After seven years and two more American Godzilla movies that nobody remembers or talks about, Japan is back to show the world how it’s done with “Godzilla Minus One:” a grisly return to the convoluted kaiju series’ somber origins.

Released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the franchise, “Godzilla Minus One” is the first live-action Japanese “Godzilla” film since 2016’s “Shin Godzilla”: a reboot of the series directed by Hideaki Anno, creator of the “Evangelion” franchise, and a darker adaptation of Godzilla set in modern-day Japan and inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown. “Godzilla Minus One” builds on the grimness of “Shin Godzilla,” continuing to move away from the B-movie campiness old Godzilla films are known for, and rebooting the franchise again. 

“Godzilla Minus One” takes place from 1945-1946, making Godzilla an even clearer metaphor for the horrors America unleashed upon Japan with the atomic bomb than even the first post-war film from 1954.

“Postwar Japan has lost everything. The film depicts an existence that gives unprecedented despair … In order to depict this, the staff and I have worked together to create a setting where Godzilla looks as if ‘fear’ itself is walking toward us, and where despair is piled on top of despair,” Takashi Yamazaki, writer and director, said in the news release for the film.

Yamazaki and his staff’s work paid off. Godzilla is downright terrifying in this adaptation; it’s like a horror movie and it’s incredible.

There is no need to use fear of the unknown to make Godzilla scary in this one; they made Godzilla horrifying enough just by itself.

This is not the man-in-a-rubber-suit Godzilla of the 70s fighting Mothra; this is a cataclysmic apocalypse of unimaginable devastation.

The computer-generated Godzilla is some of the best video effects work in any movie, ever. It is industry-standard setting work made all the more astonishing by the fact that “Godzilla Minus One’s” entire budget was $15 million. 

It makes movies with hundreds of times its budget look amateur and sloppy.

“Godzilla Minus One” is also ridiculously entertaining. “Godzilla Minus One” ditches the slow burn approach many Godzilla films are known for, where tension builds for most of the film before you catch a glimpse of the monster. The action is gripping and frequent.

The sound design is another awe-inspiring aspect of “Godzilla Minus One.” Godzilla’s roar actually startled me the first time it blasted through the theater’s sound system. 

Scoring is used sparingly and the film sometimes lacks sound entirely to build tension and emphasize the more devastating scenes to great effect. 

There were multiple times during my showing when the sound cut out and you could have heard a pin drop in the theater.

“Godzilla Minus One” is a truly innovative, refreshing take on one of the longest-running franchises in movie history and should not be missed in the theaters.

It is, without question, one of the best Godzilla movies ever produced and an unforgettable experience.