Godzilla is a franchise that punches me in my heart. My oldest son loved Godzilla, he was so excited about Godzilla vs Kong. He was killed in a workplace accident a couple of years before it was released. Every time a new movie comes out I am hit by overwhelming sadness. Still, I will go see it and I know I will feel his presence strongly.

I think the lead in this movie deserves award consideration. His performance felt so real, even though some of it came off as goofy. The dude had me in tears on several occasions. I thought he was incredible.

I’m not a Kaiju fan whatsoever, but this was fucking awesome.

I love, absolutely LOVE, how this movie is making people who haven't cared for the genre into G fans!!!! Major respect for the minus one producers!!!

This isn't just the best Godzilla movie ever it's a great movie period.

It blows my mind this movie only cost 15 million dollars mean while Hollywood burns hundreds of millions of dollars on garbage disposal products

This wasn't just a good Godzilla movie but just a great film overall where you actually care about these characters and where they go unlike other films that have spent over 200 million dollars. The fact that this filmed actually pulled that off on a 15 million budget is absolutely mind-blowing.

I wasnt expecting this at all but wow. This was far and away the most impressive movie of 2023. How the budget was only 15 millions makes zero sense. This isn't just the best Godzilla movie ever made, it's a top 3 movie of 2023.

I'm glad you enjoyed the film. It's my favorite film of the year and I didn't expect it to be. Hopefully more Godzilla movies in the future are more like this.

Finally your starting to see why I'm a Godzilla fan

I’ve always enjoyed the Godzilla movies for what they are, even though I didn’t watch them until last year. This film has the strongest narrative since the original film from 1954, the best since that film, and it might be in competition of being the best Godzilla movie ever. I can’t wait for further rewatches of it.

I'm a couple hours removed from seeing this and I have to say that this movie has stayed with me... I didn't expect that. I hope this one e grows some legs. It deserves it

This movie blew me away as someone who’s grown up loving these movies (both the Monster-verse and the TOHO classics). I was so surprised that about the human element because that often is not interesting in this movies outside of the original film from 1954. I was so invested in the characters and the design of Godzilla himself is terrifying. And I ended up tearing up at the end even if it felt predicable. I’m one who loves my Godzilla in any form whether he’s campy or a serious threat. This surprisingly became my favorite film of the year. I was hoping to like it. I wasn’t expecting to love it.

As soon as I saw that preview of G’s atomic breath in the trailer it shot to the top of my list and didn’t disappoint. Such a breath of fresh air after a somewhat rough year for movies

His atomic Breath was SICK! Leave it to Toho to make Godzilla scary again. Even if you take Godzilla out of the movie, the story was still great.

Now that you've seen your first Japanese kaiju film, there's a few I highly recommend you check out now: Gojira (1954, the grandfather of the genre) Heisei Gamera Trilogy (1995, 1996, 1999) Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) Shin Gojira (2016) GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) Most of the Heisei Godzilla series (1984-1995)

I actually started tearing up at the end which was a shocking to happen in a Godzilla movie. I felt this movie actually delivered what all those other Godzilla films promised from the trailers and managed to hit me in the feels as well. Music was great as well. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this one of the most fun experiences I had in a theatre in a long time. Still have yet to see Shin Godzilla or Godzilla 2000, but this easily beats the 2013 version for the best Godzilla film I've seen so far.

10/10. Really the only recent movie that 1. made me sawy "wow" out loud, 2. made me cry, and 3. scared me. I have a few nitpicks but the rest of the movie is so amazing it doesn't matter.

That atomic breath scene was epic. Especially in IMAX I think the sound blew my hair back lol

15 Million >3 to 500 Million in today's movies. In the words of Tony Stark, "The math is blowing my mind."

Not going to lie, this movie wasn't on my radar at all...but wow, i thoroughly highly enjoyed this movie. What an absolute delight of a film. You could remove godzilla and this film is still pretty good. The entire time i was getting parallels of Jaws. Just an incredibly done film for the budget they had to work with. 👍 👍. Great review.

Godzilla was not young, he was mutated by a nuke test and became that huge, his atomic breath was definitely overpowered.

Great review. I just saw the movie today. As a 70's kid growing up we were all about Godzilla. Unfortunately, most of those movies, for ME at least, haven't aged well. The only two classic Godzilla's I can honestly say I still like and watch are the original '54 Japanese version and Godzilla vs Astro Monster (Kind Geedorah). To have a modern retelling of the original, done by the original studio, I was on-board from the very start. Well, I saw it today and it was everything I could have hoped for and then some. Great film across the board. Of course Godzilla was the main reason I was there and he did not disappoint. He looked and SOUNDED incredible. What I didn't expect was for it to be built around such a great story. There was more than a few sniffles in the theater towards the end. I do agree on the over-acting but like you said it is more of a Japanese thing. It doesn't go unnoticed but it's not something we haven't seen before. All in all, so glad I dragged myself to the theater to see this because I definitely would've regretted it.

Japan has been absolutely KILLING it in the entertainment sector lately. Their Metal scene is leagues better than anything in America these days, and now you've got movies with Minus One quality emerging, its a great time to be a fan of foreign entertainment.

This film went back to Godzilla’s roots as an allegorical film. The best Godzilla films focus on the people and Godzilla, with no kaiju on kaiju fights. This film could stand on its own legs even if you tweaked the story to remove the monster, because above all he represents the monster that is the characters guilt and inability to move on. I am a Godzilla fan and love all the films but my favorites have always been the more serious ones. I recommend Godzilla 1954 and Shin Godzilla with this film as the trifecta of best films. They all only feature Godzilla (he is the tragic villain of each) and all focus on deeper themes. The 1954 original of course started it all and focuses on mans never ending trek of self destruction, Shin Godzilla is a satire which takes a critical look at Japan’s ineffective bureaucracy when dealing with disasters and each form Godzilla takes is a reference to different aspects of the Fukushima disaster. It’s got a lot of exposition so it can be a lot to follow but even that was done intentionally to represent the never ending talking and debating that went on when action was needed.

Occasional overacting in Japanese movies is a cultural thing, kind of like dance scenes in Bollywood or other Indian movies. I just go with it.

I’m truly baffled this film cost $15M & looked as great as it did in all the action sequences when you have CGI-fest in these 150M+ films. This film surpassed my expectations and I thought it was a fantastic monster film!

*THANK YOU, CODY!!!!* in the words of a great Jedi, "you've taken your first steps into a larger world."

Grave of the Fireflies is a good companion movie for this film, it goes into greater depth about how desperate wartime/post-war Japan was for its citizens.

Really hyped to see this. My brothers and I plan on seeing it soon. Just from the trailer alone I can tell it's good. Great review Cody. Now, to U.S. film studios, take notes. Mabey give your effects team more than 6 months to finish VFX. From what I hear, they worked on the effects for a year minimum I believe and it shows. Bravo. Just from the trailer I can see it looks unbelievably real.

Cody, I suggest you watch Gojira, the original version of Godzilla. The movies are completely different with Gojira being in the same tone as Godzilla Minus One.

As a lifelong Godzilla and kaiju fan, I'm glad you found one that worked for you. I really enjoyed the movie myself as well and was really glad they FINALLY gave us human characters worth caring about. As others here have said, I would strongly recommend the original Godzilla from 1954 (I know you're likely not going to ever watch that, and I'm not going to try to twist your arm, unlike that guy who keeps bringing up Train to Busan, but I figured I'd just make the recommendation).

Being born in 1960, I grew up watching and loving Godzilla. Unfortunately for me, as an expat living in the Philippines, none of the theaters here have the film. Guess I have to wait for it to hit a streaming service.

I've been hearing nothing but good about this movie. Many are saying this is the best Godzilla film ever. That's good to hear. I always thought most Godzilla films weren't nearly as scary as they should have been. I look forward to it.

His atomic Breath was SICK! Leave it to Toho to make Godzilla scary again.

@Cody have been a huge Kaiju fan since I was little. The fact that YOU who as you said is not a huge fan of the genre and you liked it as much as you did makes me smile. I also love this film was made for 15 million dollars and looks better then 75% of what the western studio's are doing I hope shakes things up. Thank as always for calling it as YOU saw it

I have seen it twice in the theater. The early release with my wife who is not a Godzilla fan like me but she wanted to see this after I showed her trailer and then again on release day with my Godzilla friends. My wife thought it was a really good film despite being a Godzilla film. I think it's the best Godzilla film to date (yes even better than Shin). IMHO it is the best film of 2023 so far.

Honestly what makes me enjoy the Japanese films are that there are variety in tone and each resemble the time period that they’re released in. The legendary (American) films are fine in their own right, with Godzilla vs Kong fun to watch from time to time I’ve always been a fan, I know they’re not for everyone though, and that’s ok. Godzilla minus one might be my favorite with the original being better and my 3rd favorite of all time being Godzilla vs destroyah

If you liked this, you should definitely at least give 1954 and Shin Godzilla a good shot. They hit on the same levels as Minus One.

Would recommend Shin Godzilla, another great one that people didn't expect Minus One to Surpass, I know you werent a fan of 2014 but imo the gold standard for Godzilla is The Original, Godzilla 2014, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus one

OMG, that's why I love you dude. With u on some the acting and acting style . . it's just goofy, I can't get used to it. Good film though. Zilla swimming behind boat w/head above water in 3rd act was bad ass. Great Godzilla scenes.

This movie stands out for the following reasons: 1. The setting of the film from just after World War II was nothing short of _brilliant_ . It makes if surprisingly believable, especially the main character and how he dealt with the circumstances of his survival at the end of the war. 2. Surprisingly good special effects given the movie's US$15 million production budget. As such, by 2023 standards, the movie is just flat-out excellent considering the awful _dreck_ (a phrase many agree with!) from most of the movie releases in 2023. The number of films that we consider a real success can be counted in just little more than five fingers, a *HUGE* warning sign for Hollywood. (It really applies to Disney, who really had one movie that was considered a reasonable success with _Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3_ .)

"We're gonna need a bigger boat" ran thru my head a few times! Great movie!

This didn’t even feel like a “Godzilla” movie it could’ve been any monster with any name and this movie would’ve been just as good. Godzilla takes a back seat to the real life grounded aspects of the movie and I was pleasantly surprised how good this movie was.

Unfortanaly i havent seen it yet becuase i came down wth covid, but as a lifelong Goji fanaic its nice to finally see Cody like a Godzilla film.

Other movies have made him feel like the horror villain that you should fear

It looks this good for 15 million becuz Japan has been doing this since 1954. I've been hearing so many good things about this film that I'm going to have to see this ASAP! The American Gojira is cool but the OG Gojira MONSTER is awesome. Glad you reviewed this Cody.

I saw it today, loved it. I don’t usually see subtitled movies and have never seen a Toho Godzilla movie. The characters, story, setting, acting, special effects, practical sets. All great

In the realm where titans clash and cities quake, A skeptic's heart, in Kaiju's grip, did wake. Cody Leach, with doubts entrenched and strong, Entered Godzilla's world, where he'd been so long. "Godzilla Minus One," a cinematic feat, A departure from the ordinary, a seismic seat. For Leach, a critic with a skeptic's view, This Kaiju tale, a surprise anew. The silver screen, a canvas vast, Where monsters roared, their shadows cast. No stranger to the Americanized lore, Yet this rendition left him wanting more. As Godzilla loomed, minus one to fight, Leach found joy in this unexpected night. A departure from the usual Kaiju score, A departure that left him wanting more. A synoptic dance of monsters grand, Leaving skepticism in shifting sand. For Cody Leach, a revelation spun, In "Godzilla Minus One," newfound fun. A Kaiju world, where doubts dissolve, In every roar, a mystery to solve. Marking the first time, an unexpected twist, A critic embraced, in Kaiju's midst. So, let it be known in cinematic lore, "Godzilla Minus One," Leach did adore. A skeptic's heart, in Kaiju's grace, Found joy in monsters, in a different space.

It's not just a good Godzilla movie, it's a good MOVIE

About To See It In Tuesday. Maybe Like A Early Birthday Present For Me As A Godzilla Fan. Love Your Channel And Review. Sending ❤ To The Goat Channel Lol

Great review pal!!! Im a superfan of the PURE HONESTY and knowledge of movie making

Just left the theater. Wow what a movie

Loved your perspective. I grew up with my mom bringing home Godzilla and Kaiju movie VHS tapes and us watching together. Took her to Godzilla Minus One and she cried. This film transcends the genre in my opinion.

I'm a massive fan of the Kaiju Genre. My favorite Kaiju Movie is Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), while my least favorite Kaiju Movie is the 1998 Roland Emmerich Remake.

Nice review, man. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Great review Cody. Im dying to see this movie.

I just got out seeing it and it was great. It really came down to the audience caring about the characters

Saw this with my father, my brother, and one of my closest friends. I’ve been a Godzilla fan for a while but this was one of the first pictures in that franchise that I think is close to a masterpiece. I thought it was really fantastic and it pleases me that Cody liked it.

I’ve heard really good things about this one. Gonna check it out!

It’s one of the best films of 2023 in my opinion.

Love your shirt by the way!! One of my favorite movies

I very much enjoyed it, with me being a watched of Godzilla since I was little. This film gave us the great action sequences and characters. It did things that haven’t been done in a long time for Godzilla. On that same note, in majority of Monster movies as well. The critic side of my brain is mostly on the third act. It was great and satisfying, but as you mention things were telegraphed. A specific character at the end, should’ve remained gone. At the same time, you get that they just want to make it a happy ending. I agree that the tone and style was great for the film.

This is my most anticipated film of this year.and the fact you acknowledged these aren't your types of film......then go on to praise it shows how good a reviewer you are.roll on 15th when it comes out in uk😀

Godzilla 1985 was the first Godzilla film I saw on TV. I remember "Mr. Martin" having nightmares about Godzilla. Siskel & Ebert put the film in the "Worst of 1985" category.

Great review Cody I had a chance to see this movie. And it gave me what I've longed for a Godzilla that was vicious not some misunderstood defender of man. The characters were also really good and developed.

Some of my oldest memories in general are watching the oldddd Godzilla movies and this year was the first time I got to see one of the Japanese ones in theater, I damn near cried at how happy I was 😂

You can find great performances that are subtle and restrained throughout Japanese film history, especially when you look at arthouse releases, but yeah, the melodramatic style is also very common there and in other Asian movies. I even read that Japanese audiences criticized this movie for some overacting. Not knowing the language, I thought the performances were overall still very good.

I said I would check out your channel again. This was another good and thoughtful review. I will check back again later.

Heyy cody! Just me again begging for a train to busan response lol ive watched your videos soooooo many times, i really know youd love that movie. Believe in me!

I have seen many Godzilla movies, including some of the old ones when I was a child. I loved this movie. This is one of the best Godzilla movies right up there with the recent Shin Godzilla movie which is also Japanese. That movie went directly to Blu-ray. This movie was in theaters and it was one of the best theatrical experiences for me.

This movie was incredible!

Cody are you planning to go see the Minus Color version!? It's only going to be in theaters for a week starting next week!

Greatest godzilla film ever. Went back to its roots. He even moves like the old school black and white film the music. The TERROR. Hes terrifying none of that bs he's a monster

Always liked Godzilla, I was a 80's kid so we had all the goofy 60's & 70's G movies on vhs. But as an adult I really learned about the serious tone of the orignal Gojira and bieng a methephore for the A-bomb and mans folley. I really enjoy Return Of Godzilla aka G-1984, and more recently Shin Godzilla ( I wish they would have made a sequal ). I never liked the current American mosterverse movies, just cheesy and dumb to me, have absoultly no resblence to what Toho envisioned in 54. Agree with you Cody that the charters in Minus felt real and authentic, had their deep personal issues and problems, very real post war devistation to Japan itself, inventive way to defeat Godzilla, action scenes looked very real. I would give Minus One 9/10 for a G movie and a 8/10 any movie raiting. My only complaint is this wasent my favote G design, I prefer 84 or Shin in that aspect.

I’m a huge Godzilla fan. And this is hands down the best Godzilla movie: the original is great but I feel like this is a reboot and I’m all for it for a modern audience.

I think your review is fair. I recommend watching DaiMajin and War of the Gargantuas. Both late 60s kaiju films that are very serious. Treated well. From Daie Studios (not Toho).

Awesome review Cody 🖒🖒🖒

I agree that the special effects were absolutely fantastic, but you can see where the difference is between 15 mil and 180 mil. I'm super curious on which characters were over the top

technically godzilla didn't grow up. Godzilla is basically the causation of nuclear war he has mutated and evolved at an extreamly rapid rate. Godzilla is almost like "mother nature" in a way.

I loved the fact that the main character was ready to die when the girl got caught in the blast and if he wouldnt have ejected they wouldnt have reunited

I didn't think you was going to watch it. Even tho it's a Kaiju , it's more of a horror movie but I'm glad you check it out. But I would mind if they do it like this, you got the monsterverse Godzilla and this version of Godzilla. I'm cool with that

$15M... I've heard Disney lost $750M this year on movies alone.That's just losses, not total budgets. That's 50 films of this caliber, one per week for a year. I know burnout for crews/cgi guys means 50 of these in a year isn't possible, but 4, one per quarter, is. Accounting for heavier Disney marketing, they could make 4 films of this quality for $100M. If, say, just 2 of those 4 were only modest hits, you're still probably making $100M pure profit. Better than losing almost a billion dollars.

as a Godzilla fan since i was 3… Y’all are seeing the light 😩😩😩😩😩😩🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 goat

Yeah this movie rules. Didn’t expect the best summer blockbuster type movie to be a Japanese movie that dropped in December, but here we are.

Great review! I'm having to wait another seven days to see it here in the UK. The wait is killing me. If you liked this then check out 'Shin Godzilla', which is a very unconventional Godzilla movie and probably my favourite one so far. It really leans heavily into satire and allegory as regards the government reaction to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and Japan's shock as regards to it. The Godzilla sequences are pretty great too and he is one menacing incomprehensible force of something. If I were to title the movie? Godzilla vs. Bureaucracy.

Different strokes for different folks. Glad you gave this movie a chance. Even though it's not your style of film. It's a new experience for everyone to try something different. 👍

Well, dude as others have said, I grew up in the 70s and love the original Godzilla movie as a kid and to your point they really got silly and over-the-top and created Godzilla some sort of antihero. This movie did a great job with the characters you cared about them, and if I had to say anything negative about it, it was the animated walking of Godzilla. I’m not sure what they were trying to go for here but it seemed very distracting to me but overall this film was awesome and thank you for your great review.

Can't wait to see this

So far the best Godzilla content I’ve seen from these Hollywood movies is the show monarch on apple tv…because they bring in so much mystery and intrigue, and you care about the human characters. Now I have to make it a point to watch this.

Just came from the theaters, and I am so happy it turned out this great. It's top tier imo

Huge fan Cody. How come you haven’t done reviews for the night of the demon series’s. The first two were pretty good. For horror slop lol. I’m a lil biased because I grew up with these

Saw it in imax Saturday. Was awesome 😂

One thing I love about South korean & Japanese movies is that they dont need high budget and always care about their characters. Godzilla minus One, Kimi no Nawa and Okja are my personal favorites from these

I loved this movie it’s in my top 3 Godzilla films behind the original 1954 film and Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (god I love that title 😂😂). I find the best Godzilla films actually have got some deep compelling themes like this film and the two I mentioned above

Ive been watching Godzilla ever since I was a little kid, and as awesome as the movie looked in trailers, I was still surprised by how much I liked it. If this is the bar that Toho is setting for themselves in the future, we're in for some amazing serious Godzilla films from them and the fun but dumb popcorn flicks we are making in america. And its cool that Godzilla can span both flavors of movie.

Soooo glad it’s awesome!

Thank you for pointing out the cartoonish over the top acting by some of the actors. Overall, it was enjoyable, I really enjoyed the Godzilla scenes.

Ngl I would have thought you LOVED monster movies. I can't wait to see this one. Shame its not playing anywhere near me.

As someone who has been watching godzilla films since i was 5 (20) years. Im a massive fan of this series and this film. So well done. Very reminisent of the orignal gojira from 1954. 4.5/5 cant praise it enough