Godzilla Minus One gets unprecedented Rotten Tomatoes score

Godzilla Minus One is positioning itself to be one of the greatest movies in the iconic kaiju’s big-screen history after landing a never-before-achieved Rotten Tomatoes score.

Godzilla has been stomping all over cinemas for decades; more specifically, since its debut 1954 in Toho’s first movie, a launchpad for a decades-spanning franchise that’s made it the greatest monster in movie history.

That’s not to say they’ve all been bangers, though. Dated effects aside, Godzilla has its fair share of iffy sequels in its 32-movie run under Toho; Terror of Mechagodzilla is the least successful movie in the franchise, and Godzilla’s Revenge (All Monsters Attack) is considered one of the worst films in the series.

However, after a 12-year hiatus, the studio returned in 2016 with the excellent, frightening Shin Godzilla -and it appears the best was yet to come with Godzilla Minus One.

Godzilla Minus One gets perfect Rotten Tomatoes score

Godzilla Minus One currently has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the highest-rated movie in the franchise to date.

It’s received unanimous praise throughout the over 100 comments on the site, which echoes The Creator director Gareth Edwards who said it “must be mentioned as a candidate for the best Godzilla movie of all time.”

IGN called it a “rousing, spectacle-filled blockbuster… Godzilla: Minus One takes the king of the monsters back to his roots in post-WWII Japan. The story is character-driven, but the monster scenes are exciting and effective.”

Screen International also wrote: “Godzilla Minus One returns the titular beast to its roots as a metaphor for Japan’s postwar anxiety and grief, in the process delivering a stirring spectacle that also contains a palpable emotional undercurrent.”

In its review, the Japan Times wrote: “Visually, Godzilla Minus One evokes the original film more than any Godzilla film since the ’50s. But by locating itself in the past, it avoids taking on contemporary issues, more content to be an entertaining ride.”

The movie takes place in the fallout of the Second World War, with Japan devastated by nationwide death and destruction, as well as the atomic blasts in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. With the country still reeling from wartime tragedies and terrors, a new crisis emerges in the form of Godzilla.

Godzilla Minus One will hit cinemas in the US on December 1. You can find out more about whether or not the movie is a reboot here, and check out the rest of our coverage here.