******GODZILLA-SIZED SPOILERS!******

I’ve been a Godzilla fan since I was a little boy (“The King (of Monsters) and I”); from watching the increasingly silly English-dubbed movies on TV (seen/own them all) to worshipping at the altar of my green plastic Aurora Godzilla model kit.  Highlights of my long love for the franchise reached a peak in the mid-2000s, when I saw the original uncut Japanese version of “Gojira” (1954) at the NuArt theatre in L.A. (it was a revelation), and attended theatrical screenings of “Tokyo SOS” (2003) and “Godzilla: Final Wars” (2004) at the American Cinemateque (nee: Hollywood’s former Egyptian Theatre). I’ve also seen the more recent American-made  Godzilla movies, including a couple episodes of AppleTV’s  new “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” series (though I quit two episodes in; it just didn’t work for me).

Much like the “Halloween” slasher movies, the later Godzilla films would often reboot the franchise, using only the 1954 film as a canonical launchpad. “Godzilla Minus One” reboots Godzilla with a new origin, creating an all-new Godzilla universe that begins in the waning days of World War 2 instead of the mid-1950s (2016’s “Shin Godzilla” attempted a similar modern-day reboot, but was less successful).  Writer/director/visual effects-producer Akashi Yamazaki (2010’s “Space Battleship Yamato”) has reset the Godzilla timeline while still borrowing ideas and iconic theme music from the franchise’s great history, showing a great love and respect for what came before while offering something very new.

For this film, I decided to make one of my rare excursions to a movie theater (only my 5th since February of 2020), and I must say, this was the most wholly satisfying new movie I’ve seen (theatrically or projected at home) in a very long time…

“Godzilla Minus One”

The movie opens in the waning days of World War 2, with a lone plane landing on Odo Island, Japan for maintenance.  The pilot is Ensign Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who is one of the revered kamikaze pilots—a suicide bomber whose very job it is to never return from a mission.  The gruff lead mechanic, Sosaku Tochibana (Munetaka Aoki) and his crew can find nothing wrong with Kōichi’s plane, and rightly conclude that he cowered at the last moment—deserting his mission to land safely at Odo Island instead. A contrite Kōichi offers no defense for his cowardice.  Meanwhile, no one seems to notice the hundreds of rare, deepwater fish suddenly bobbing up to the surface near the shoreline…

Note: Odo Island, is of course, also the setting for the first documented Godzilla encounter, as seen by the lead characters investigating the alleged monster in the 1954 original “Gojira.”

Kōichi and the sleeping mechanics are later awakened during the night by thunderous, rhythmic sounds—the footsteps of an apparent dinosaur making landfall at Odo Island.  One by one, the tyrannosaur-like monster kills off the base mechanics, flinging them like rag dolls with its powerful jaws.  This is a monster that local islanders refer to as “Godzilla,” and it’s clearly no myth.  In the confusion, Tochibana suggests that Kōichi make a run for his plane’s cockpit and use its powerful gun turret to kill the marauding creature.  Kōichi makes it to his cockpit, but once inside, he freezes.  The following morning, Kōichi awakens from unconsciousness as Tochibana, the only other survivor at the base, is tending the bodies of his fallen comrades. The seasoned mechanic is furious at the young pilot for his dereliction of duty…

Note: Kōichi is a fascinatingly flawed protagonist who faces a daunting arc in the movie; beginning as a coward and deserter, eventually becoming a de facto father and later a hero.  Actor Ryunosuke Kamiki takes the emotional growth of the character in incremental and believable steps, as each stage of the movie sees him slowly gaining unwanted responsibility and later maturity. 

After the war, the disgraced kamikaze returns home to a bombed-out Tokyo, where he finds the barely intact remains of his family home.  He is met by a disgusted neighbor, Sumiko (Sakura Ando), who blames Kōichi for failing his country and his family.  In the streets, Kōichi is suddenly handed a baby by a fleeing shoplifter named Noriko (Minami Hamabe). After the police are gone, Noriko finds Kōichi to reclaim the baby.  Noriko is surprised to see that Kōichi didn’t simply desert the infant, as he easily could’ve.  After allowing Noriko and the baby to stay at his home, Kōichi learns Noriko and baby Akiko aren’t related; she found the orphan and is doing her best to care for the baby girl.  Over months of living together, the three of them form a found family, and are eventually rewarded with a repaired home. Plagued with frequent nightmares fueled by his survivor’s guilt, Kōichi keeps both Noriko and Akiko at an arm’s length—providing them with shelter and food, but refusing to get too close.  

Meanwhile, as US atomic bomb tests take place in the nearby Bikini Atolls, the ancient dinosaur that once menaced Odo Island is being rapidly mutated in the sea by the resultant radiation…

Gradually assuming more responsibility for his found family, Kōichi buys a motorcycle and lands a dangerous job aboard a civilian minesweeper vessel that is supposedly rigged for its dangerous mission.  Arriving at the dock, Kōichi meets the crew of the Shensei Maru, a small fishing boat-sized vessel that seems wildly unsuited for its task. The captain is Yoji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), and his first mate is a green crewman named Shiro Mizushima (Yuki Yamada).  Handling the introductions is the ship’s affable onboard scientist/mine-expert, Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka). Kōichi is dubious regarding the vessel’s minesweeping ability, but Kenji assures him their boat is perfectly suited, since its wooden hull resists magnetic mines. After meeting other members of the small vessel’s complement, Kōichi and the Shensei Maru get underway…

The crew sets about the task of cutting grounding cables to the mines—forcing them to surface, and allowing the crew to detonate them with the Shensei Maru’s single gun turret. Kōichi soon realizes his crewmates aren’t very good shots.  Volunteering to man the turret, Kōichi proves his mettle by hitting his targets with consistent accuracy.  The Shensei Maru soon comes across the wreckage of a US Navy vessel.  The crew are unable to determine what destroyed the ship, as its twisted, mangled hull shows no signs of explosions or other obvious clues.  Scientist Kenji quickly determines this was the work of a sea monster… and gunner Kōichi knows exactly which one.

Note: Writer-director Akashi Yamazaki has said in interviews that Spielberg was one of his early influences, and it appears the Shensei Maru might be an homage to Captain Quint’s ramshackle fishing boat Orca from “JAWS” (1975).  Like the Orca, the fragile, wooden Shensei Maru doesn’t survive its mission, either.

The Shensei Maru and her crew get confirmation that the creature responsible for the wrecked destroyer is the Godzilla creature from Odo Island. The small minesweeper is then given the task of using captured mines to destroy Godzilla.  Back at sea, the Shensei Maru engages the creature—which has been mutated to many times its original size.  After its massive dorsal fins breach the water’s surface, we soon see Godzilla’s massive jaws as well.  The Shensei Maru crew successfully drops a mine into the monster’s mouth and detonates it. Godzilla is momentarily injured by the explosion, but super-regenerative abilities allows its mouth to heal at an astonishing rate.  Realizing the Shensei Maru lacks means to kill the creature, the destroyer Takao arrives on the scene.  However, Godzilla’s dorsal fins go rigid and glow blue as the monster prepares to fire its atomic heat ray.  The heat-ray obliterates the Takao in a deadly mushroom cloud.   Unable to stop Godzilla, the massive monster is projected to come ashore in a matter of hours, but evacuation orders are nixed by the authorities over fears of panic.

Note: Godzilla’s super-regenerative capability was first identified onscreen in 1999’s “Godzilla 2000” as Organizer G-1 or Regenerator G-1 (depending on which version you saw, original Japanese or English-dubbed). This was was a technobabble way of explaining how decades of humanity’s best weapons failed to put so much as a dent in the giant dinosaur’s thick hide. I do appreciate that this version of Godzilla shows some vulnerability to human-made bombs and mines, however short-lived. It doesn’t simply wade through barrages without flinching, as we’ve seen in so many other Godzilla films.

Once ashore, Kōichi is hospitalized for injuries to his head during the unsuccessful attempt to destroy Godzilla.  He then tells Noriko about Godzilla’s attack on Odo Island, and how he’s tormented by nightmares and survivor’s guilt. His crewmates aboard the Shensei Maru sympathize as well.  Arriving earlier than expected, Godzilla makes landfall at the district of Ginza in Tokyo, where Noriko is commuting to work aboard an elevated train. Killing thousands of innocent, panicked civilians under its massive steps, the behemoth monster destroys iconic landmarks of the city, including a broadcast building, as rooftop-stationed reporters plunge to their deaths. 

Note: This scene captures the chaos of Godzilla’s nighttime orgy of destruction in Tokyo from the 1954 original film, as Godzilla crushes thousands of civilians and effortlessly levels iconic city landmarks. Now shot in widescreen, color, and with the clarity of daylight, the Tokyo rampage of the new film takes on added resonance with post-9/11 North American audiences as well.  Unlike the overly-orchestrated scenes of ‘panicked’ extras in later kaiju movies, this Tokyo invasion, like the 1954 original, really delivers the horror of such impossibly-scaled devastation, as humans are trampled like ants beneath the monster’s feet.

After part of the elevated train track is destroyed, emergency brakes prevent the train from falling over. A resigned Noriko watches helplessly as Godzilla grabs the train car in its powerful jaws. As the monster shakes the car in its teeth, a screaming Noriko falls straight into the waters of Tokyo Bay…

Note: The scene of Godzilla destroying the commuter train is a direct remake of the iconic scene from the 1954 film.  While the 1954 version was exceptionally well-executed for its time, it was but one moment of destruction among many after Godzilla came ashore in Tokyo.  This film puts the movie’s female lead on that train, which gives it a much stronger emotional punch than it had in the original. Noriko also seems curiously resigned to her fate in this scene as well, showing little of the spirit she had when we first met her and Akiko struggling to survive in the streets.  While she’s not quite suicidal, there’s a certain resignedness to the character, as if she’s done all she could to make a better life for her and her adopted daughter, but has no more fight left against this titanic grim reaper. This sudden fatalism of Noriko’s reminds me of the mother who wrapped her arms around her two young children during Godzilla’s 1954 rampage in the original film, promising that they’ll “be with daddy soon.”

We later see that Noriko survived as she despondently wanders through the panicked streets of Tokyo.  She then runs into Kōichi (an admitted coincidence) who tries ushering her to safety.  As they seek refuge in a narrow alleyway, Godzilla’s dorsal fins protrude and glow once again.  Noriko steps out to take another look at the monster, just as it fires a volley of its atomic breath—blowing her back with gale force into the debris.  As Godzilla finally retreats back into the ocean, Kōichi realizes that Noriko is no longer at his side.  He begins shouting her name through the streets, but gets no response.  Looking into the sky, a grieving Kōichi screams with rage, almost like a human answer to Godzilla’s radioactive wind.

Note: This scene has two critical turning points for Kōichi.  The once-timid pilot finally realizes just how much he really cares for Noriko (and Akiko).  He also gains courage by finding a cause for which he’s willing to give his life.  Japan’s war with the United States—mostly fueled by political posturing and nationalism—wasn’t enough for him. Kōichi is now committed to the destruction of the monster that changed his life at Odo Island.

At a meeting of local survivors, Kenji assumes the role of science advisor, since the Japanese government can no longer help them.  Even the United States Navy is hesitant to intervene, lest such aid be misinterpreted by the Soviets. They’re on their own.  With no other options, Kenji unveils an audacious plan to encircle Godzilla in the ocean using a large cable net towed by two disarmed warships scheduled for decommissioning. The net will contain multiple canisters of freon.  When the freon tanks are blown, it will create a field of negative pressure around the creature—forcing it to sink almost instantly to crush depths in the ocean below.  Skeptical civilians ask Kenji what happens if the crushing pressure doesn’t work.  Kenji says his backup plan involves the reverse; releasing giant inflatables around the captured monster, forcing it to surface and leading to explosive decompression.  The crowd is skeptical, but goes along with the plan, since there are no alternatives.  Kōichi offers to use an advanced decommissioned Shinden fighter prototype to lure the monster into their ocean-bound trap. Kenji guesstimates they have roughly ten days before Godzilla’s return…

Note:  Scientist Kenji Noda, nicely played by actor Hidetaka Yoshioka, is the closest thing this movie has to the original movie’s tormented, eyepatch-wearing Dr. Serizawa. Kenji, however, is far removed from Serizawa’s Oppenheimer stand-in. If anything, Kenji is more of a benign eccentric, as reflected by his wild, graying, Albert Einstein-like hair. 

Later, as Kōichi and the others inspect the Shinden fighter, they realize they’ll need a top-notch mechanic to make the mothballed craft airworthy.  Kōichi suggests seeking out the only other survivor of the Odo Island massacre; Sosaku Tochibana. Kōichi tries locating Tochibana through various addresses with no success. In desperation, Kōichi writes poison pen letters to Tochibana at all of the addresses—blaming him for what happened at Odo Island, in hopes of luring the bitter mechanic out of anonymity.  The plan works.  Tochibaba finds Kōichi one night, and beats the living snot out of him, until Kōichi explains that the letters were written to enlist him for the cause of saving Japan.  Still bitter over Odo Island but willing to help, Tochibana drafts his crack team of mechanics, and they get to work on restoring the mothballed plane. Some modifications made include removing spare fuel tanks and replacing them with extra explosives, since this will be a secret kamikaze mission should the naval operation fail…

Note: Tochibana is memorably played by actor Munetaka Aoki, who adds the proper bitterness and even a bit of danger to his performance; Tochibana is not a guy to screw with. Like most characters in the film, Aoki’s performance is vivid and dimensional; in sharp contrast to many other Godzilla movies, which typically prioritize action over the B-stories of the human characters. 

As preparations are made for the mission, Kōichi visits neighbor Sumiko, who’s become a nanny to toddler Akiko.  Kōichi then quietly hands Sumiko an envelope for his adopted daughter, containing money and family photos, in hopes that “Auntie Sumiko” will raise Akiko as her own, just as he and Noriko tried to do. Sumiko—who once scolded her neighbor as a traitor and coward—now looks at him with deep pride and admiration, as she realizes Kōichi is going to fulfill his original wartime role as a kamikaze pilot…

Note: I extend my earlier praise for the performances in this film to actress Sakura Ando, who plays neighbor Sumiko.  Her arc in the film is significant as well, going from despising wartime coward Kōichi, only to agree in raising his adopted daughter for him before the film’s big climax.  As a lifelong Godzilla fan, the vivid human stories and characters in this Godzilla film were a great surprise to me.  This film would be serious Oscar bait for Best Foreign Film if only it didn’t have the undue prejudice of being labeled as a Godzilla or kaiju movie.

With the two ships standing by to ensnare Godzilla in their trap, the monster unexpectedly comes ashore earlier than predicted, causing more chaos and destruction.  Showing none of the hesitation he did at Odo Island, Kōichi mans his plane and takes off.  Targeting Godzilla, he strafes the monster repeatedly, carefully avoiding its grasp through evasive maneuvers, though annoying it just enough for the monster to give chase.  His distraction is successful, and Godzilla is lured back into the ocean…

Note: With a combined naval battle and aerial assault on the monster, the climax has something of a Star Wars-feel to it, despite its World War 2-era setting.  Perhaps this isn’t surprising, since writer/director AkashiYamazaki cited George Lucas’ 1977 space fantasy as another inspiration of his growing up.  This comparison gets even more meta since the inspiration for Lucas’s Death Star battle climax came from hours of watching real-life footage of World War 2 dogfights.  In this movie, Godzilla itself is the Death Star; less a character, and more an ominous symbol of destructive power to be removed from the universe. I used to refer to Godzilla as ‘he’ before I saw this movie; now ‘he’ feels more appropriately like an ‘it.’

Once back in the sea, the two vessels—with the Shensei Maru crew added to their ranks—set their plan in motion. They successfully ensnare Godzilla with the thick cables and freon canisters, which they soon detonate.  As predicted, Godzilla sinks rapidly, but stops at 1,500 meters before it’s realized the monster survived crush depth. Kenji immediately goes to Plan B, and orders the destroyer captain to activate the flotation devices. The balloons manage to pull Godzilla up to 800 meters, but the two ships and their tow cables lack the power to go against the creature’s active resistance—that is, until eager young Shensei Maru crewman Shiro (Yuki Yamada) shows up with an entire fleet of civilian ships, all willing to attach themselves to the tow lines.  The combined ships deliver the necessary power to force Godzilla to the surface, and while the monster is clearly damaged, it’s not weakened enough. Once more, we see its dorsal plates spring up and glow, as it prepares to fire its atomic volley…

Note: Did I mention the movie’s Star Wars influences? Clearly the AT-AT walker attack sequence from “The Empire Strikes Back” was a huge influence here as well…

Just then, Kōichi arrives in his Shinden fighter plane, headed straight Godzilla as he sets a suicide course for the monster’s mouth.  We see the plane crash into Godzilla’s deadly maw, as the extra explosives added to its payload detonate. Godzilla’s head melts away, as its once indestructible body falls to pieces from the intense heat. As the crews of the improvised flotilla mourn the apparent loss of heroic Kōichi, a deckhand spots his parachute.  It’s revealed in a quick flashback that one of the ‘extra modifications’ added by Tochibana was an ejection seat—the once-bitter mechanic has forgiven Kōichi, and now wants the brave young pilot to survive the mission. 

Note: Tochibana is the movie’s Han Solo; the former bitter cynic who ends up saving the hero’s ass at the last minute; in this case, through an unexpected ‘safety feature’ that wouldn’t exactly be standard equipment for a kamikaze pilot. This movie’s old-fashioned heroism feels downright retro (and very welcome) these days.

After recovering the ejected Kōichi from the water, the young hero disembarks when he’s met by Sumiko with an urgent telegram—Noriko has been found and is alive at a Tokyo hospital. The young hero dashes past the cheering crowds.  We see him enter her hospital room, staring at her half-bandaged face.  She asks him if he’s finally “come home from the war?” He has. With the monsters gone—both Godzilla and the specter of his cowardice at Odo Island—Kōichi realizes he loves his ‘wife’ Noriko and ‘daughter’ Akiko.  They are his home.

Note: While the ‘mega-happy’ ending of Noriko’s survival and subsequent reunion with Kōichi might be too implausible for some, I’d argue that this is a movie about a 50-meter dinosaur that breaths atomic vapors at hurricane force. But sure, tell me what’s implausible again…?

Just before the credits roll, we cut back to Tokyo Bay, where the sinking remains of Godzilla begin to spontaneously regenerate…

Note: If this movie does produce a sequel, as the coda strongly suggests, I really hope we see these same characters once again. They were so unexpectedly dimensional that I found myself genuinely caring for them.  Much of that goes to the actors and to writer/director/FX maestro Akashi Yamakazi, who has given Godzilla fans the ultimate 70th anniversary present for next year. 

Summing It Up

Writer/director Akashi Yamazaki (2010’s “Space Battleship Yamato”) is also credited as the visual effects creator. Yamazaki has crafted what is easily the best Godzilla film I’ve yet seen. Godzilla has never been more ominous and downright terrifying than it is in this film—its glowing dorsal plates spring up from its spine like a series of obscenely destructive erections whenever the behemoth monster prepares to fires its atomic breath in almost orgasmic obliteration. In keeping with the villainous Godzilla of the original film, there are elements of the franchise’s history sprinkled throughout; such as using original “Gojira” composer Akira Ifukube’s rousing themes (his “Godzilla March” is used to great effect in the climax) to the monster’s atomic origins and super-regenerative abilities.  The film’s new music from Oscar-winning composer Naoki Sato is also very memorable, as it danced in my brain for hours after leaving the theater.

More important than the titular monster, the human stories of this film are the warmest and most compelling of any Godzilla film to date.  Many might argue that’s not saying much, since the human subplots of G-movies have long taken backseats to the monster action in the franchise’s nearly 70-year history. However, the human stories are front and center in this movie.  In fact, one can easily imagine an alternate version of the story without Godzilla, focusing solely on a disgraced kamikaze pilot adjusting to post-war life with a new found family and crippling survivor’s guilt. That story alone could be worth a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination.  Adding the formidable Godzilla to the mix simply gives the story a Death Star for the characters to unite against.

Something I didn’t anticipate was the profound performance by lead actor Ryunosuke Kamiki, who plays Kōichi. The character’s arc goes organically (and incrementally) from terrified deserter to new father to courageous hero in the span of two hours. Kamiki is ably supported by a game cast who each make their characters memorable, as well as great scope and direction by director Yamazaki, whose talent with actors is easily on a par with his incredible visuals. It’s also refreshing to see an authentically Japanese Godzilla movie again for the first time since 2016’s “Shin Godzilla.” Godzilla is as Japanese as James Bond is British. Only the Japanese culture has endured the actual horror of atomic devastation, which is what the Godzilla metaphor is all about. 

“Godzilla Minus One” is filled with a deep humanity and sincerely earnest heroics that are emotionally truer than the empty entertainment calories of your average Marvel/DC superhero flick. This is not just the best Godzilla movie I’ve yet seen (which it is, by far), it’s also one of the best movies I’ve seen in the past 20 years—with or without Godzilla.  

Where To Watch

“Godzilla Minus One” is currently in theatrical release only and is presented in native Japanese with English subtitles (thank goodness; I hate dubbing). Hopefully, the movie will be released to a streaming service and/or digital-physical media formats in a few months, but that’s only a guess. Check Amazon periodically for pre-sale information!