"GOJIRA MAINASU WAN" lit. "GODZILLA MINUS ONE" (2023) - dir. Takashi Yamazaki - (aka "G MINUS ONE")
The second live-action film of the new Reiwa Era is a thrilling, engaging, and truly emotional spectacle. After WWII, Japan is in ruins and beginning the process of recovery. When the arrival of a monsterous creature named Gojira threatens to destroy what is left, it is up to the surviving civilian population to stop the creature first. This film was a pleasant surprise, much better than what I was expecting, and quickly shot up into my top five. Director Takashi Yamazaki creates a surpisingly moving film, with well-crafted human characters that properly anchor the story. This is usually a difficult task for a G-film, most of the films fumble this important aspect and several fail quite miserably. G Minus One, on the otherhand, proudly displays its human drama first and foremost, and there are some very touching and emotional moments. But for those expecting a lot of camp-n-cheese with your Kaiju film, you will be disappointed, as this movie plays it totally straight and is quite grim with its melodrama at times. It was nice to see a "ground-level" G-film focused on civilians again, especially after Shin Gojira almost exclusively focused on the "high-end" Government level. Music, FX, acting, all are superb here, and the story moves along quite well besides some notable second act drag. Goji is very well done, using a modified version of Yamazaki's previous G design from Always 3rd and G the Ride. Though he does not have a ton of screen time compared to other films, his destructive presence always looms over the main characters. I also enjoyed that much of his appearance in this film is water-based, but his land scenes are nicely crafted and the few destruction sequences are quite spectacular. Overall, it was much enjoyed and I am eager to see what the Reiwa Era offers next. Highly recommended even for the moving human story alone, just be prepared that you are going in for a much somber ride with this one.