Godzilla Minus One (soundtrack)

Tim Grierson of Screen International wrote "Naoki Sato's booming, mournful orchestral score suggests that Godzilla is a symbol of something greater — the horror and inexplicable agony of the brutal war the Japanese have just endured."^[6] Richard Kuipers of Variety wrote "Naoki Sato's subtle orchestral score is perfectly in tune with the film's emotional undercurrents and leaps wonderfully to life".^[7] Hannah Rose of Comic Book Resources commended the score's range, "between the gentle, spare, and haunting single-line melodies of intimate and emotional scenes and huge, dark, and full of explosive scare chords during Godzilla's rampages. During the more triumphant scenes, Sato channels Studio Ghibli mainstay Joe Hisaishi, putting sweeping orchestras against the characters' heroic speeches. But equally important to the scenes with music are those without. Godzilla Minus One has many moments where the ambient sounds make up the only soundtrack — lending a sense of peace and realism in the human moments and greater dramatic impact to those where Godzilla is on the loose."^[8]

Music critic Jonathan Broxton described it as a "complicated, unconventional, uncompromising, sometimes difficult, but deeply impressive stuff, and yet another example of why Naoki Sato is one of the best Japanese composers of his generation".^[9] Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood wrote "Naoki Sato's score is exceptional and, showing affection to where this all started, there also is sweet use of music icon Akira Ifukube's original Godzilla theme."^[10] Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com said that Sato "lays down a droning orchestral wall of sound that his string section flits across like a surfer riding a towering and perpetually cresting wave. It's one of the most rousing and nerve-wracking original scores in a recent Godzilla movie."^[11] Lucas Trevor of The Washington Post described it as "building" and "booming".^[12]

In a negative review, Filmtracks.com summarized "Despite all the incredible potential of having Sato score a massive entry in this franchise, the end result is a strategic misfire of epic proportions."^[13]