I am by no means a Godzilla connoisseur. I've seen only a few of the classic movies and a handful of the more modern offerings. But with so much buzz surrounding Godzilla Minus One, I finally decided to give this latest variation a try.

Set in the final days and aftermath of World War II, it focuses on Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze pilot who carries the shame of faking an airplane malfunction and shirking his honored death in combat. He lands at an airfield on Odo Island for unnecessary repairs, where he witnesses an attack by a large, dinosaur-like creature that kills almost everyone but him. Once again, he carries the shame of cowardice, because when he got behind the guns of his airplane, he was too frightened to fire on the creature. Of course, it's doubtful he would have accomplished much anyway.

Returning to his home in Japan, he finds his parents and almost everyone he knows dead from an Allied bombing run. Almost against his will, he takes in a young homeless woman, Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe), and the foundling infant in her care, and somehow, they build some semblance of a normal life together.

And then, a year or two later, the creature -- somehow even more massive and now capable of devastating atomic attacks -- comes ashore and destroys the Ginza district of Tokyo. Suffering from more losses than he can bear, Koichi works with a team of military and civilian personnel to devise a scheme to take down the beast. An all-out naval assault requires the assistance of one fighter plane, and Koichi doesn't expect to return from this mission.

Godzilla Minus One doesn't attempt to portray Godzilla as some sort of noble god or protector of the planet. While the creature might be reacting to the nuclear testing in his lair, at heart it is evil and unapologetically destructive, killing without thought or hesitation.

This Japanese remake is, of course, filmed with Japanese dialogue, so American audiences (assuming they don't speak Japanese) will have a choice of watching the original film with English subtitles or a dubbed version. While it's easy to get used to mouths moving at different speeds than the words we are hearing, some vocal choices don't suit the character, and some dialogue is entirely too overwrought.

There are some problems with logic, too, such as how Godzilla is can stand in deep ocean water and how dozens of tugboats are able to hook chains onto a pair of naval destroyers so quickly -- but this is a monster movie, after all, and logic isn't always necessary.

This Godzilla is fearsome and terrifying, and there is plenty of destruction and carnage during his fairly brief time on screen. There are also some unexpectedly touching moments of human drama, and the movie captures very effectively the mood of a war-weary nation that's facing a new horror.

I expected Godzilla Minus One would, at best, kill a couple of hours for me, but I ended up really enjoying this movie. This is how Godzilla movies should be made!