You could very well think it’s just another Godzilla movie, but don’t make that mistake. Godzilla Minus One breaks the chains of boring human characters that have held past Godzilla movies down. There’s not too little action, but not too much either. But you can’t judge a movie only by the action. You must know what it’s about.

In postwar Japan, a failed kamikaze pilot named Koichi finds out that everyone he knew died in the air raids. He meets a woman named Noriko, who is in a similar situation. She adopted an orphaned child, and the three had to live with each other for two years. Then came Godzilla.

This movie did many things well. Its award-winning CGI makes Godzilla’s mouth look like a real reptilian mouth. Its phenomenal soundtrack mixes early Godzilla music with its own original music. And as I said, unlike most Godzilla movies, Godzilla Minus One has interesting characters, not just for a Godzilla movie but movies in general.

However, no movie is perfect, and this one has a few imperfections (spoilers alert). In a nuclear blast, one of the characters pushes someone into an alleyway instead of tackling and taking the blow. There are also a few plot conveniences.

For my final words, I’ll give Godzilla Minus One 9 out of 10 stars. It is the best Godzilla movie of all time and the second-best movie of 2023. Just a heads up: You’ll have to read subtitles. Since it’s a war movie first and a monster movie second, you’ll remember its meaning as well as its monster.