‘Godzilla Minus One’ flexes its monster power 

“Godzilla Minus One” is worth seeing. Period. Even if you’re not into monsters and big creatures destroying everything. The main attraction of the film gives you everything you could want from a nemesis and times that by a thousand. In “Godzilla Minus One,” the giant walking atomic bomb, Godzilla is engagingly frightening. 

Whenever Godzilla makes his appearances on the screen, it almost feels like a surreal moment every time. It’s been quite a long time since Godzilla has been portrayed as the villain, and it is a refreshing take on the mesmerizing monster that seems to have eluded recent American-made films that feature the hulking beast. 

Let’s be clear: “Godzilla Minus One is not a feel-good, you’re my friend and save the world Godzilla. No. This version of Godzilla represents unrepentant destruction and mayhem. The depiction of Godzilla wrecking everything in his sight, sometimes rather spectacularly, is awesome to watch. 

It’s almost mind-blowing the way that “Godzilla Minus One” director Takashi Yamazaki brings authenticity to the film as well as making the special effects go off the charts. There are several scenes in particular where I found myself having to pick my mouth off the floor when Godzilla unleashed his nuclear or atomic power on all of mankind. 

“Godzilla Minus One” is an action-packed spectacle that should be seen on the big screen. This film was made for it. The action sequences have you on the edge throughout the film. Besides the obvious boom parts of the film, what “Godzilla Minus One” offers is a love story. 

The movie shows the humanity side opposite of Godzilla’s mass wreckage. The film is loosely based on post-war Japan as we see the aftermath in Godzilla. While watching “Godzilla Minus One,” I kept wondering about the symbolism of Godzilla. 

In essence, if one were to make a political analogy, Godzilla represents the atomic bomb that left Hiroshima and Nagasaki in shambles. The swath of destruction left behind by Godzilla and his walk-the-earth rampage tears families apart and leaves communities in ruin as those who survive the onslaught look around for their loved ones. Here is where the film moves into another tier. 

The action in the movie is balanced with solid writing, great dialogue and good acting. Instead of putting efforts solely on the unwanted carnage, Yamazaki and TOHO Studios do a great job of showing the human side of things. You can feel the pain and the despair as Godzilla goes about his business of unleashing his reign of untethered terror. 

The main actors in the film are superb and give “Godzilla Minus One” its human engine. Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a kamikaze pilot who abandons the war front and heads back home where he is viewed as a loser. With his family and community wiped out, Shikishima finds himself unwanted back home as Sumiko Ota (Sakura Ando) tells him this. 

Interestingly enough, the bad start to this relationship winds up being one that nearly derails the love interest between Shikishima and Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe). What we see in these central figures throughout the film is the strength of the human spirit. 

The ridiculed Shikishima, who blows an opportunity to act like a real fighter pilot early in the film, is haunted by the ghosts of his failure. As the movie progresses, Shikishima develops more and more animosity towards Godzilla and the pathway of demolition the monster is responsible for. 

Hamabe brings a quiet strength to her role as Noriko, which is incredibly needed in the middle of this high-volume noise machine. The same can be said about Ando and her character, Sumiko. While she encounters Shikishima as an antagonist, Sumiko becomes buddy-buddy with the war deserter and eventually befriends him. 

The supporting cast, led by Munetaka Aoki (Sosaku Tachibana), is solid. It is the no-nonsense Tachibana and the peril of mankind that jumpstarts Shikishima from running away from his duties as a soldier and himself. Typically, monster movies don’t always usher in great acting, but “Godzilla Minus One,” is an exception. 

The top-tier acting combined with second-to-none visual effects along with the monstrosity spectacle of Godzilla makes “Godzilla Minus One” a winner in just about every sense.

You have the family element. There’s romance. Friendships are forged. Camaraderie and the will to fight back also wave their heads. Throw in a giant monster with nuclear tendencies and “Godzilla Minus One” is more than a worthy film to watch. It is one of the year’s best films.