Godzilla Minus One — Review
Chalk one up for enthusiasm
Takashi Yamazaki, director of Godzilla Minus One, is my new hero. He did something I’ve been practically begging someone to do for years now. He made a blockbuster movie where I gave a shit about the characters. Every single person in the damn thing is distinct, interesting, and ripe for empathy. Yamazaki could’ve removed the giant lizard altogether, and the film would still work.
That is a trick Hollywood has forgotten.
You’d think it would be obvious by now, but action and spectacle are meaningless if we don’t care about the characters involved. It’s plot with no resonance. It’s empty calories, quickly forgotten. Godzilla Minus One is a course correction for movies and I can only hope American studios learn from it.
I won’t summarize the story here. You’ll appreciate it more if you see it yourself. I want to focus on the nuts and bolts. The other takeaways the US film industry could glean from this little movie.
I say “little” not as a pejorative but in a literal sense. “Minus One” cost 15 million dollars. Nothing meant for a theatrical release these days costs 15 million dollars, least of all a movie where a monster tramples a city. According to Wikipedia, Godzilla vs King Kong, the last American Godzilla film, cost between 150 and 200 million…
