A box office phenomenon in the United States (it grossed $57 million) and in its native Japan (it grossed $48 million there), this notable exponent of films kaiju Produced by Toho with a budget of just 15 million, it ended up winning the Oscar award for best visual effects and has been available on Netflix globally since June 1.
Godzilla Minus One (Japan/2024). Screenplay and direction: Takashi Yamazaki. Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe. Duration: 124 minutes. Available on Netflix.
Although it was screened in theaters in some markets such as Mexico, Brazil and Chile, Godzilla Minus One Little or nothing was seen (as in the case of Argentina) in Latin America. For this reason, the surprise launch on Netflix emerges as a palliative for a spectacular film in every sense of the term that would have deserved a previous pass on the big screens (as gigantic as the famous and now septuagenarian Japanese monster), something that did happen in last March with a Hollywood alternative like Godzilla Vs. kong.
Set during the end of World War II and the first post-war years (1946 and 1947), Godzilla Minus One Its protagonist is Second Lieutenant Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a member of a group of kamikaze pilots. After a first confrontation with Godzilla from which he miraculously survives, Shikishima returns to Tokyo to discover that the city is in ruins, his house has burned down and his parents have died. Fate will have him end up sheltering a woman named Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe) and a baby, although the guilt, pain and other traumas he has accumulated in his life will not allow him to show them both the love he really feels.
Classical melodrama that serves as context and substrate for what really matters and impacts (such as the imposing scene in which the gigantic monster with atomic effects devastates the Ginza neighborhood in Tokyo), Godzilla Minus One It displays enormous creativity in visual terms: with a limited budget by international standards such as the aforementioned of 15 million dollars and a team of just 35 people hired to carry out its 610 special effects shots (in Hollywood several hundred specialists in this area), the film written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki has all the attractions (starting, of course, with its excesses) that have made the kaiju in a genre with so many followers around the world.
There is a slightly crazy and quite cool scientist, some pathetic characters who will have the opportunity to redeem themselves, an intense love story, some military heroism and, of course, lots and lots of spectacularity in aerial, marine (and underwater), urban scenes. . To confront Godzilla you need ships and planes, sophisticated weapons but above all a lot of energy, courage and ingenuity, something that this film has in quantity and quality. Fasten seat belts.
Subscriptions are the best way for readers to directly support independent journalism ventures and help sustain a quality product that maintains access to all its contents for free. In addition, you have access to a wide range of benefits and exclusive content.
){kind=link}