Godzilla Minus One arrives in US theaters, introducing a fresh take on the legendary monster

While the Monsterverse isn’t going anywhere, Toho’s Godzilla Minus One looks to be a more familiar take on the title beast.

Minus Kong

There’s no shared-universe at play for the movie that Toho is sending to theaters in the US today. No, there’s no Kong, there’s no bigger-bad waiting in the shadows, and there are no superhero-y themes (that we can see anyway). Instead what the company has created looks to be a pure love letter to classic ‘Zilla, and one that also appears as though it should make longtime fans very happy indeed.

Both written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One is set in a post-WWII Japan. Already ravaged by the massive war and completely disarmed as a result of it, the recovering nation faces an even greater threat, by way of the rise of the legendary movie-monster.

This Godzilla definitely doesn’t look like he’s interested in making friends or protecting anyone. If you want wholesale destruction though, he’s got you covered.

Produced by the ancestral home of Godzilla, Toho Studios, Godzilla Minus One was shot over just four months in 2022. The film features not just the big guy, but also “Japanese superstars” Ryunosuke Kamiki as Koichi Shikishima and Minami Hamabe as Noriko Oishi.

Both of those actors might be familiar to those who’ve checked out Japanese television, as they hail from the TV series Ranman. Along with the leads, the PG-13 movie rounds out its cast with Yuki Yamada as Shiro Mizushima, Munetaka Aoki as Sosaku Tachibana, Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda, Sakura Ando as Sumiko Ota and Kuranosuke Sasaki as Seiji Akitsu.

Godzilla Minus One is in theaters right now.