Godzilla Minus One

*2023 Ranked and Favorite Films* Around the time this came out I was a bit of a Godzilla hater. The Legendary films (particularly King of the Monsters, Skull Island, and Godzilla vs. Kong) do nothing for me. In fact, thinking back on them I like them even less. Those movies have some of the most aggravating characters that take up way too much screen time. They've also turned Godzilla, one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time, into a Marvel character that teams up with other monsters to take down the bigger, badder monster. It got to the point where I practically expected him to start breaking the fourth wall or say "he's right behind me isn't he?" I had lost faith. That was until Godzilla Minus One came out and was getting Oscar buzz. I was immediately intrigued. Unfortunately, I didn't get to check it out in theatres last year. It just got added to Netflix so I watched it today. The hype was certainly real. This and *Shin Godzilla have made me realize just how good Godzilla movies could actually be. Why can't American film makers focus less on making money and more on making a decent movie? Gone are the annoying characters that do nothing but get in the way. Gone are the unnecessary Transformers*-esque fight sequences with the monsters and Godzilla sprinting like Tom Cruise. They didn't stop there. They gave us good characters that are genuinely likeable. I didn't recognize a single actor which was super refreshing. They were all excellent and I wanted them to have more screentime. I can't say that for Millie Bobby Brown and friends. No one felt safe from Godzilla. Everyone was a potential victim and had something to lose. We spend plenty of time with them and all of it feels necessary. The impact from WWII also helps you sympathize for the characters as you know the hell they've experienced is about to get even worse. Godzilla himself is a terrifying, unstoppable force that devastates everything. At one point I'm pretty sure my mouth was open because of the destruction I was seeing on screen. For some reason I was a bit concerned about the special effects despite the Oscar win. They look incredible. Every single aspect of the visuals was nailed. Even the water, buildings, and explosions are all incredible. There's one scene with tanks and they look kind of like toys but that's the smallest nitpick. I was going to say that I wanted to see more of Godzilla. In the Legendary films that's what I wanted because I was sick of the humans, but here I think we got just the right amount of him. He has the Jaws effect where you anxiously wait for him to show up. Anymore of him and you'd be wondering why and how he hasn't destroyed the entire country yet. I had this at 4.5 stars, but I can't think of anything wrong with it. Godzilla Minus One is a perfect combination of the modern Godzilla films and the originals. They even had the classic theme in there which was the cherry on top. They've certainly won me over and I can't wait for more. Best Godzilla film ever made.