With stunning cinematography, hearty music and intense action scenes, the latest film in the Godzilla series delivers delights for almost all the senses.

Godzilla Minus One is film number 37 in the franchise, and the 5th film since the reboot. Does that mean you have to have seen a bunch of Godzilla movies to keep up with this? I don't think so. My own experience with the series is limited and I stuck with it. Necessary information still emerges, either in dialogue or by simply witnessing Godzilla's progress on the white screen.

It is a period film that takes place during and after the Second World War, and works in harmony with the very first Godzilla from 1954. Which certainly makes it easier.

It also helps that the monster itself isn't the focus of the film. He's there, absolutely, and of course it's Godzilla's rampage that drives the story. But the focus is very much on the people. Above all on the kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima.

Or the supposed kamikaze pilot. For Shikishima (Kōichi Shikishima) has second thoughts and fakes technical problems with his plane. Not long after he lands on an island, and the giant, God-like, monster attacks and the pilot is one of the few survivors. When he returns to Tokyo, it is with real feelings of guilt over what happened.

It is feelings of guilt that haunt Shikishima for a long time. They set it up in the relationship with Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe), a young woman he meets and wants to help. They make themselves known in the relationship with the colleagues and later friends he meets in his new job. They guide his actions when Godzilla reappears and attacks Tokyo.

Kōichi Shikishima and his relationships are of course the heart and soul of the film. It elevates Godzilla Minus One to something more than just a monster movie, it gives the movie value beyond just seeing a cool monster destroy cities and boats. It also becomes a bit too much.

I struggled with the rating for this movie. Because at times the people's stories are drawn out for too long. The story is losing momentum and I'm starting to lose interest. Godzilla Minus One has the characteristics of melodrama, a genre that I personally have a hard time with. It was in these moments that I considered a low rating.

But then the monster makes an entrance again. The action scenes, Godzilla's attacks and the humans' fight against him, are genuinely exciting and at times gripping. The energy is back.

Also (and almost more importantly) this is a damn good looking movie. The photography is beautiful, the scenography places itself believably and perceptibly in the current period, and the special effects work. Godzilla himself is computer-animated, and looks good, but at the same time in a way that I couldn't help but wonder if there could still be a dude in a very well-made suit in there.

Not to mention the music. Composer Naoki Satō may well be the film's strongest card. Conveyor of emotions, underpinning of action sequences. It is an experience.

And thus I still end up in a reasonably strong 4 Star. Despite its flaws (and certainly not everyone will agree that melodramatics are a bad thing), Godzilla Minus One is an incredibly well-made film, an impressive piece of craftsmanship that doesn't always, but at least often enough, offer cinematic thrills.