Godzilla Minus One – Review | Netflix (3/5)

GODZILLA MINUS ONE is on Netflix and it came as quite the surprise. The Japanese monster movie hasn’t been easy to find, so surely this will make many genre fans happy. Even if this isn’t a typical Godzilla movie. Read our full Godzilla Minus One movie review here!

GODZILLA MINUS ONE is on Netflix and VOD now. This movie has been hailed ever since audiences first got the chance to watch it. However, it has also been notoriously impossible to watch. Screening here and there, but nothing solid. Until now!

Its arrival on Netflix wasn’t advertised, so it came as a huge surprise. The latest movie about the Japanese dinosaur-like monster “Gojira” is very different from most other Godzilla movies. In fact, it’s mostly a war drama and social commentary.

Continue reading our Godzilla Minus One movie review below. Find it on Netflix from June 1, 2024, and on VOD.

A Monster Story with PTSD

Having Godzilla Minus One play out in postwar Japan, makes for a very different take on the classic monster story. For long periods of time, we don’t even see “Gojira” though he is always looming in the back.

Instead, the focus of the story is on a traumatized former fighter pilot. In the final days of World War II, he manages to survive an attack by Godzilla on a small Japanese island.

He has a lot of guilt associated with his own survival and suffers desperately from PTSD. Despite moving on with his life, as one must, we see him suffer nightmares and doubts if he’s even still alive.

This is also a big reason why he is quick to join the civilian effort to fight off a massive nuclear-enhanced monster (Godzilla, obviously) when he returns to attacking their shores. This is years after the end of the war.

Also coming soon is a “minus color” version

Not only is this a very atypical Godzilla (or Gojira, if you will) movie, but it’s also one we’ll be getting in more than this one version. Screenings of a version in black and white have been in movie theaters and have been very popular.

This is surely why a Godzilla Minus One/ Minus Color is also coming to Netflix later this summer. The Godzilla Minus Color version is already out on Digital as purchase or rental via all the popular platforms.

Having the story set in post-war Japan, it does make sense to also have a version in black and white. I don’t know that I personally feel the need to watch that version as well, but I do love that it exists.

Watch Godzilla Minus One on Netflix now!

As someone who never had the chance to watch a screening in a movie theater, this Netflix release was my first time watching it. I had high expectations of this record-breaking Academy Award®-winning movie. Maybe even too much.

This is a breathtaking movie in many ways, but you should expect a war drama with Godzilla more than a Godzilla movie with war drama. I love the element of history by showing postwar Japan and the terrible situation, so I can’t say I minded that.

However, I have to say that this isn’t one of my favorite Godzilla movies, and I did expect that it would be. Obviously, that’s on me, but I wanted to mention it. This is a theatrical drama with a monster story, so if you’re aware of that, you should enjoy it.

Godzilla Minus One is out on Netflix from June 1, 2024.

The subtitled versions of both this color version and Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color can also be purchased or rented digitally in subtitled versions starting June 1 on Amazon, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft, and FandangoNOW/VUDU, etc.

Details

Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Writers: Ishirô Honda, Takeo Murata, Takashi Yamazaki
Stars: Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Minami Hamabe, Munetaka Aoki, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Sakura Ando, Yuki Yamada