Perhaps one of the longest running and successful kaiju film franchises of all time continues to be mesmerizing and versatile. Growing up, all I knew was the classic Godzilla films and the amount impressive effects and destruction, but never really looked deeper than that. Now comes this new iteration of the classic character and I was blown away. Godzilla Minus One focused on the humans in an amazing fashion by having the themes of survivor’s guilt, sacrifice and duty in a post World War 2 Japan while treating the titular character as an allegory for an invading and seemingly unstoppable force. That same brilliance continues here in the most terrifying and satisfying way. The very first five minutes of this film were perhaps the most harrowing and terrifying kaiju attacks I've ever seen and it left me on edge the entire time. The human story may have been more straight forward here, but it still had a devastating emotional core and an understanding of what a true monsters we can become. Its been a while, but this film truly gave me goosebumps.
Ryunosuke Kamiki returns as Kōichi Shikishima and he was even better this time around as the veteran pilot that took down Godzilla. I liked that for a time he got have peace in his life before he's thrust back into dealing with a new threat. The struggle to adapt to "normal" life was there as he carries a secret that must be protected. When he is called upon to fight again and risk everything, he goes on an emontional rollercoaster of a journey that is both satisfying and tough to watch. Minami Hamabe returns as his wife, Noriko, and she was truly the spotlight here. There were questions I had about her from the first film and I'm glad they were answered. The chemistry between her and Ryunosuke was just as powerful here and I loved that they worked as a team. Their adopted daughter, Akiko, played wonderfuly by Sae Nagatani, was great and kept your heartstrings pulled ever so tight as you see the world through her eyes. Hidetaka Yoshioka returns as Kenji Noda and I loved that he continues to give the character such wisdom and creativity. This time around he has a moral dilemma that is explored thoroughly and I loved how even he questioned if his plans are justifiable in the finale. Masami Nagasawa joins the team as meteorologist, Makoto Aoyama. As Makoto, she delivers an energetic and calculating performance as her knowledge of weather patterns became vital to the plot of the film. The amount of guilt she carries from her past failure and how it sort of gives her pause was fantastic. She was smart and just as inventive as Noda and they worked so well together. Perhaps the most intense character of the film with the most trauma was Kanji Murakami, played wonderfully by Min Tanaka. He opens the film and from then on you see the parallels of mass destruction and death goes hand in hand with his past. I don't wanna spoil anything, but lets just say that through a great scene, you see how a repeat of a historically horrible event would repeat itself with us in control of Godzilla. What a performance.
The score by composer Naoki Soto was outstanding as he delivers the most epic and terrifying score of the year. The horrific first notes of the opening scene make it that much more epic and instantly iconic. It has truly been years since my ears rang and the sound design of this film has done that yet again. I saw this film in the only format that it should be seen in and that was IMAX and let me tell ya, those speakers were putting in overtime. I felt every impact, every explosion and every roar from the titular character and his foe. The visual effects were better this time around and by far the most epic in scale. From the intense aerial chase and the explosive finale, I was thoroughly invested and blown away by the quality of this blockbuster. This is definitely one of the best films of the year and one of the greatest sequels of all time. You MUST witness this film in IMAX for the full immersion. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
