Watch Godzilla Minus One , the Best Godzilla Movie in Years, on Netflix Right Now
When Netflix announced the imminent arrival of Godzilla Minus One to the platform, the streamer was keenly aware that a little would go a long way. The streamer’s tweet teasing the news was a small breadcrumb: no text, along with a screenshot of Godzilla’s reptilian head poking out of Pacific waters. And yet, it was enough to make thousands drop everything to switch on Netflix, settle in and revel in some good ol’ Kaiju action.
Give credit where it’s due to the power of word-of-mouth. Godzilla Minus One was a surprise success when it was released in theaters last winter, earning $115 million worldwide against its rumored budget—a mere $10 million. (For perspective: The latest entry in the American “Monsterverse” franchise, Adam Wingard's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, is said to have cost at least $135 million not including the studio's marketing spend.)
Godzilla Minus One opened pretty quietly, until word spread online that this wasn’t just a Godzilla movie, but, like, a really, really good one. The film’s not-so-surprising victory lap on Netflix also comes after its arduously slow digital and physical release, inadvertently causing it to surpass Dune: Part Two as the most pirated film of the year. By all accounts, Godzilla Minus One is the must-see streaming event of the summer. There is no secret to Godzilla Minus One’s success—the quality speaks for itself.
Unsurprisingly, Japan tends to turn out much better Godzilla movies than Hollywood does. That’s perhaps, in part, because their priorities differ. The Monsterverse franchise prizes spectacle over story, reducing the human elements to boring filler you want to skip so you can get to the good parts. (Can you name a single character from the Godzilla and Kong movies?) Toho doesn’t have a perfect track record, but it seems the studio has settled into a rhythm of creating genuinely engaging disaster movies with characters that provide real stakes.
Minus One’s 2016 predecessor Shin Godzilla is a farcical, The Thick of It-esque comedy about the bureaucratic Japanese government’s inability to act efficiently when a monster destroys Tokyo. And Minus One is, in many ways, the thinking man’s Godzilla: a devastating epic about the people of post-war Japan learning to treasure life after its government has treated its citizens so recklessly.
At its centre is Kōichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who abandons his sacrificial duty and returns to Tokyo in shame. He rebuilds his home and adopts his own makeshift family, and as he encounters the towering monster with his plucky team of minesweepers, you hope he survives precisely because he’s made the choice to live. You aren’t watching these films impatiently waiting for Godzilla to come back, you’re dreading Godzilla’s return. Minus One and Shin are engaging with ideas that are bigger and weightier than its titular kaiju, which is something the Monsterverse is sorely lacking—and it’s doing it all at a fraction of the cost.
Ironically, Minus One feels like the little monster film that could. Writer-director Takashi Yamazaki (who also took on visual effects supervision duties) and his team won awards season with adorable figurines they brought to every stop—not to mention their Kaiju drip on display at the Oscars. But despite the film’s charming background and ostensible small size, Minus One is tapping into the same thrills of blockbuster filmmaking with the support of hard-earned pathos. Amidst the fire, destruction and chaos, Yamazaki’s story is wrestling with ideas about survival and honor, arguing that no person is too small or inconsequential.
No wonder Godzilla Minus One captured the attention of the world. What’s more gratifying than rallying together for a greater cause?
This story originally ran on British GQ.
Originally Appeared on GQ
