Blog post on 2023/12/22

Next year Godzilla turns 70 and to celebrate that, they've made a new movie called Godzilla Minus 1. I watched it and enjoyed it a lot. It is set just after WW2 and already having been devastated by the war, Japan is further pounded into rubble by the attack of the titular monster, Godzilla. I was fascinated by the special effects. At first glance, I really couldn't tell if they'd gone for the old school method of having a man in a rubber suit. Godzilla shows very little expressiveness, aside from when he's roaring or firing his breath weapon, he just waddles about grinning. Most of the expressiveness is in his eyes - they move around and you can feel the menace from them. But it turns out they've recreated the look of the MiaRS using CGI, which is a weird take, but I think it really suits the film. They also recorded the roar from the original movies and used that rather than creating a new roar for him.

The story isn't overly complicated. It centers upon a kamikaze pilot who abandons his mission, and ends up being in the wrong place at the wrong time and narrowly avoids being killed by Godzilla. The monster is merely a plot device in pilot's redemption arc as he goes from coward to hero. I would not be at all surprised if this sees more movies in a similar vein being made as by all accounts it has done very well so far and has really high reviews from critics and cinema goers alike.