Godzilla Minus One: the horror of trauma and facing monsters as a community

Spoiler-free review: 

Rating out of 10: 10 

Likes:  It is a solid standalone movie with a well-written cast of characters and a still poignant narrative message. 

Critiques: I would’ve liked them to point out more the hypocrisy of America and Japan’s government, but that is more a nitpick than anything else. 

Spoiler review: 

Godzilla Minus One a horror and monster movie? Or a recovering from trauma movie? The answer is both. Within the two hours of the movie, you are introduced to a compelling cast of Japanese characters (none of whose names I shall even attempt to pronounce), all carrying various baggage from the Second World War. Likewise, whilst Godzilla in this movie is unashamedly campy, the soundtrack and framing of the sea-dwelling monster (an allegory for the US’s nuclear weapon) instill dread in your heart and you’re afraid, when it looks at our protagonists you’ll be next. While this is a horror movie, and by extension, by allegory, a war movie, it is never gruesome and is very respectful of the grieving process and the trauma it brings. In the end, unlike many a Western film, the narrative concludes not with the needlessly bloody self-sacrifice of the main character, but, instead with his ejecting from his plane and deciding it is better to live, that trauma can be worked through and his death will not solve the problem. In short, a well-constructed foreign film that defies genre and subverts tropes we in the Western audience are too familiar with. 10 out of 10, I know nothing of Godzilla in its original form, and I’d watch this film again just for all of how it subverts tropes and its talented cast.