Godzilla Minus One is winning rave reviews in this country, and it’s already being hailed as one of the best Godzilla movies ever made. That’s because the film doesn’t overlook its human characters, and it gives them their own dramatic story set against the backdrop of Godzilla’s rampage.
If you’re looking for something exactly like Godzilla Minus One, then you may be disappointed to learn that there really isn’t anything else quite like it. But we have gathered three movies like Godzilla Minus One, or at least films that share many of the same themes. Now it’s time to get your monster mash on.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Guillermo del Toro has made better movies than Pacific Rim, but he’s rarely had more fun than when he pit giant monsters against giant robots — or Kaiju and Jaegers, respectively. Charlie Hunnam stars as Raleigh Becket, a washed-up Jaeger pilot who is recruited back into the Pan Pacific Defense Corps by Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba).
Raleigh quickly starts to bond with Stacker’s adoptive daughter, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) — so much so that they may be “drift compatible” and capable of flying a Jaeger together. However, Mako lost her parents to a Kaiju attack, and the pain of that experience revisits her at inopportune times.
Watch Pacific Rim on Hulu.
Gantz: O (2016)
Masaru Kato (Daisuke Ono) discovers the hard way that there’s more to life than death in Gantz: O. After sacrificing his own life in this animated movie, Kato reawakens alongside a team that includes Reika Shimohira (Saori Hayami), Joichiro Nishi (Tomohiro Kaku), and Shuuichi Ikeda (Yoshikazu Suzuki). Kato is also told that this is a game, and if he or his teammates fail to kill all of the monsters in the city, then they will all die.
While in battle with the creatures, the team aligns with Hachiro Oka (Kendo Kobayashi), one of the few living champions from previous games. Kato also proves that he has the heart of a hero. But being selfless in this world may get Kato and all of his teammates killed.
Watch Gantz: O on Netflix.
The Host (2006)
Thirteen years before helming his Oscar-winning film Parasite, director Bong Joon-ho took on a different kind of monster movie in The Host. After a giant creature called the Gwoemul emerges from toxic waters, a teenage girl named Park Hyun-seo (Go Ah-sung) survives being taken by the monster and winds up trapped in its lair.
Hyun-seo’s father, Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho), doesn’t hesitate to act when he learns his daughter is alive. Gang-du rallies his family to help him save Hyun-seo before he runs into some nefarious people who are willing to kill in order to prevent anyone from discovering what created the monster.
Watch The Host on Paramount+ with Showtime.