At the recommendation of my dearest and closest friend, V, I have finally watched Minus One, and my god do I regret not watching it sooner.
This might actually be my favorite Godzilla movie rn, and I'm trying to lock in and write this really quickly so sorry if this review is rushed atm. BUT. I will try to cram as much of my thoughts while they're fresh rn. And as always, spoilers ahead for a magnificent film. (Seriously watch before reading if you haven't!!!!)
Danny Devito I get it now gif. Seriously, this film is so fucking good. It's a really optimistic and hopeful film considering what goes on in it and I really liked that part, it wasn't bleak and depressing like Shin it was definitely a perfect reimagining of the original 1954 film.
First off, the human cast was near perfection. Unlike the original 1954 film where I only liked Serizawa and Emiko's dad, I loved the entire cast through and through. Koichi, Noriko, Akiko, the aunt lady, Noda, Captain, Kid. I really didn't want any of them to die the entire film and I'm really happy they didn't.
Koichi is easily my 2nd favorite character in these Godzilla films. His PTSD of Godzilla is really well done in my opinion and I really loved his arc throughout the film, that and his first encounter with Goji is pristine.
I really liked that, unlike other Godzilla films where nothing short of a oxygen atomizer can take down Goji, he was actually able to get damaged/staggered by stuff like navy ship cannons and sea mines. It, to an extent, added to the hopefulness of the film as you kinda know the humans have a chance of beating Godzilla compared to other ones.
Seriously, this OST is killer, I love Godzilla Suite and Minus One's version is 100% my favorite one especially during the final fight. Not only is it a great mix of tension filled music, it's also full of sweet calm music for the regular sections like the montage of the next two years between Koichi and Emiko.
I know this film is a remake but, I just love how shrimpy and tiny Goji is compared to the rest. He's tiny, loud, aggressive and animalistic. He's like the chihuahua of Godzilla. And I love him for that.
He was adorable during the scene where he's holding the train car in his mouth like a puppy and a chew toy. Not just that, but his roar is perfection. In the original, it's ear piercing and brutal and the one in Minus one simply adds onto it. It's 10x more insane than the original roar.
The atomic breath too. Oh man. Like Shin's being a tsunami of fire, Minus's breath is the atomic bomb. It's buildup is intense when he first uses it in Ginza and just completely decimates the Japanese tanks and the city without any effort. It charges like a rail gun and is insane.
Like mentioned above, I love how weak he is and it fits with the theme of the film. But, I also love how good his regeneration is. Sure he could quickly heal from a bomb going off or tanking artillery fire. But the dude got his damn head blown off and still lived.
Operation Wada Tsumi, Operation Sea Drum, The Battle for the Future, whatever you want to call it. We can all agree it is one of the best scenes in the film and is my personal favorite in the film.
Not only is the plan of killing Goji with the sea pressure insanely unique of an idea, I also love how, due to the vessels being decommissioned, it relies on Koichi shooting at Goji.
The everything was perfection, Koichi narrowly dodging getting bit by Goji repeatedly and distracting him, I loved how once they sunk him with the tanks the soundtrack just abruptly stops. Just like that, then resumes when they initiate Plan B.
The way both plans fail, the sudden appearance of Kid and his army of tugboats, and the overall hopelessness of the final moments while Goji's charging up his atomic breath genuinely made me emotional. That and Koichi kamikazing Goji resolving his character arc, I was genuinely teared up during it. The scene destroyed me. Tachiban was the MVP for adding the ejection seat in Koichi's plane.
12/10 movie, it left me speechles and I had to sit and soak in the two hour film for a while. Time to watch, 3-4 hours for a 2 hour film.