Godzilla Minus One is a Toho (made in Japan) Godzilla movie released in 2023. Unlike the Legendary entries, which have devolved into some sort of Monsterverse shit, Godzilla Minus One is really about post-war trauma rather than watching kaiju smash together. Shikishima is a failed kamikaze pilot racked with survivor's guilt who witnesses a giant dinosaur wipe out an island base in the closing days of World War 2. He attempts to rebuild his life in the ruins, taking on a lost woman named Noriko and an infant named Akiko, but he keeps this surrogate family at a distance, for he is unable to overcome the specter of his cowardice, as well as the deaths he believes it caused. He gets a job as a minesweeper and befriends the crew, and is on the scene when Godzilla emerges, having been created by the Bikini Atoll nuclear testing. Recognizing the same creature that he saw during the war, it soon becomes Shikishima's personal quest to defeat the monster, who is approaching Japan, ostensibly for revenge against the humans who created it. Ryunosuke Kamiki is excellent as Shikishima, portraying him as a good but disturbed man who cannot escape his PTSD. As the losses pile up, Shikishima and his minesweeper buddies concoct a plan to deal with the monster, and the viewer suspects that the protagonist will finally get his release. I won't spoil the ending, but things do not proceed as one suspects; whether the conclusion is appropriately realistic (sort of a weird thing to ask about a kaiju film, right?) I will leave to the viewer. Regardless, Godzilla Minus One is the rare special-effects driven flick that wants the watcher to feel something and to ponder notions of duty, sacrifice, and what it means to really do the right thing. Undoubtedly the best Godzilla film since Shin Godzilla. Watch it on Netflix.
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