the very original movie, where Godzilla was a mutated creature brought into being by Man's misuse of Nuclear Waste. The movie itself was also a shot taken at the response of the Japanese Government toward the Fukushima Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Disaster. The movie was very much a modern day take on the original movie. Godzilla Minus One tells the most personal human story I've seen in a Godzilla movie and in my opinion tells it the best. This Godzilla is pure malevolence, the creators stating it's thought to be an ancient god-like deity that is mutated partway through the movie by the 1946 Bikini Atoll bomb. This Godzilla is by far one of the most hateful, spiteful and _evil_ versions of the character, going out of his way to kill any human he sees. Not even Shin Godzilla or the very original for that matter were this murderous.
I mean the whole movie's a fairly solid repudiation of the war, Koichi spends the whole movie wishing he'd died doing his duty, and everybody else in the movie spends the entire time going "Are you fucking dumb? The war was stupid. The government did this to us. You have to live because they all died for nothing"
There were no reprisals against failed "Divine Wind" pilots (I don't know if UA-cam flags the "K" word) _after_ the War, but _during_ the war, they were A) given only enough fuel for a one-way mission, B) their cockpit canopies were nailed shut before take-off, and C) non-K fighters escorted them on their mission to both defend them from US fighters and to shoot down any K planes that didn't perform their mission.
It seems my first reply got eaten so trying again: I doubt B and C were common occurrences. Certainly they didn't have the spare planes, pilots, and fuel to regularly escort K sorties. And nailing the cockpit shut wouldn't have been to prevent a bail out because they wouldn't have parachutes. The fuel shortage was an issue, but that wouldn't stop someone from chickening out as we see in the film; they'd just have to do it sooner. Interestingly, early in the war, fighter pilots were issued parachutes and it was even officially recommended that they use them, but the pilots themselves refused them. They were generally flying over enemy territory in '42 and to bail out would be an admission they were willing to be captured. (According to Saburo Sakai's autobiography, "Samurai!", anyway. Btw, he was once sent on a K mission, but they came back because they couldn't find the US fleet.) What really coerced the K pilots - many of whom were very unhappy with the duty - was tremendous social pressure. Everyone was expected to give their lives if needed. If someone was thought a coward, their entire family would be ostracized.
The word for Godzilla's design in this is "eldritch." It looks like an "eldritch horror." Something ancient and madness-inducing. Like Lovecraftian, but spiky rather than slithery.
Please watch literally any of the other Godzilla movies, but especially the ones with Mothra-- Simone will love her!!! :) EDIT: There's also the Chibi Godzilla cartoon on UA-cam on the official Godzilla channel. They're all subtitled and super funny!
So there are different versions of Godzilla in different continuities and different lore. This version borrows from a previous incarnation where Godzilla was already an evolved prehistoric creature that was caught in hydrogen bomb testing which forced him to rapidly mutate due to his regenerative properties. In fact his skin in this movie and in the original 1954 version are meant to resemble keloid burn scars from the burns left by the bomb. I also do recommend you guys react to more Godzilla and more kaiju. I would hope you guys put Legendary's Monsterverse on the list for reactions. They eventually go into a more heavy sci-fi fantasy element with a bigger emphasis on kaiju fights but they are all entertaining and that side of Godzilla had already been done in Japan where it goes from serious, almost horror tone to more insane action
@ George It will get easier to put aside these things the more you watch things like this. Im German, and im pretty much used to similar feelings. Watching WW2 like this is even a hole another ballpark as that. Coming from the land of the oppressors is sometimes... difficult to watch. I think, minus one avoided a lot of this, but clearly mentioned the absolut unnecessary practice to send these troops in masses into suicide. Its a delicate balance walk, to acknowledge the part your country has played in ww2 (especially for Japan and germany) without telling these people "you are just like your ancestors". Long story short, I can understand the problem the film makers had to face and think they did an OK job addressing it. Also this movie, at least for me, has the clear massage to not let this happen again. Aside from a monster movie it is all in all a Anti-war movie. And a really, really good one, when it comes to that.
I always liked that in the first Captain America movie, Erskine (the scientist who made Cap) has the line "This is from Augsburg, my city. So many people forget that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own."
@hellomark1 Great point. But my ancestors rather voted them up or couldn't/ didnt want to stop it. Please be cautious with the "not all Germans were bad" argument. It's way more complicated than that.
@@Coldwater-sw6me Oh I realize, I'm glad I didn't live there, then. I'm kinda concerned with the way things are heading where I live, for similar reasons. I meant no offense.
@hellomark1 I didn't take it as such. I just thought it was necessary to add it. We have similar problems in Germany. Many things I know from the history of Germany are happening again. It's all over Europe again, and I'm extremely concerned, which trend all this is pointing towards. Stay safe, brother. Thanks for the respect.✌️
my partner is taiwanese, she struggled to empathise with the films characters too so you're definitely not alone in trying to put aside your personal feelings. it's very hard and i've found a lot of western audiences fail to understand this perspective a lot.
Congratulations on this being your first Godzilla movie. Personally, this one is one of the best. Don't know if someone commented this but the Minus one is a reference Economic state of Japan after the war, so they were that zero but with Godzilla in this world, they were pushed from zero to negative or Minus one.
If anyone had ever told me I’d ugly cry because of a Godzilla movie of all things, I’d have seriously wondered for their mental wellbeing and asked what illegal narcotics they were taking so I could get them help. This movie though… Holy. Shit. I was expecting a big, fun, wildly good Japanese Godzilla movie. I got emotional trauma dumped and felt my soul being torn apart like tissue paper. As an American I will never, ever completely understand the thinking behind the Japanese side of WW2, but this is told from a perspective we are not ever really shown. I hate that so many innocent people died in a war over absolutely stupid levels of racism and how the entire planet was essentially dragged into it. It is the definition of an atrocity and something everyone on this planet deserves to know all of the horrible details of so we can see what real war is and why it is pure evil. To see this amazingly talented actor portray survivor’s guilt so beautifully… it hurt. It truly hurt. I have not been moved to this degree of pain from a war centered story since Grave of the Fireflies (which I absolutely recommend every single person watch once in their lifetime and I will NEVER watch it again because it’s just too painful). This movie is a MASTERPIECE. It deserves all of the praise and even more. I don’t know if they’re making a sequel directly from this one, but if they do… I don’t know if I can handle it 😅 Just thinking about that Tokyo scene makes me sob so hard I can’t breathe
I was going to say this is a good one to start with because it is so good. But, you have a good point too, all the rest are never going to live up to this one.
I found the CGI in this movie to be excellent. Not only was the Shinden well done, the warships were recognisable as their actual vessels they were supposed to be, and Godzilla looked pretty much like a guy in a rubber suit.
I can understand George's perspective on Imperial Japan. Everyonew knows about Nazi Germany but Imperial Japan was equally horrific in many ways yet less well known outside of the region. We had a family friend who was a boy in Malaysia growing up under Japanese occupation and his opinions were... strong. I also have visited Singapore for work and visited the museums there. Those occupied by the Japanese and any they took prisoner were subjected to absolutely inhumane treatment.
The thing is alot of folks blame all Japanese people, military or otherwise for such things..Even today....Yet you don't see the same being directed at all Germans..At least I don't see it.
@@Bodneyblue That's true; Japan was never really forgiven by it's neighbors like Germany was. I am sure that's because Japan never publicly acknowledged it's own fault the way the Germans did, or ever really owned up to the atrocities. I read an English-language memoir by a woman who worked for the occupation as a translator, and she said when her American friends asked her if the war crimes trials accomplished anything, she said yes: the Japanese on their own would never have been willing to document what happened the way the trials required.
@@DavetheGrue Also I feel it may have something to do with things like education. If you are taught throughout your schooling that a particular country and it's people were terrible (especially if those teaching really do not like such and without giving a more balanced view regards who actually was carrying out the bad stuff and who wasn't)..Many will grow up with similar perceptions.
I love the foreshadowing in this film. The dead radiated deep sea fish rising to the surface too fast that their stomachs explode out of their mouths. They attempt the same thing to Godzilla by using the force of nature against him with the rapid pressure changes. But Godzilla is also a force of nature born of nuclear energy. Godzilla is the unknown element. -OG
The idea of Godzilla floating is that his tail is hallow, (except for when he uses his heat ray where he stores the energy. He uses it as buoyancy to stay afloat,) You see it as the last part of him to sink when on the ocean floor in the movie.)
The first Godzilla was much like this one. An enemy, later versions he takes on a hero role protecting Japan from other monsters. He goes back and forth as a villain. The cities are mostly just collateral damage.
To answer Simone’s repercussion question, this is before they had security footage or digital records or even ways to send messages out. It all pretty much word of mouth and locating massive amounts of paperwork. Somebody would have had to report that his plane didn’t malfunction and he just bailed. But since everyone besides 2 are dead, who’s gonna know?
I am SO glad George noticed the German on the ejector seat! When I saw that scene in theaters, I was like, "Did an otaku work on the set design?" I feel like an American-made film would just have a normal seat in the plane, but that minute attention to realism made me love this film even more.
I've watched many Godzilla movies as far back as the Japanese 50s black and white. Never in my life did I ever think I would tear up during a Godzilla movie. This movie's amazing. Best Godzilla movie yet. It puts the American versions to shame.
Amazing the the whole VFX team for this movie was just 35 people, compared to the hundreds that work on for example a Marvel movie. The director is also VFX supervisor himself, so it goes to show how important it is to carefully plan your shots and lock them down & set things up to make the VFX team's job easier, which also makes it look better.
Good reaction. The unique thing about Godzilla is he can be a good guy or bad guy depending on the interpretation. Even in ones where’s he’s bad like the original 54 film or Minus One, he’s presented as a creature who never asked to be mutated. Humanity’s atomic testings not only mutated him but also traumatized him to now be in constant pain/anger hence why he’s slow and attacks (a reflection to people who were hit with radiation in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki according to Godzilla’s creator). However as time went on after the original in its 37 sequels/reboots, he grew to be more of a anti-hero fighting evil monsters that threaten his home, Earth. Hope you guys react to the American Monsterverse films. :)
I had just returned from a solo trip to Japan a few weeks before this came out. During the flight home (UK) I watched a movie called "Dr Coto's Clinic"....(Japanese with subs)....Two of the main character actors in the movie are also two of the main character actors in this movie!...I was in Japan for the second time...During my first trip I visited the site of the hotel which has Godzilla on the roof in Shinjuku..And during one of my hotel transfers I stopped by the Shin Gozilla Statue not far from Hibiya Station. It is said to be the largest Godzilla Statue in Japan. (According to Toho the company who created Godzilla)...And to top it off, during my second trip, I visited a combini store in Taishido which has a large King Kong model hanging over the front of the store...Both times I was in Japan was to see my favourite band "BAND-MAID" LIVE...And finally during my first trip..I did visit Hiroshima..and went to the Peace Museum...It was surreal to stand next to the Atomic Dome after seeing it so many times over the years in documentries and books.
The fast coming up from deep waters is how the fish were dying. The fish would have their stomach exploded and come out of the their mouth and their eyes budge out. The same director did Shim Godzilla which is a political take on how the government deals with Godzilla. Both movies used science to defeat him instead of weapons.
@Wrencher_86 From IMDB; "A spoiler is usually defined as a remark or piece of information which reveals important plot elements." Explain how "Godzilla is defeated using science" does not constitute important plot elements.
@@slowprodigy Because that's still incredibly vague? "Science" is a very broad term that gives basically no context clues other than you can guess that they don't shoot him or blow him up. At least not successfully.
I would love to see y’all watch more Godzilla movies. There’s one where a baby Godzilla tries to learn to use its fire breath and it is adorable!!! Simone would love it!
The best Godzilla movie ever. I used to watch the classic films. While they were entertaining and fun, I don’t think any of them moved me like Minus One did. There’s an emotional center to the film that grounds it into being both a meditation on trauma and loss, as well as a pretty good love/family story. And there’s a rather impressive monster in it too.
This is one of the only Godzilla movies where both Godzilla is scary, and the human story is worth watching. Incredible
Almost every Godzilla movie would be better with half the human story removed, it is just clumsy and silly. This is the first one that really floored me with the gripping story.
Agreed! Normally in these types of movies I don't care about the human characters and I just wait for Godzilla to show up and destroy shit but in Minus One, Godzilla is actually intimidating and I was worried for the human characters whenever they were around the big brute! I love this movie, man. I saw it at the cinema a few months ago and it was one of the best cinema experiences I've had in a while!
We are currently living in THE golden age of Godzilla films. On one side you have Japan doing these serious, well thought out films with message and meaning, and in the other you have america going full bonkers with the fun campiness. What a time to be a fan.
Yeah I love both sides, still hoping to see a good rendition of Jet Jaguar
I think the _Monarch_ TV series on Apple TV+ is really good too. It takes place in the same universe as the 2014 and later Godzilla/Kong movies from Universal, but it also ties into the original 1954 film. I like that it pays attention to the characters, like this movie (although not in such a heartbreaking way).
What, Godzilla x Kong was atrocious
I wouldn't say America's going full campy, rather we're just in that stage right now. There were some Monsterverse films that were more serious but I digress. It is indeed the peak condition to be a Godzilla fan right now.
"Campy" doesn't mean "poorly written and horribly directed". Evil Dead is campy, but it is not poorly made; the Adam Wingard films are legit badly made.
The title refers to the state Japan is in after the war. They have been reduced to zero. Godzilla shows up, now they are at -1. It’s a very Japanese concept.
Also, the original intent has been lost through the years, but Godzilla was supposed to be a representation of how terrified the Japanese were of atomic weapons.
Honestly a very appropriate representation of the fear and destruction of the weapons.
Similar to "Starblazers" aka "Space Battleship Yamato"
When godzilla shot his breath i felt that fear for the first time
The original Gojira is a much more complex allegory. Post ww2 there was a collective guilt over the 'beast' within their culture that had led to the Americans having to use Nuclear Weapons. As the cold War moved on that meaning developed into including a fear and hatred that nuclear weapons were now a threat on society and the end of the world. So Godzilla represents a divine punishment, collective guilt, fear of nuclear weapons and the Americans who could launch them.....whereas the American movies just go for big thing attacking us without any nuance
@@LacoSinfoniaSo kinda like when Michael Jackson came out with his album "Bad" and then Weird Al followed up with his album called "Even Worse"
What I love most about this movie is, you can take Godzilla out of it and you still have a gripping drama of survivor guilt, PTSD, people trying to rebuild a life after tragedy and trying to move on. Then you add Godzilla and it's the whipped cream and cherry on top.
He's only got 20 minutes of screen time which is baffling on how a Godzilla film is THIS good even without the title character!
Exactly. In this movie (his own movie!), Godzilla is just the maguffin.
この映画は、単に怪獣映画としてではなく、優れた反戦反核映画の傑作として、繰り返し世界中で上映し続けるべき作品だと思います☆…この映画は、登場人物である・敷島浩一、典子、アキコ、お隣さんの澄子さん…そしてゴジラも同じく‥戦争と核実験により〈全ての家族とホームを失くした〉境遇から、未来に向かって生き続ける尊い姿を描いているのです!☆ from🇯🇵
@@enbysheriff great writing and storytelling!
Facts, I'd watch it with or without godzilla
The way the spine moves out is meant to be like control rods in a nuclear reactor. By removing them, it allows the reaction to go off
No shit that’s so cool
Makes sense as the blue glow is likely a reference to Cherenkov radiation
Also reminds me of pulling the hammer back on a revolver
It felt like Gojira was projectile vomiting, a reflex that injured them, and devastated their environment.
Same like Simone, I too had never seen a Godzilla film. But this film absolutely floored me and now I'm in a Godzilla rabbit hole.
Welcome to the hole!
The theme that plays when Godzilla first shows up to the city is your new national anthem now lol
Welcome to a whole new global Big G Fan Family! 70yrs of influential and fun cinema
One of us, one of us
This is a REALLY good Godzilla film to be your first.
In case you two didn't know, the music used in the city attack and final battle is the original music score from the original godzilla films. It was really cool that they used it in this film.
The Roar as well! They played the OG roar over load speakers, and recorded it for this film 😮
At the same time I feel it was used much like the lighter music in Jaws when they were on the hunt near the end.
Shin Godzilla is the most out there design for Godzilla, speaking of, you guys should watch Shin Godzilla next. Personally I really do like the American rendition of Godzilla from 2014 onwards.
Minus One could be considered a remake of the original '54 film as there was even a BnW theatrical version of Minus One and there's quite some references to the original. Godzilla represents the tragedy and damage from the nuclear bombing as the original's Godzilla's head looked like a mushroom cloud. This Godzilla in Minus One was a prehistoric type creature that after the nuclear testings mutated him into what he is now. Godzilla's existence changes for different films normally separated by eras or just directors, but normally is just the representation of an uncontrollable force or consequence of the arrogance of mankind with how irresponsible they are with the powers they have.
Also during the water chase scene the director mentioned to Steven Spielberg that he wanted to recreate the tension in Jaws. Small note to Simone, reptiles like crocs and lizards will have their arms and legs placed close to their body to increase mobility, becoming more hydrodynamic and mostly use their body movement and tail to swim.
As for George regarding the treatment of soldiers and other people who disobeyed higher up orders, they were normally lose their positions and be given a shameful status in society. An example would be Mr. Sugihara who saved many Jews by allowing Visas to be given against his higher up's orders. After he returned to Japan, he was forced to resign due to "downsizing" and in Japanese culture they tend to force people to quit than outright fire them. His dishonor would make it difficult for him to get good work opportunities within the country, and would have to look for menial jobs or work out of the country. Israel did recognize his actions, but he would live in obscurity of what he did until after his death to his own country and to others around the world.
Indeed. Shin Godzilla is a great movie.
Thank you for the valuable information.
Agree, should definitely check out Shin Godzilla. Great flick, not to mention directed by Hideaki Ano, creator of Evangelion.
I have yet to see Shin Godzilla, but I have heard quite a bit about it. The Godzilla in that film is depicted as a creature in pain, constantly mutating from one form to another. This portrayal serves as a response to some of Japan’s recent disasters, such as the 2011 tsunami near Fukushima that caused a nuclear accident, and critiques the government’s response to those events.
i hope they react to Shin soon❤, to me still the best Godzilla movie and representation of the creature ever.
This wasn’t just the best Godzilla movie, this was a great movie, period. Should have been nominated for best picture, not just special effects. It was a great drama that just happened to have a giant monster in it.
For me, best design of Godzilla, too. Man, he was pissed!
That final charge up and the camera revolving around to show his furious face and wide open mouth was just amazing!
i dont get the love for this design. It looks so goofy 🤣
@@sugarbomb1346 which is your favorite?
Frankly, I don't blame Big G for being pissed off. You bomb my joint, radiate me *without my permission* ...and then *DO IT AGAIN* a few times??! Oh, yeah...I'm coming for blood, ass and all.
Japanese here. We were taught that the imperial army did atrocities during the war but not too specific and not the total magnitude. The focus is on how we went into the war and how the civilians suffered under a military regime under the name of the country and why we should never engage in warfare again. Conservatives complain that our education vilifies japan, progrssives complain how the details of the atrocities are omitted.
I’m commenting while watching, ever since the US occupation and post war reform, kamikaze pilots and other self sacrificing missions are seen as victims of a government that refused to surrender. However there must have been a reality of shame given the environment during that time.
Nationalists: "We weren't so bad. We didn't do anything other people also committed."
Historians: "It was bad enough and other's actions are not an alibi."
@@s0l0poly71 During the war, despite claims that the kamikaze corps was volunteer, there were people who refused the "honor" of dying. They knew it would change nothing. Those people were shamed and ostracized until they complied. They were accused of cowardice and being unpatriotic. Saburo Sakai was a fighter pilot and Japan's highest scoring ace to survive the war. When he heard about the plan for kamikaze attacks, he frankly thought it was stupid. He saw no point in the attacks that would only get men killed for nothing. Japan had already lost the war and no amount of suicide attacks were going to stop the US and its material might. If anything, this fanaticism and Japanese behavior during the Battle of Okinawa convinced US war planners to drop the atomic bombs.
@@kgjung2310 Yes the sex slaves and experiments not that bad.
I think for most Japanese, World War II is perceived as a war with the United States. The story goes like this. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, the US counterattacks, B-29s drop tons of bombs, the atomic bombs, and Japan surrenders.
The german in the plane actually spoiled the big twist that he parachuted out for german audiences like me cause it LITERALLY says "EJECTOR SEAT"
Earlier there was a line specifically saying Japanese planes didn't have ejector seats, so it was definitely odd to see German writing on a seat in a Japanese plane. Clever audiences (that don't know what it said) might have still figured it out.
I don't speak German but I still guessed the ejector seat, so the movie wasn't trying to hide it.
Agreed, they could have done a lot better keeping the reveal hidden a bit better. No reason for them to print it.
It had to be there, though. It wouldn't have made sense for it not to be there.
@@testfire3000 I prefer when movies give me clues and I can feel smart figuring out where it’s going, as long as the story is good. It’s satisfying. A movie that leaves out clues and just goes somewhere unexpected just to have a twist isn’t as fun.
This might be the best thumbnail yet
Awww c'mon! Simone isn't THAT scary!
And they have set the bar pretty high, they have some of the best thumbnails.
George, as a Korean, I felt it SO MUCH when you said that you had to "put personal feelings aside"; my grandmother, born in 1925, had to live through 20 years of Japanese occupation. And while she talked freely about the atrocities she saw in the Korean War - her husband being killed, having to flee hundreds of miles to Busan with my 5 year old mother and carrying my 2 year old uncle, she never said ONE WORD about what she saw during the occupation days.
So you can imagine that I was a bit apprehensive when I walked into the theatre, knowing what the basic storyline was gonna be. Japanese war veterans suffering? I'm not proud to admit that yeah, I had ZERO problems with that. I think very few Asians whose countries were occupied by the Japanese would have.
But then this movie did the IMPOSSIBLE. It made me EMPATHISE with post-war Japanese people and Japanese veterans.
Because they, too, were the victims of a government that threw away their lives for nothing. Because in the end, deservedly or not, they suffered horribly for their government's crimes. Millions dead. Millions more traumatised. Two cities nuked. Every family torn apart. And this movie draws a line between the people of Japan and the cruelty and incompetence of their government.
In the movie, it is civilians who rebuild Tokyo; it is civil protection that comes up with a plan to defeat the monster; it is civilians who show each other kindness, who realise that life is worth more than the death their government made them worship.
I cried in the theatre. For the Japanese. As a Korean. That a movie can do that - it is something to be in awe of.
Well said. Thank you for your perspective.
Great post.
Remember that many more Koreans volunteered for the Japanese Army than were accepted. And competition to be accepted into Japanese Military Academy was fierce. Many of Korea's postwar leaders were graduates of Japanese Military Academy. The Japanese greatly increased education and literacy and built alot of infrastructure. So it wasn't all bad.
THis is the best comment I've read in years. We need more people in the world that care more about humanity.
We need more movies that can do this. Help someone who hates, learn to empathize with the 'enemy'.
In the end, we're all human beings. Sometimes even more so when we've been the most wrong.
I like how they explained gojira having the nuke cooldown because it damages itself too, so it needs some time to regenerate. It makes sense.
Godzilla Minus One is the best Godzilla movies ever made and the best film of 2023. The black stuff on Noriko’s neck is probably Godzilla cells which it is Godzilla which nearly killed her but also Godzilla that likely saved her through regeneration
My wife who is Japanese, first thought it was the beginning of radiation sickness from the black rain. Sometimes reality has a way of getting in the way of things.
@@joeyartkthat’s what I was thinking when I saw it in the theater.
Yep. It's been confirmed by the filmmakers.
The thing that amazed me is this was made for under $15 million, while the new Godzilla X Kong cost over 10 times as much.
At times, you can tell that Minus One was made with a relatively low budget. Godzilla’s movements were sometimes stiff when walking. Godzilla stopped moving while in the water was so abrupt.
Seeing this in IMAX when it came out was incredible. Every stomp and roar and boom just shook the seats and you could feel it through your whole body. One of the best movie-going experiences in recent memory. I'm just mad I missed the one night only screening of the black & white version they put out.
I saw it in IMAX, regular, and the Black & White...
Yeah I loved being at the theater for it, was a blast
@@SGlitz - Lucky!
I saw it five times in regular theaters including once in black and white. It's such a great film that it's great to see any alternate version, but to me, color was much better than black and white. I'd like to see the color IMAX version, but it is rare to find an IMAX theater with a decent screen size these days; they're almost all too small.
@@TB-wvvvw - I just got tickets for an upcoming double feature of this film and "Shin Godzilla" both in their b&w versions i one of Hollywood's old movie palaces (the Egyptian Theatre just down the street from the Chinese Theatre and currently owned by Netflix who spent a bunch o' money doing a big restoration of it) and I'm SO excited.
The ashen rain or “black rain”, as it was known, that starts to come down was an effect of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. This was due to the amount of debris and smoke in the atmosphere. The 1989 Ridley Scott film Black Rain is a crime-noir set in 1980s Japan, and the title refers to post war Japan and the ways the country was effected by the American occupation. I guess the implication here is that Godzilla’s atomic breath has now re-created the black rain-giving a feeling that the war will never end.
Also Shohei Imamura's Black Rain, from the same year, addresses the subject directly.
It’s also the name of an excellent Michael Douglas 80’s flick.
@@noneya3635 that's the one directed by Ridley Scott.
@@lanolinlight Very sad movie.
@@dennai7695 Back in the days before he started getting high huffing his own scat.
This is the most brilliant version because somehow they have captured the style of the original Japanese movie version and implemented genious cgi . It feels like a 50s version even with the acting but visually flawless. They so deserved the Oscar for this
Much of the special effects were practical, with excellent miniatures and compositing. CGI was mostly used to smooth out the seams between the miniatures and the live-action footage.
Very small effects team, working directly with the director, on a shoestring budget. But they had focus and vision and executed very precisely on it with nothing wasted. Everything was planned out, they just needed to do the work exactly once.
Compare to the bloated Hollywood productions where they don't even finish the script until after two rounds of reshoots, and they figure out what effects they need when they're almost done editing footage that was made with a "we'll fix it in post" attitude two weeks before the movie goes to theaters.
I was born in the USA to a Japanese Mother. I never learned about Japanese atrocities from her. Her stories to me were on a more personal level on how the war affected her personally. I had to learn about the other stuff in history books
Did your American dad go over all the American atrocities?
@@joeyartk prolly not. They were the winners and winners sadly seep all that under the rug
There wouldn’t be any American atrocities if they hadn’t been pushed into war by an unprovoked attack.
@@joeyartk Yeah, like giving immunity to the "doctors" of Unit 731....
All countries write a different history for the same war.
I have been watching movies in theaters since the 80s, and in the last decade, watching Godzilla Minus One was the first time in years I felt the electricity of watching a movie where the whole theater was dialed in. Everyone was hooked and it really was magical. Also, as a fan of the older Godzilla movies, I was glad they gave this one the proportions and kind of lumbering movements of a guy in a big rubber suit. Fun fact that guy was Haruo Nakajima, and was also in Seven Samurai (as a bandit) just before he became Godzilla.
This move is also the poster-child of what story over budget can do. I'm hoping it helps movies move more towards story over spectacle in the long run.
SIMONES FIRST GODZILLA!?!?!! YOU ARE SO LUCKY HAVING THE BEST GODZILLA AS YOUR FIRST MOVIE YOU ARE SOOOOOOOOO LUCKY
Ok in case it’s not said enough, your thumbnails are THE BEST 🤩 please don’t ever change.
The former navy destroyers and the cruiser they show in the film are all historical vessels that survived the war. They met different fates afterwards, either scrapped or given to China/Taiwan, or sunk as targets. The final destroyer they ride at the end of the film was considered the luckiest of the bunch, having been through many battles without losing a crewman or taking combat damage.
That thumbnail is pure nightmare 😂
Pretty disturbing. Kind of reminded me of a giant version of The Thing.
So to my knowledge there’s no laws against portraying the Imperial military in a negative light, and there have been Japanese movies made about how bad the military and government were, with anti-war and anti-authoritarian themes. There’s even a documentary where a former Imperial soldier tracks down his former superiors and confronts them about their actions in the war, including outright beating them for it.
The issue is like the US- good luck with the discourse fallout and getting money depending on your project.
Didn't expect to see a reference to The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On here.
@@davideoliveirapinheiro1096 Yikes, never heard of that film before.
@@NomadBulldog many famous Japanese movies in the 60s were anti military.
The Godzilla in this movie is a mish mash of other Godzillas.
The roar is OG/Showa Zilla era, the Dino version is from Heisei Zilla era and the regenerative portions are from Millenium Zilla era.
This movie will make you say "I cared about the people... In a *Godzilla* movie!"
For Simone's benefit, "Gojira" is a portmanteau of gorilla and kujira (whale). It was the nickname of a crew member at the original studio. It became "Godzilla" for US consumption. He was awakened by nuclear testing. The original film was considered by some to be a political comment on nuclear weapons.
The deep sea fish are messed up because they've been dragged up with Godzilla from the depths and aren't able to survive on the surface. It's a hint towards the use of ocean pressure on Godzilla later and also makes an ominous sign Godzilla is near
To see this effect in real life, if you google "blobfish," it doesn't actually look like that at depth, just when it's brought up, the decompression messes it up in the worst way.
Don't they look 'odd' because their innards bloat out their moths, like an air bag? That's what I thought, I could be wrong.
Was able to see this MASTERPIECE in theaters twice & was so happy when it won the Oscar for best visual effects
bro.... i saw it 6 times in theaters. I saw it for the first time and headed to see it again the next day. i took my ex best friend to see it a few days later. then another friend. then my brother and my cousin. And i then saw it alone as my first movie of the year 2024.
such a superb film.
Rookie numbers. I saw it nine times in theaters. Two of those were in Minus Color.
@fakecubed really is rookie numbers. If i could have seen it in minus color. I probably would have seen it a few more times
On a $15 million budget, this movie is so well-made that it shames most of the recent big-budget Hollywood CGI-fests. Also, Noriko is best girl.
Actually, if i recall correctly, the budget was closer to 10 million which is insane
1.5 billion yen.
it definitely looked like it had a low budget
@@kaiviru Yes I agree. I believe the final budget was estimated in the 10-12 range, where US$15M was what was originally touted. Of course, exchange rate changes, etc etc.
The only way it shames most recent Hollywood films is the fact that it has pretty decent CGI for the budget that they had for this. You can definitely see the hallmarks of CGI, even with the plane that Shikishima was flying. An impressive feat nonetheless.
Godzilla is a metaphor for nuclear weapons and natural disasters. His spines pushing out then in is like the control rods of a nuclear reactor with the blue glow representing Cherenkov radiation. After the bombings of Japan, black rain fell from the radioactive fallout. Godzilla is just an animal, part of nature. Not good or bad. This is by far the best Godzilla film since the original that captured what Godzilla really is.
Like Superman, Dracula, James Bond, Godzilla is one of those cultural icons that can invoke a place and time in people's minds. Some people even forget what created it and "Godzilla Minus One" reminds us of it. There was the later era where Godzilla became a commodity of sorts, coming close to similarities to America's Disney and Mickey Mouse, so ingrained he was in the national identity. But now and then Toho does look upon Godzilla as a symbol of man's hubris with his technology finding retribution, and Japan looking back at its history. Otherwise he's battling monsters. I think Godzilla exists on a spectrum, where "Godzilla Minus One" and Gareth Edwards' "Godzilla" are both great and entertaining examples. It's funny that the directors of both incarnations were in some way inspired by Steven Spielberg's work.
This is the perfect movie to introduce Godzilla to anyone who doesn't know him much
As MANY people have said "I did NOT expect to cry during a Godzilla movie."
I am not a big Godzilla fan as I thought they were goofy, but seeing this in the theater, I just cried. This was my favorite movie of 2023, and I saw all of the Best Picture nominees. If they put their submissions in for more than one category it could have won more Oscars. The soundtrack is so haunting and epic.
yeah it should also at least nominated in Best Score
@@fajarkurniawan9434 Why? all they did was reuse the original music 🤣
@@sugarbomb1346 Only two tracks are old, the rest are original.
As you may know, awards shows like Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, etc don't tell you who the best movies, shows, or music are. They're primarily a tool for business and promotion, primarily in California. That's why you can see things like a thug assaulting a comic on stage, then getting a standing ovation, or a group getting an award for music who never sang any of it. Awards are nothing to me. What's more meaningful to me is, I watched one of director Yamazaki's movies, and now I want to see all the rest of them.
For Godzilla films. The first one, Godzilla 1954 (Make sure it's the one with *out* Raymond Burr, as that was heavily edited for US audiences) After that, Shin Godzilla. Both of these films mirror each other in that they're born out of frustration and anger at the Japanese government and Nuclear disaster. The First one is about the failures of the Meiji government that allowed the Atomic Bombs to happen (not surrendering fast enough, etc) and the second is about the Tohoku Earthquake and Fukushima Reactor disaster and the government's inability to act and the resulting disasters from that point.
28:52 The plane is the J7W1 Shinden, a late war prototype that never saw production. Only 2 were made.
By ultra rare co-instances, when I was in Japan at Camp Fuji. we used to take the bullet train to Tokyo. I ended dating a Girl named Noriko who lived in Ginza.
Lmao that’s crazy coincidence
Are you guys still dating?
As someone that grew up in the 70s/80s watching the original movies, this is, in my personal opinion, the best Godzilla movie I have ever watched. Granted, I have not seen every single one, nor do I plan to.
I love how they managed to give the scenes with Godzilla a bit of the look of the special effects of the old Godzilla movies from the 70s-90s.
Also the use of the old musical themes are wonderful too.
The tanks, the train and later some shots of the airplane looked like miniatures from the older films. Loved it.
@@notconcernedwriting The regeneration after the second mine explosion looks like stop-motion too.
Yeah, and Godzilla moves a bit like a man in a suit. It's so impressive.
The Godzilla vs Mothra theme hit so me hard
Just because it would be funny, you guys should go from this being Simone's first Godzilla movie to just reacting to the 90s GAMERA trilogy! 😂
In the beginning, the thing in the water was a fish which had come up from the depths quickly. It's swim bladder didn't have time to shrink and is sticking out of its mouth. I thought "Toro, Toro, Toro" was about Pearl Harbor. but still a great movie.
"Tora! Tora! Tora!", but yes, it was the first serious movie about Pearl Harbor and tried portray both sides. The phrase was the code for having achieved surprise.
My understanding of the "why minus one" is that because after the war Japan had been bombed to the point of "zero" the introduction of Godzilla brought Japan below even that, to Minus 1.
My first Japanese Godzilla movie I saw in the theater! I cried my eyes out, so well done!
HOLY CRAP, do I believe the Oscar hype!!!! Minus One was beautifully done and animated. I wasn't expecting Noriko to have survived, but those Godzilla cells literally saved her neck.
Real thrill to see Godzilla properly terrifying and a real villainistic overwhelming threat.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the "Godzilla is actually our friend" American version.
By far the best Godzilla movie I've seen! ♥ Actually watched this the nite before going to Japan for 10 days 🦖
Godzilla is the atomic bomb disguised as a monster.
That was the intent of the original movie and MINUS ONE reminded audiences where Godzilla came from and what it represents. Godziller was a living dinosaur that inadvertently got irradiated by the United States testing atomic weapons.
"He flared his pewter" is from kickass Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Pewter allomancers (or pewterarms) can burn ingested pewter to enhance their physical abilities, or flare it to briefly gain a burst of strength or speed.
You guys should have Shin Godzilla directed by Hideaki Anno
12:13 I know it wouldn't help but I keep thinking of Chief Brody saying "We're gonna need a bigger boat"
The thumbnail is both adorable and terrifying at the same time
Many people miss it, but early in the movie when there is a brief flashback to nuclear testing (it was when Simone said, “what was that!?”) we get a glimpse of Godzilla’s eye in fire and a Godzilla roar. It’s on screen for maybe a second and a half, but that is the living dinosaur Godzilla getting nuked and becoming radioactive and a literal nuclear weapon. It’s humans who “create” the nuclear Godzilla who is just a part of nature originally.
This is the same theme of the OG Godzilla from 1954.
Metaphorically the OG Godzilla film is the post War Japanese coping with the horror of the nuclear attacks by the U.S.
This follows that logic and does it the best of any Godzilla movie ever.
Regarding your question about Japanese World War 2 movies, this same director did a film called The Eternal Zero in 2013 which was accused of glorifying kamikaze pilots. He insisted that wasn't his intention, and this film is very much a deliberate attempt to correct that.
The emotional depth of this movie is off the charts. The reason it's so good isn't because of Godzilla, it's because we care about the humans. Godzilla is the cherry on top of an already amazing sundae.
This was a difficult film for me. I went to the cinema with my friends whose parents are originally from China, so my friends did have a totally different experience to everybody else. What they talked about after was how the film tried to make the audience feel sorry for what happened to the Japanese and yet didn't even touch on the atrocities that the Japanese Imperial army did in mainland China to the civllians. After discussing this with them, the film actually left a pretty sour taste in my mouth with how it tries to make us feel sorry for the Japanese soldiers.
Many of the people caught up in this don't have any agency. If war were only between the parties responsible for it that would be great.
This movie didn't touch on atrocities committed by the Japanese, the Germans, the Soviets, and it only briefly mentioned the Americans compared to how many awful things they were a part of.
Atrocities committed away from home also have an air of deniability that having a concentration camp next door do not. It's not the era of the internet.
Why would the people that lived through the fire bombings in Tokyo have anything to do with what the army did in china?
I like to think G's spines in this version are like control rods in a nuclear reactor, so they're not popping up *because* he's powering up, he's forcing them up to make his reactivity more severe.
Person: "What's the most emotional movie you've seen in the last 10 years."
Me: "Godzilla Minus One"
"He flared his pewter". Mistborn, I finally got a reference!
Never will I understand how this masterpiece of monster cinema only cost a measly $15 million to make, literally 10 or even 20 times less of a budget than big Hollywood blockbuster films. Absolute deserved Oscar win for the effect work!
This movie will make you FEAR Godzilla! I've never seen him depicted as such a force of nature before. The scene in Ginza when you look out the train, see Godzilla in his full glory, and - to top it all off - the classic Godzilla theme comes on, was one of those rare "OMG they're really doing this!" moments that make you delighted to witness this with your own eyes. One of my favourite moments from ANY Kaiju film ever!
* Takashi Yamazaki (director) explained that post-war Japan was at “zero” and the attack by Godzilla, Tokyo was at “minus one” - hence, Godzilla Minus One.
* Amazing that Godzilla Minus One (2023) was made for under $12 million - just 1/13 of the budget of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024).
The American Monsterverse Godzilla is like a juicy hamburger while the recent Japanese Toho Godzilla is like a gourmet steak - both are “delicious” depending on your mood.
* The latest American “MonsterVerse” Godzilla movies were full of CGI “eye candies,” and did not require me to think very hard.
In licensed “monster” movies such as Godzilla vs Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), I just “kicked back” and enjoyed the CGI spectacles.
More importantly, these two big-budget (over 130 million USD each) “popcorn flicks” were hugely profitable globally. This contractually restricts when and where the Japanese Toho could release or stream its Godzilla movies.
* The latest Japanese “Toho” Godzilla movies were allegories of Japan’s traumas, which required me to think deeply.
In Shin Godzilla (2016), the bureaucratic Japanese government failed to address the 2011 (rapidly unfolding) triple disasters of earthquake -> then tsunami -> then nuclear plant meltdown using an “evolving” Godzilla as an allegory.
In Godzilla Minus One (2023), the people-led effort defeated Godzilla (temporarily) as Japan rebuilt after World War II (post-1945) with a compelling human story of “survivor guilt.”
These two low-budget (under 12 million USD each) “monster” movies won numerous awards including Best Picture in Japan (both) and Godzilla Minus One won an Oscar in the US for Best Visual Effects (the first-ever for a low-budget monster movie).
In the first original movie, Godzilla was a creature taking his anger out on humanity for his pained existence brought about by the Atomic Weapons of Man.
Later on in the Showa Era he become something of a protector of Earth from other Kaiju who would threaten it. Mostly King Ghidorah, Godzilla's most well known rival.
The Heisei Era rebooted Godzilla, starting him out again to be an angry monster destroying humanity but then he was slowly changed again to being an anti-hero protector of Earth, before the final movie of the era, Godzilla vs Destoroyah, which had one of the saddest endings of any Godzilla movie.
The Millennium Era of movies were largely unconnected, motivations for Godzilla were same-old same-old.
The Monsterverse American Godzilla is undoubtedly a protector of Earth, but in an anti-hero way again. Unlike being a mutated creature like before, here he's a naturally evolved animal, one of the "Titans".
Shin Godzilla brought it back to the very original movie, where Godzilla was a mutated creature brought into being by Man's misuse of Nuclear Waste. The movie itself was also a shot taken at the response of the Japanese Government toward the Fukushima Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Disaster. The movie was very much a modern day take on the original movie.
Godzilla Minus One tells the most personal human story I've seen in a Godzilla movie and in my opinion tells it the best. This Godzilla is pure malevolence, the creators stating it's thought to be an ancient god-like deity that is mutated partway through the movie by the 1946 Bikini Atoll bomb. This Godzilla is by far one of the most hateful, spiteful and _evil_ versions of the character, going out of his way to kill any human he sees. Not even Shin Godzilla or the very original for that matter were this murderous.
I mean the whole movie's a fairly solid repudiation of the war, Koichi spends the whole movie wishing he'd died doing his duty, and everybody else in the movie spends the entire time going "Are you fucking dumb? The war was stupid. The government did this to us. You have to live because they all died for nothing"
No, i also was obsessed with the idea that Godzilla was treading water most of the movie when we see him.
There were no reprisals against failed "Divine Wind" pilots (I don't know if UA-cam flags the "K" word) _after_ the War, but _during_ the war, they were A) given only enough fuel for a one-way mission, B) their cockpit canopies were nailed shut before take-off, and C) non-K fighters escorted them on their mission to both defend them from US fighters and to shoot down any K planes that didn't perform their mission.
Jesus.
Wow I never knew that. Brutal. Imperial Japan was something else.
It seems my first reply got eaten so trying again: I doubt B and C were common occurrences. Certainly they didn't have the spare planes, pilots, and fuel to regularly escort K sorties. And nailing the cockpit shut wouldn't have been to prevent a bail out because they wouldn't have parachutes. The fuel shortage was an issue, but that wouldn't stop someone from chickening out as we see in the film; they'd just have to do it sooner. Interestingly, early in the war, fighter pilots were issued parachutes and it was even officially recommended that they use them, but the pilots themselves refused them. They were generally flying over enemy territory in '42 and to bail out would be an admission they were willing to be captured. (According to Saburo Sakai's autobiography, "Samurai!", anyway. Btw, he was once sent on a K mission, but they came back because they couldn't find the US fleet.) What really coerced the K pilots - many of whom were very unhappy with the duty - was tremendous social pressure. Everyone was expected to give their lives if needed. If someone was thought a coward, their entire family would be ostracized.
The word for Godzilla's design in this is "eldritch." It looks like an "eldritch horror." Something ancient and madness-inducing. Like Lovecraftian, but spiky rather than slithery.
I second George's idea of watching "Tora! Tora! Tora!" That was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Cinematic excellence.
Please watch literally any of the other Godzilla movies, but especially the ones with Mothra-- Simone will love her!!! :) EDIT: There's also the Chibi Godzilla cartoon on UA-cam on the official Godzilla channel. They're all subtitled and super funny!
So there are different versions of Godzilla in different continuities and different lore. This version borrows from a previous incarnation where Godzilla was already an evolved prehistoric creature that was caught in hydrogen bomb testing which forced him to rapidly mutate due to his regenerative properties. In fact his skin in this movie and in the original 1954 version are meant to resemble keloid burn scars from the burns left by the bomb. I also do recommend you guys react to more Godzilla and more kaiju. I would hope you guys put Legendary's Monsterverse on the list for reactions. They eventually go into a more heavy sci-fi fantasy element with a bigger emphasis on kaiju fights but they are all entertaining and that side of Godzilla had already been done in Japan where it goes from serious, almost horror tone to more insane action
Simone has the privilege of her first Godzilla movie being one of the best ever made in the franchise's insanely long history.
@ George It will get easier to put aside these things the more you watch things like this. Im German, and im pretty much used to similar feelings. Watching WW2 like this is even a hole another ballpark as that. Coming from the land of the oppressors is sometimes... difficult to watch. I think, minus one avoided a lot of this, but clearly mentioned the absolut unnecessary practice to send these troops in masses into suicide. Its a delicate balance walk, to acknowledge the part your country has played in ww2 (especially for Japan and germany) without telling these people "you are just like your ancestors". Long story short, I can understand the problem the film makers had to face and think they did an OK job addressing it. Also this movie, at least for me, has the clear massage to not let this happen again. Aside from a monster movie it is all in all a Anti-war movie. And a really, really good one, when it comes to that.
I always liked that in the first Captain America movie, Erskine (the scientist who made Cap) has the line "This is from Augsburg, my city. So many people forget that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own."
@hellomark1 Great point. But my ancestors rather voted them up or couldn't/ didnt want to stop it. Please be cautious with the "not all Germans were bad" argument. It's way more complicated than that.
@@Coldwater-sw6me Oh I realize, I'm glad I didn't live there, then. I'm kinda concerned with the way things are heading where I live, for similar reasons. I meant no offense.
@hellomark1 I didn't take it as such. I just thought it was necessary to add it. We have similar problems in Germany. Many things I know from the history of Germany are happening again. It's all over Europe again, and I'm extremely concerned, which trend all this is pointing towards. Stay safe, brother. Thanks for the respect.✌️
My favorite designs are Godzilla (1998), Godzilla Monsterverse and Godzilla Minus One!!! 😊
my partner is taiwanese, she struggled to empathise with the films characters too so you're definitely not alone in trying to put aside your personal feelings. it's very hard and i've found a lot of western audiences fail to understand this perspective a lot.
Yeah but chinese proper not Taiwan is different when you think about the atrocities committed by chinese to chinese
Congratulations on this being your first Godzilla movie. Personally, this one is one of the best. Don't know if someone commented this but the Minus one is a reference
Economic state of Japan after the war, so they were that zero but with Godzilla in this world, they were pushed from zero to negative or Minus one.
日本から日本語でコメント失礼します。
このチャンネルをいつも楽しく拝見してます。ゴジラ-1.0を楽しんでもらえたようで嬉しいです😄
If anyone had ever told me I’d ugly cry because of a Godzilla movie of all things, I’d have seriously wondered for their mental wellbeing and asked what illegal narcotics they were taking so I could get them help. This movie though… Holy. Shit. I was expecting a big, fun, wildly good Japanese Godzilla movie. I got emotional trauma dumped and felt my soul being torn apart like tissue paper. As an American I will never, ever completely understand the thinking behind the Japanese side of WW2, but this is told from a perspective we are not ever really shown. I hate that so many innocent people died in a war over absolutely stupid levels of racism and how the entire planet was essentially dragged into it. It is the definition of an atrocity and something everyone on this planet deserves to know all of the horrible details of so we can see what real war is and why it is pure evil. To see this amazingly talented actor portray survivor’s guilt so beautifully… it hurt. It truly hurt. I have not been moved to this degree of pain from a war centered story since Grave of the Fireflies (which I absolutely recommend every single person watch once in their lifetime and I will NEVER watch it again because it’s just too painful). This movie is a MASTERPIECE. It deserves all of the praise and even more. I don’t know if they’re making a sequel directly from this one, but if they do… I don’t know if I can handle it 😅 Just thinking about that Tokyo scene makes me sob so hard I can’t breathe
This is a hard Godzilla movie to start with, because it is the best one and nothing else will come close.
I was going to say this is a good one to start with because it is so good. But, you have a good point too, all the rest are never going to live up to this one.
The 1954 'Gogira' is a must watch. Over time they did become geared more to a younger audience with Godzilla being the good guy.
Recency bias is one helluva drug
The actual original is still superior. But this one is no slouch.
Ehhh I’m biased because 1954 is still the best one for me. Minus one is in my top 3 though.
I found the CGI in this movie to be excellent. Not only was the Shinden well done, the warships were recognisable as their actual vessels they were supposed to be, and Godzilla looked pretty much like a guy in a rubber suit.
I can understand George's perspective on Imperial Japan. Everyonew knows about Nazi Germany but Imperial Japan was equally horrific in many ways yet less well known outside of the region. We had a family friend who was a boy in Malaysia growing up under Japanese occupation and his opinions were... strong. I also have visited Singapore for work and visited the museums there. Those occupied by the Japanese and any they took prisoner were subjected to absolutely inhumane treatment.
The thing is alot of folks blame all Japanese people, military or otherwise for such things..Even today....Yet you don't see the same being directed at all Germans..At least I don't see it.
@@Bodneyblue Its because the germans nowadays admit wrongdoing and teach it. Japanese do not
@@Bodneyblue That's true; Japan was never really forgiven by it's neighbors like Germany was. I am sure that's because Japan never publicly acknowledged it's own fault the way the Germans did, or ever really owned up to the atrocities. I read an English-language memoir by a woman who worked for the occupation as a translator, and she said when her American friends asked her if the war crimes trials accomplished anything, she said yes: the Japanese on their own would never have been willing to document what happened the way the trials required.
@@DavetheGrue Also I feel it may have something to do with things like education. If you are taught throughout your schooling that a particular country and it's people were terrible (especially if those teaching really do not like such and without giving a more balanced view regards who actually was carrying out the bad stuff and who wasn't)..Many will grow up with similar perceptions.
I like both the early 1950s rounded/curvy Godzilla AND the 2014 "Gold's Gym" Godzilla.
The undercurrent for the whole Godzilla franchise is that Militarism as a whole is the real monster.
I love the foreshadowing in this film. The dead radiated deep sea fish rising to the surface too fast that their stomachs explode out of their mouths.
They attempt the same thing to Godzilla by using the force of nature against him with the rapid pressure changes.
But Godzilla is also a force of nature born of nuclear energy. Godzilla is the unknown element. -OG
The idea of Godzilla floating is that his tail is hallow, (except for when he uses his heat ray where he stores the energy. He uses it as buoyancy to stay afloat,) You see it as the last part of him to sink when on the ocean floor in the movie.)
The first Godzilla was much like this one. An enemy, later versions he takes on a hero role protecting Japan from other monsters. He goes back and forth as a villain. The cities are mostly just collateral damage.
To answer Simone’s repercussion question, this is before they had security footage or digital records or even ways to send messages out. It all pretty much word of mouth and locating massive amounts of paperwork. Somebody would have had to report that his plane didn’t malfunction and he just bailed. But since everyone besides 2 are dead, who’s gonna know?
I am SO glad George noticed the German on the ejector seat! When I saw that scene in theaters, I was like, "Did an otaku work on the set design?" I feel like an American-made film would just have a normal seat in the plane, but that minute attention to realism made me love this film even more.
Nobody expected to cry in a godzilla movie but here we are,
I've watched many Godzilla movies as far back as the Japanese 50s black and white. Never in my life did I ever think I would tear up during a Godzilla movie. This movie's amazing. Best Godzilla movie yet. It puts the American versions to shame.
Godzilla 1954
Shin Godzilla
Godzilla King of the Monsters 2016
Amazing the the whole VFX team for this movie was just 35 people, compared to the hundreds that work on for example a Marvel movie. The director is also VFX supervisor himself, so it goes to show how important it is to carefully plan your shots and lock them down & set things up to make the VFX team's job easier, which also makes it look better.
Fun fact this is the 1st godzilla movie to win an Oscar for best special effects
god only knows how or why
Good reaction. The unique thing about Godzilla is he can be a good guy or bad guy depending on the interpretation. Even in ones where’s he’s bad like the original 54 film or Minus One, he’s presented as a creature who never asked to be mutated. Humanity’s atomic testings not only mutated him but also traumatized him to now be in constant pain/anger hence why he’s slow and attacks (a reflection to people who were hit with radiation in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki according to Godzilla’s creator). However as time went on after the original in its 37 sequels/reboots, he grew to be more of a anti-hero fighting evil monsters that threaten his home, Earth. Hope you guys react to the American Monsterverse films. :)
Please do shin godzilla next
I had just returned from a solo trip to Japan a few weeks before this came out. During the flight home (UK) I watched a movie called "Dr Coto's Clinic"....(Japanese with subs)....Two of the main character actors in the movie are also two of the main character actors in this movie!...I was in Japan for the second time...During my first trip I visited the site of the hotel which has Godzilla on the roof in Shinjuku..And during one of my hotel transfers I stopped by the Shin Gozilla Statue not far from Hibiya Station. It is said to be the largest Godzilla Statue in Japan. (According to Toho the company who created Godzilla)...And to top it off, during my second trip, I visited a combini store in Taishido which has a large King Kong model hanging over the front of the store...Both times I was in Japan was to see my favourite band "BAND-MAID" LIVE...And finally during my first trip..I did visit Hiroshima..and went to the Peace Museum...It was surreal to stand next to the Atomic Dome after seeing it so many times over the years in documentries and books.
The fast coming up from deep waters is how the fish were dying. The fish would have their stomach exploded and come out of the their mouth and their eyes budge out. The same director did Shim Godzilla which is a political take on how the government deals with Godzilla. Both movies used science to defeat him instead of weapons.
I was hoping after this that they might be interested in watching Shin Godzilla. Too bad you spoiled the ending for them.
@@slowprodigy I don't think that's specific enough to rise to the level of "spoiler".
@Wrencher_86 From IMDB; "A spoiler is usually defined as a remark or piece of information which reveals important plot elements."
Explain how "Godzilla is defeated using science" does not constitute important plot elements.
@@slowprodigy Because that's still incredibly vague? "Science" is a very broad term that gives basically no context clues other than you can guess that they don't shoot him or blow him up. At least not successfully.
Not the same director; Shin was Hideaki Anno, the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Greatest Godzilla movie ever. Great story, characters, acting, cinematography, effects, etc.
I would love to see y’all watch more Godzilla movies. There’s one where a baby Godzilla tries to learn to use its fire breath and it is adorable!!! Simone would love it!
The best Godzilla movie ever. I used to watch the classic films. While they were entertaining and fun, I don’t think any of them moved me like Minus One did. There’s an emotional center to the film that grounds it into being both a meditation on trauma and loss, as well as a pretty good love/family story.
And there’s a rather impressive monster in it too.
The acting though.
Man, I've seen this four times already, and that hospital scene near the end still gets me.