Godzilla Minus One is the best Godzilla film! The franchise is celebrating its 70th anniversary with the 1954 original film co-written and directed by Ishiro Honda. The franchise has endured several eras and decades; Showa (1954-1975), Heisei (1984-1995), Millennium (1999-2004), and the Reiwa era that began with Shin Godzilla (2016). The Toho franchise was joined by Legendary’s Monsterverse that started with Godzilla (2014). It is written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki who also directed from the sci fi horror manga, the films; Parasyte: Part 1 (2014) and Parasyte: Part 2 (2015). Noteworthy is that he is also director of the anime adaptation, Space Battleship Yamato (2010). He also the film's visual effects supervisor. It begins with a closeup of the sea water rushing past until getting to an island. A Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane heads to the island as we see that it is 1945, at the Odo Island air field, in the last days of the world war.
Ensign Koichi Shikishima is the pilot, played by Yunosuke Kamiki, who starred in the dramatic series, Ranman. The lead mechanic, Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki), tells Shikishima that he left his duty as a Kamikaze fighter and that his plane has no faults. Shikishima walks to the rocky shore and is told, “We need more people like you.” The water churns and deep sea fish are seen. At night, Shikishima is wakened by thumps and a siren. The mechanics are told to get the guns. Another mechanic is told to light the beach with his spotlight from a tower. Godzilla appears from the sea, a vicious Kaiju, the design is very feral. Odo Island is where the King of the Monsters was first seen in Godzilla (1954). So the film has a nod to the original movie, but is fresh in its approach to characters and plot. The Kaiju tears up the tower and Shikishima says that locals told him that it is called Godzilla.
Everyone takes cover at a trench, Godzilla leans down seeing them, and starts reaching to snatch up men to his jaws! It is violent. Shikishima is told to use the 20mm gun on his Zero. He runs to his fighter and Godzilla jaws are seen by the cockpit. Shikishima draws the target on Godzilla who leans down so its snout is in line. Godzilla’s tail destroys the outpost. Shikishima’s hands shake in fear and he runs from his fighter plane. Godzilla tosses the Zero which explodes! The vision of horror blurs for Shikishima and he goes unconscious. Shikishima often falls unconscious after his encounters which may be a dream-like look for the film. Shikishima wakens the next morning to see the wreckage and bodies of the mechanics. Tachibana drags another body wrapped in cloth, he stumbles, with a bloody leg. He tells Shikishima, they are “dead because you didn’t shoot.”
On a troop transport, Shikishima is given discharge papers. This moves to December 1945, Tokyo. This was after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima, August 6th, and Nagasaki, August 9th. Also, the surrender on September 2nd. The city is a mass or rubble. Shikishima goes to his family’s house and sees his neighbor, Sumiko Ota (Sakura Ando). The actress starred in the family fantasy movie, The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021). She tells him he is disgrace for not dying as a Kamikaze pilot and blames him for the death of her children. Shikishima reads a letter that his parents left for him that urges him to “come back alive.” There are refugees eating and Shikishima is sitting when a woman, Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe) runs up to him to push a bundle in his arms. Hamabe starred with Kamiki in Ranman and also starred in Shin Kamen Rider (2023).
Then, she runs from the police. Shikishima sees that it is a baby and is about to walk away, but then carries the baby. He sees Noriko and hands her back the baby. At night, they are eating bowls of rice and Noriko introduces herself. She explains that a dying mother begged her to take the baby girl, Akiko. This is an incredible relationship, refugees trying to rebuild into an orphan family, the heart of this film. The challenge of G-films is that the humans have to be interesting even with Godzilla off-screen. In this case, I was less interested in Godzilla and wanted to see more of this improvised family. March 1946, Shikishima was looking for work and found one that is government approved. Shikishima joined a boat crew to clean up mines left from the war. I really like the aftermath of war that these people risk their lives to make the sea lines safe.
The next day, he meets with the crew, it is a rickety, tug boat, the Shinsei Maru. There is a sister ship, the Kasinmaru, that uses a chain to cut through the tethered mines. The captain, Yoji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), explains that the mines are magnetic so Shikishima realizes the advantage of the wooden boat. Sasaki played the second in command in Aircraft Carrier Ibuki (2019) based on a manga. The rest of the crew includes Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), who was a weapons developer. Yoshioka starred in Yamazaki’s family comedy/drama, Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), and its 2007 sequel. The youngest member of the crew is Shiro Mizushima (Yuki Yamada) who wants to prove himself. Yamada was in the anime sequel, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar (2022). The crew are all identified by nicknames; Captain, Doc, and Kid. They sail out to find the mines and use a gun to shoot the mines. Shikishima proves his accuracy as a gunner.
Shikishima finds himself back at the Odo Island camp seeing the people he had known and wakes up screaming. Noriko finds him and he grabs her not certain that he is real. She throws him back. July, 1946, we see the nuclear tests at the Bikini Atoll in Operation Crossroads. This was to develop bombs in the arms race with the Soviet Union. It mutates Godzilla. Shikishima rides his motorcycle back to his home, it is now comfortably suburban, and he invites his crew to his house. During dinner, he admits that Noriko is not his wife. Later, Akiko (Sae Nagatani) calls him, “Daddy.” This moment is another reason why the characters overwhelm the Kaiju action which is also impressive. The next morning, Noriko tells Shikishima that she has found a desk job in Ginza. May 1947, news reports come in about a giant shark or whale, the first part hints at what comes next, but the last part hints at the origin of the name of "Gojira", gorilla and "Kujira", whale.
The Shinsei Maru is sent to check out a warship. It is a scuttled U.S. battleship. The destroyer, Takao is on the way from Singapore, but Doc says they have to somehow delay what destroyed the battleship! Shikishima explains about his encounter with Godzilla. Doc says that the Japanese government is trying to keep Godzilla secret. Deep sea fish again appear! The captain says the plan is to drop mines. Godzilla crushes the Kashinmaru with its jaws! They see approach of Godzilla from its spines cutting the water and the captain sets his boat full throttle. This is the best homage to Jaws (1975) though no one brings up needing a bigger boat. The tiny tugboat is a plaything to Godzilla’s claws! A mine is dropped in the path of Godzilla and Kid sets it off. It explodes, but Godzilla continues on. Godzilla roars! Shikishima opens fire with the boat’s gun, but Godzilla shrugs off the rounds. Another mine is dropped, but the cable to detonate the mine is broken!
Shikishima uses the gun to fire upon the mine caught in Godzilla's mouth, it tears apart Godzilla, but it regenerates causing bulbous welts to seal its wounds! Godzilla rises up to its pull height and then is pummeled by the cannon fire of the Takao. The spines of Godzilla cut towards the Takao and then we see it underwater swimming towards the destroyer! Godzilla lifts the Takao, the crew slide down the deck, then the cannon hits it point blank! The Kaiju falls to the sea, but then there is a blue glow underneath the destroyer, and it is destroyed in a massive explosion!
#GodzillaMinusOne, #RyuosukeKamiki, #MinamiHamabe, #SaeNagatani, #SakuraAndo, #HidetakaYoshioka, #KuranosukeSasaki, #YukiYamada, #MunetakaAoki
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