It’s pretty early in the year to be putting out retractions, but, sometimes, you just can’t let what you’ve said stand.
A few days ago, we put out our best-of-2023 list, and reader, I have a confession to make: it’s wrong. I have an addendum to make, and it’s Godzilla Minus One.
Godzilla Minus One, directed by Takashi Yamazaki, follows a would-be kamikaze pilot Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) after he returns to Japan in the aftermath of World War II – traumatized by an encounter with a mysterious beast who killed off an entire unit, he and the rest of the country begin to rebuild, until an attack by a monstrous Kaiju forces them to focus their efforts on protecting Tokyo from another devastating assault.
It’s hard to explain just how much I loved Godzilla Minus One, but let me start at the start: this is just a sumptuously fantastic piece of blockbuster filmmaking, a tonic in the face of the endless low-effort-high-reward nonsense Disney and other major studios have been turning out for the last four years. There is love and craftmanship poured into every frame, every moment of this piece – from the costume design to the character work, from the script to the action sequences, from the historical setting to the monster design; it’s all gorgeous, a cinematic gift wrapped up in a big Kaiju bow. While it’s part of a franchise, it stands alone beautifully, and that’s a relief after decades of the Marvel cinematic universe requiring homework just to enjoy it.
But beyond what the film does better than other aspects of the blockbuster industry, it also just a fantastic story in it’s own right. It’s a credit to the effort and care that’s gone in to this script that the central character arc could easily support a movie even without all the Godzilla stuff around it; Shikishima’s attempts to move past the guilt and trauma of what he experienced during the war, to accept that the best legacy he can create is his own future as opposed to his own sacrifice, is a spectacularly rich throughline to mine, and Kamiki brings it to life with an incredible skill. The shadow of war hangs over this movie, both for Shikishima and so many others who are trying to return to civilian life in the aftermath; whether it’s those who never got to fight and feel less-than as a result, or those carrying the pain of losing friends and loved ones as they return to a decimated home, it’s incredibly rich and surprisingly deep for a blockbuster Kaiju flick. I love the elements of found family that underpin much of the emotional throughline of this story, and it’s a credit to the rest of the cast how invested I was in seeing these people survive.
And, of course, then there’s the Godzilla of it all. From the opening attack on the unit on Odo Island, this Godzilla is scary – a slasher villain on an enormous scale, a triumph of special effects and sound design that capture the devastation and sheer scale of how terrifying Godzilla really can be. The atomic breath attack genuinely sent a shiver around the cinema I was in when I saw this, and it’s a huge credit to the special effects team on this movie how well this monster fits into the world without looking like a cardboard cut-out transposed onto a period-appropriate background. It’s still a design and production that feels true to the original version of this creature, but one that leans in to the chilling horror inherent in something capable of this level of destruction.
Godzilla Minus One is one of the best blockbusters of the 21st century; I truly feel as though I can’t say enough good things about it, but it reminded me so much of why I love cinema as much as I do. To see something crafted with so much love and care, and then to see that love and care come together into such a satisfying, compelling, and emotionally resonant story is a treat that I don’t get to experience often. So, yes, consider this my retraction – and Godzilla Minus One an official addition to the very best of 2023.
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By Lou MacGregor
(header image via Rolling Stone)
No But Listen 