The latest addition to the Godzilla series, ‘Godzilla Minus One’, has shattered box office records. As cited by Screen Rant, the film has set a new records: the Highest Single-Day Domestic Collection for a Foreign Live-Action Film. It has also recorded the Biggest Domestic Debut for a Live-Action Japanese Film and ranks as the second greatest opening for any Foreign-Language Live-Action Film. The audience response has been phenomenally positive, catapulting the film to the second position in box office rankings as reported by IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.
Jersey City’s Miguel Santos, a 46-year-old technician, shared his positive review after watching it at the Times Square AMC. He commended the film, expressing that the buzz surrounding it was completely justified. He praised the virtuosity of the movie’s action sequences, engaging dialogue (despite being subtitled) and compelling storyline. Santos looks forward towards further sequels of the franchise.
Miguel Santos wasn’t the only one taken with the latest Godzilla film. Seventeen-year-old Bronx student Felix Rodriguez, who watched the film at the AMC Theater on West 34th St., echoed the sentiment, labelling the film as ‘worth watching’. Impressed, he rated the film a perfect 10, acknowledging it as an excellent piece of cinema.
The sci-fi horror film, ‘Godzilla Minus One’, takes place in post-World-War-II Japan, adding an innovative context to the monster movie genre. ‘The filmmakers devised an uncommon narrative style for a monster film,’ Rodriguez elaborated. ‘The plot thoughtfully allows the audience to connect with the characters, witness their growth, and empathise with their wartime experiences and the accompanying loss.’
Rodriguez was also captivated by the way Godzilla was portrayed: as a stalking creature, an impending threat that must constantly be looked out for. He found this approach transformed Godzilla into a horror movie monster, a thrilling viewing experience.
Brooklyn-based tech worker, Brandon Henton, found himself in agreement. At 30 years old, he found this rendition of Godzilla offered a refreshing human perspective. ‘The human narrative of Godzilla’s havoc and the ensuing psychological effect were portrayed with an unusual level of sincerity’, he praised. ‘In my experience, this aspect hasn’t been explored much in previous Godzilla movies.’
Jenny Zhang, a 29-year-old data analyst from Manhattan, viewed the film as ’emotionally stirring’. She appreciated multiple elements of the film, from the skilfully constructed theme, to the compelling plot and the impressive development of characters.
‘Godzilla Minus One’, also a December 1 release, managed to stand out even amidst the long standing Godzilla franchise for Kevin Bai. Hailing from Manhattan, the 28-year-old banker felt that the focus on the ‘human experience’ distinctively set the movie apart. He found the integration of a historical context i.e. post-World War II, tailored a different experience than prior Godzilla films.
For Bobby Medows, a 56-year-old writer from Brooklyn, the film was ‘astonishing’. After watching the movie with his son, Xavier, he was convinced that it was amongst the finest films they had seen that year. Medows praised the fresh, original take on Godzilla, and highlighted that it was the first instance that he found Godzilla genuinely unsettling.
Moreover, it wasn’t just the visual appeal of the film that impressed Xavier. The young viewer expressed his appreciation for the film’s stirring soundtrack, which he described as ‘giving him chills’.