Godzilla Minus Zero

The new Godzilla movie is impressive & is a well done film which continues Toho studios newly developed Godzilla franchise.   Going back to its original origins from the 1950's where Godzilla was a monster born of the nuclear age.   By going back we see post war Japan, and a bit of what life was like.  It's nothing pretty for sure, but the filmmaker's do a believable job at bringing post war Japan to the screen.  We see the orphans whose mom & dad died in the first Godzilla attack, and I have to say after world war 2 there were many, so I loved how the filmmaker's incorporated that.  I grew up with the guy's in the suits battling each other and stomping on models, but here we see how devastating the battles are and how human kind suffers.  I think that's what made me buy this film & believe it.  Seeing the post war world and how ugly it was is truly a horrifying look into the past. 

I'm not going to give any spoilers here.  Suffice to say the movie's real concentration is on the family from the 1st Godzilla.  All three actors do a phenomenal job.  Minami Hamabe, Ryuunosuke Kamiki, & Sae Nagatani do such a believable job at being a family in crisis.  I mean you really care about them and I think it makes the film more believable and exciting to watch.  I mean how would we all survive a monster attack?  They've already survived World war 2 and the bombings and the destruction of their world.  Talk about PTSD.  I think this makes the film more believable.  Toho here humanizes the characters and somehow I'm vested in their survival.  To me this is what makes the film so great.

I know, I  know.  It's a monster movie right?  I want monster's fighting, and you get that for sure, but we see the human cost, and I also like how the filmmaker's make a  comment on man's inhumanity to man through their depiction of the bombing of Nagasaki & the suffering of the Japanese people.  In the background the cold war plays on & yet the United States isn't helping.  It provides weapons that aren't tested and use's Japan as a Guinee pig for it's battle with the Soviet Union.  Even at the end the ugly American try to co-op the scientist's weapon to control Godzilla, but do not succeed at least for now.  Shades of the movie "Destroy all Monsters" from Toho where aliens try to rid us of Godzilla only to use him as a weapon.  I love how Toho mixes it up but stays true to its original franchise.  Even Ghidorah's origin is explained and how he becomes King Ghidorah.  

Listen if you want to see monsters battling you get it.  But be warned of the human carnage on the screen.  It's rated R for that reason I believe.  Their is a happy ending concerning our family, but there is still evil in other men's hearts and I think the next one in the series if Toho does bless us with one again will be how Godzilla will be Earth's savior, and not just a monster of carnage.  I believe back in my day Godzilla was a protector & it made the franchise a bit more palpable for kids.

Not sure that will happen, but I love how Toho uses it's history and builds on the new.  I saw it in a regular theater and found it loud enough.  I'm sure in IMAX it is a spectacle for sure, but even seen regularly on the big screen is a treat and one fans won't deny that its a classic for sure.

Also the music and cinematography is stunning.  In fact I may have to see it again myself.  It's that good, but then I'm a fan who saw the original films on TV.  The film is a good re-development of the Godzilla myth.  I can't wait to see what Toho does in the future.