Ryan S Rogers

Synopsis

In post war Japan, a group of veterans trying to rebuild are forced to fight against a new threat.

Quick Notes

A damn near perfect movie, and the best theater experience I've had this year (counting this movie in 2023).

I've never been super huge into Godzilla. My main exposure to the franchise, and to Kaiju cinema at all was through MST3K growing up. I've not seen any of the newer Godzilla movies. In fact, the last one I saw was the 90s American one with Matthew Broderick, which I loved (I was 13, don't judge me). Because of that, I went into this one without any of the nostalgic reverence that a lot of folks my age seem to have for the series.

I was expecting more Godzilla, and for Godzilla to be much more of a focus through the runtime, so I was surprised with the fact that, after the first encounter, you don't really see much of the monster for a while.

The movie takes its time to build up and shine a light on the human characters of the movie. People that are building back a life that was destroyed by the war. Much of the runtime at the beginning is spent with the people starting to return to normal, so when Godzilla does show up to threaten it, you can really empathize with everyone's desire to protect their new lives.

I loved the effects. It really looked like the old school philosophy for VFX brought into the modern age. There was some roughness in places, but overall the movie is punching above its $15M budget. And the atomic breath scene in Ginza blew me away.

Story wise, I loved it all, except for the very end scene. I could have done without that. I think the metaphor holds better if that thread stays resolved in the way we thought it was, but also I can appreciate a cheesy fully happy ending.