A grand (in scope) but empty film Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando ...
A grand (in scope) but empty film
Cast:
Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka,
Sakura Ando
Rating:
2.5/5
Streaming on Netflix
The main problem
with Godzilla Minus One is that it focuses too much on being grand (in scope)
and appears excessively concerned with its visuals more than the storytelling.
The visuals are excellent to look at — and sometimes powerful, but what’s the
point when the film is empty and not human at all?
In
postwar Japan, a new terror rises. Will the devastated people be able to
survive… let alone fight back?
The English Godzilla
films have forgotten what Godzilla originally symbolized (at least to me) that
this film understands well (no wonder, since this is a Japanese film): it’s a
metaphor for the aggression and depression of the Japanese people after the
bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The
visuals are powerful, excellent, and beautiful and rightly deserved the Oscar
for the best visual effects.
However,
it’s the emotional parts which don’t work. One never really invests in the
characters. The emotional core of the film feels too cold.
The
direction is commendable as it somewhat understands the motive of the film: to
make it as grand as possible, and it works towards that but a little bit of
sentimentality wouldn’t have hurt. The shots are larger than life (in scale)
and the cinematographer excellently captures everything. The colour grading
adds to the cinematography with its somewhat muted colour palette.
The film, on a lot of levels, could’ve been way better, which it tried to be, and that’s a positive sign. The film does feel like a studio film but there seems to be a bit of originality hidden somewhere deep inside, wanting to get out but is never able to.
Godzilla
Minus One may be a fun film but is an emotionally empty large-scale spectacle
that deserves no more than a single watch.
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