Do we need another Godzilla movie? No of course not, but that’s not stopped people before and I doubt it’ll stop more in the future. So the question should probably be, is this a good Godzilla movie? Where I feel others have failed in the past is with too much extra fluff around what’s essentially a monster movie or by contrast solely relying on special effects of a giant dinosaur-like monster and little else. In case you’ve lived under a rock. That’s who Godzilla is. A dinosaur reminent nuclear bi-product of WWII bombing and that’s where we are, at the tail end of the war in Japan with a kamikaze pilot who didn’t fulfil his mission. There’s little waiting around, with Godzilla attacking a small island off the coast in the opening scene, but this really is merely a tease. Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) returns to Tokyo to find it levelled and his family gone. It looks cinematically bleak, think Saving Private Ryan levels of destruction. Everyone struggling to get by in a ruined city as time goes by. Koichi finds himself in embroiled in a new family unit with Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and a baby she’s rescued from her dying mother, but he’s haunted by the war, his cowardice, PTSD induced nightmares… and the monster. It sounds dark doesn’t it, but it plays to an air of hope, of rebuilding, of second chances, but that early tease is soon to return, bigger and more brutal. The battle scenes with boats and Godzilla in the water are spectacular, with an amusing amount of Jaws homages. Godzilla looks fantastic. Gnarly but with an authentic Japanese aesthetic. It’s heavy on explosions and is genuinely gripping, but just wait until it reaches land! Koichi finds all his nightmares coming back to life. It balances his story well with the action and both are handled really well, action and reflection, but it does feel overly long. Two hours is a little indulgent and it could easily lose half an hour. That said, I’ve forgotten any detail of every other Godzilla film I’ve ever watched, but this one has some meat on its bones. Yes it’s fantastic, but that’s the point. What it also has is some authentic jeopardy with palpable emotional connections and that’s what makes it tick. Can Koichi beat the monster, can he fulfill his destiny? So, is it a good Godzilla movie? For me, yes it is, perhaps one of if not the best. Does that mean there’s no need for any more? Again for me, yes… but that’s unlikely isn’t it.
8/10
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