Could this be the greatest Godzilla film and a standout of 2023? Possibly. I don’t claim to have seen every single Godzilla movie ever made; my introduction to the franchise was the 1998 version. And yes, I really enjoyed watching that streamlined dinosaur rampage through Manhattan—I still wish I had that six-inch Godzilla figure hanging from a rearview mirror like that cab driver did! What can you do? I’m just into dinosaurs. When put next to the 2014 film and its follow-ups, this one at least manages to have a plot that makes some sense, with fewer characters behaving nonsensically. There's some goofy dialogue, and "the plan" is pretty ridiculous—it requires Godzilla to be completely oblivious to his surroundings—but okay, the 2014 movie had even more questionable moments involving a nuclear warhead, so I’ll concede that point. The characters jump to conclusions, they overreact and underreact, but generally speaking, this might just be the best Godzilla film of all time; though I do feel like that's not saying much given what else I've seen. Perhaps it would have been better with more money behind it. With a budget under 15 million? Alright, yeah, it’s the best one. The special effects for the monsters aren’t great. They’re decent considering the 15-million-dollar price tag. Compared to other Godzilla movies, especially the Hollywood ones, they're not fantastic. And when compared to *Pacific Rim*, they definitely fall short. I give it a 7/10. I really appreciated the overt anti-establishment themes—it’s surprising that “Go Woke, Go Broke” didn’t seem to apply here, since everything I’ve heard about this movie has been positive, even with those very obvious anti-authoritarian messages being constantly pushed in front of us. But who expects consistency from them anyway?

Source on TMDB