Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Godzilla Minus One

This has been getting rave reviews across the internet, some reviewers are calling it the best movie of 2023 and how it blows Hollywood movies away so I decided to break a four year drought and actually go to a movie theater to see it. It really is a very good movie and I was thoroughly entertained, although calling it the best of 2023 might be a backhanded comment on how bad all the other movies are.

Basically, a Kamikaze pilot at the end of WWII decides to live instead of throw his life away so he lands his plane on a small island claiming engine trouble. Godzilla appears and kills everybody, he could have done something but ran, he returns home to a burned out Tokyo where his parents and almost everyone he knew died in the firebombing raids so now he is racked with survivor's guilt and PTSD. How he redeems himself is the rest of the movie.

The best stories are about people, not how big and loud you can make them, and this is a good story about people. Where most big Hollywood movies feature one dimensional characters and rely almost entirely on huge special effects, with this one you really care about the characters. They show the human side of the Japanese people and how they were affected by the war and very disenchanted with their government, although they don't skimp on the Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo scenes, tossing trains and warships around like toys. There are some plot holes in it and things that wouldn't work in reality but nothing too annoying - it is a monster movie after all.

As one reviewer put it, "It's really a story about guilt, grief, sacrifice and redemption - and as a bonus it has Godzilla". And it was all made for $15 million, lots less than Robert Downey, Jr. gets paid for one Marvel superhero movie.

It's in Japanese with subtitles so if you have a home theater with a good sound system you might want to wait until it hits the streaming services with English dubbing, but in a theater or at home I'd definitely recommend it.

Since this is the fire, we'll take care of the normal responses up front.

I haven't been to a movie theater in 20 years, and I ain't never gonna go to one. Wow, thank you for sharing that.

I ain't gonna see any damn movie with subtitles. That's fascinating, thank you for sharing that.

I hate Hollywood and all those leftist traitors. This is made in Japan by a Japanese studio. But thank you for sharing that.

I'll wait until it comes out on Netflix or Amzon. See above, but thanks for sharing that.

I have a Japanese truck, let me talk about me for a while. That's fascinating, thank you for sharing that.

Jim, your thread is in some ways as good as the movie.

Watching the movie, I could not help but wonder how a Japanese person would enjoy it. It was a surprising how many scenes, if shown in black and white, could have come from the original Godzilla.

Of course, the movie will probably make 10x the profit in the US than it did in Japan. I'm ready for the sequel

I too, went to the theater and saw it. Was just "ok." I dont care for subtitles much, and the acting was meh.

the last time i went to the theater it was Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it was garbage. i like A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back and the 3rd one (with the teddy bear that fight) is garbage too. Rogue One is good too. the prequals were garbage and i want to forget them.

Hollyweird is dead to me. i will read the book instead of watching it.

Wonder how many stupid fuggs mouth the words as they read em.

Based on all the good reviews I went and saw it,the only Godzilla movie I have ever bothered to watch. It weren’t bad.

Interesting how the Japanese view themselves. I dunno if this movie would have been possible Japan 40 years ago, not that they were banned, but the Japanese I am told just didn’t talk about it.

Twenty-five years ago our Japanese exchange student ( the best we ever hosted) did not know that his grandfather had been a Japanese General in New Guinea or that his father as a child had been very nearly killed by Chinese guerrillas while his family was fleeing Manchuko at the end of the war until he got an assignment over here in History class the ask his grandparents and parents as to what they did during whichever war they were of age to serve in.

In this movie the combat veterans who attack Godzilla in the movie ,
are embittered about how their government lied to them and how so many lives were uselessly wasted. No hatred of the US expressed at least in the subtitles. For example some characters are engaged in detonating mines they say were planted by the thousands by both Japanese and American navies.

Interesting the portrayal of life in the ruins of burnt-out postwar Tokyo and referenced to the subsequent rebuild, again said firebombing blames on “the war” and not America.

Worth a look.

That's fascinating, thank you for sharing.

opening this weekend in flagstaff, on two screens.

one is godzilla minus 1, the other is godzilla minus 1, minus color (black and white showing)

My wife and I are hard of hearing. We don't go to movies because they DON'T have subtitles. We can't hear what they're saying. Using subtitles isn't by choice. They're a necessity.

That said, many of the people who make Youtube videos need some training in making videos. They play loud music that overwhelms their words. They set up outside in the wind that screams in the mike, overwhelming their voices. They have the mike mounted in the camera and it's too far away so it doesn't pick up their voices. And...they don't add subtitles for guys like me.

I thought Godzilla was humanity's friend. He protects us from King Ghidorah and such.

MikeL2 and Jim in Idaho- kudos. Best posts here. :-)


My grandson was huge into Godzilla maybe 3 years ago- may take him to see it since he is now into wwII stuff.