As an honored subgenre in the history of sci-fi movies, kaiju stories like Godzilla have always delivered thrilling adventures that go beyond “larger than life.” It’s been 70 years since Toho’s mythic creation was born, and those decades have seen quite a few imitators taking a stab at their own version of such tales. According to Godzilla Minus One writer/director Takashi Yamazaki, Cloverfield is a huge standout among the crowd, as the film carries some important lessons on how to get a Godzilla movie right.
I learned this fact firsthand recently, as I was on hand to interview not only Yamazaki, but also actor Ryunosuke Kamiki, on behalf of this 2023 movie release schedule entry. As both men possessed a healthy fandom for the lizard god who never met a city he couldn’t wreck, I asked if there was a movie they felt best got the spirit of the 1954 original outside of the Toho canon. It was then that Takashi shared with CinemaBlend these glowing thoughts about producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves’ found footage epic:
