Back in 1998, I remember how much I was looking forward to Roland Emmerich's modern CGI update of the classic black & white Godzilla movie....
The trailers nicely built up my anticipation for it, and although there were some fun, entertaining moments here and there, it had a very different tone and setting from the original source material. And while it's creature redesign was fine for a big lizard monster causing chaos in New York, it came across as a very different beast to the original heavier-set, atomic-breathed creation unleashed on Japan - merely a large 'Zilla'-like creature as opposed to the *actual* 'Godzilla' I felt, and I was somewhat disappointed at the time.
Eventually, we got a more familiar-looking version of the big G in Gareth Edwards' 2014 re-imagining, and I found it a much more satisfying rendition. It's 'monster-verse' sequels have been a diverting enough watch too overall, and I'm interested to see what the upcoming tv show will bring.
However....when I think of 'Godzilla' I think of Japan, and with
Godzilla Minus One it looks like I'm *finally* getting the kind of updated Godzilla movie I hoped the 1998 version would be in the first place! This is one of my most anticipated movies since a while - one which brings back the tone and setting closer to Ishiro Honda's movie, where the chunky behemoth is a force of nature unleashed on the poor citizens of Japan, set in that particular location once again and with the distinctive Japanese language - which I'll gladly read in glorious subtitles!
