By Joe Gibson
This is part three of my
written Godzilla Minus One review, but now the full video essay is up on
YouTube, so I encourage you to watch it here: https://youtu.be/hPaxuxgz34U?si=r7H00Ftn9eAWAbg-
If you are just jumping
in on this blog post and would like to read the review, incomplete as it is
compared to the video, here are the links to the previous parts.
https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2025/06/godzilla-minus-one-strengths-and.html
https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2025/06/part-two-godzilla-minus-one-strengths.html
Noda pulls some strings
to get Shikishima the German plane Shinden, an innovative ship that seems
constructed backward with a tail fan. However, it is not airworthy yet and
needs a top mechanic to find it, so this is where Tachibana can reenter the
movie. The Japanese bureaucracy keeps Shikishima from finding him easily so he
sends out a series of letters, designed to draw him out. Thankfully, the plan
works, and Tachibana beats him with a stick out of anger but, more importantly,
is in the same room with him to hear Shikishima’s pitch. Koichi wants Tachibana
to fit the Shinden with explosives so he can do a kamikaze and take out
Godzilla once and for all.
Tachibana knows about
the Shinden line of planes once he sees the interceptor and gets to work on it,
while the other veterans are beaming during the preparations even though they
know the stakes are high. That night, there is a meeting charting Godzilla’s
course and they prepare for this assault. Noda launches into a monologue about
how the government failed its veterans during the war and how they want this
civilian-led effort to result in no casualties. In many ways, this encapsulates
many of the themes of this movie, but to understand why we will have to see the
resolution to the battle.
Shikishima looks clearly
conflicted about wanting to kamikaze after hearing these words, and Akitsu and
Noda take Mizushima off the mission because they want to leave the country’s
future to him, as they are still convinced this will cost their lives. They
tell Mizushima that not having seen war is something to be proud of, and,
incidentally, in taking him off the mission, they are giving him the motivation
he needs to organize a bunch of tugboats to be ready in case the Destroyers
need to pull Godzilla out of the water, something that I am spoiling will
happen now because the cooperation is a necessary note.
Tachibana finds the
ejector seat, making him question whether or not he should tell Shikishima
about it, and Akiko gives Shikishima a drawing of them and Noriko, presumably
making him question whether or not he should commit to the kamikaze because she
is precious to him. Shikishima arrives that next morning to the warehouse where
they house the Shinden (and I still don’t know how they got it into and out of
the warehouse, presumably there is a sliding door for it, but we never see it).
Tachibana shows Shikishima the bomb payloads and plane controls. Shikishima’s
hand shakes again, and he comments that part of him wants to live, at which
point Tachibana reminds him it was the same for the soldiers, but this
interaction changes both of their minds about what should happen right now, and
what better time to chart their relationship than now?
I made some pretty
definitive claims that not only would the movie not work without Tachibana’s
forgiveness of Shikishima but that even in spite of Tachibana’s very brief
screen time in this film, it does work and even that the entire cast of this
movie feels like real people. According to the novelization, Tachibana and
Shikishima avoided each other until their rescue from the island after the war.
This is obvious also from how the picture exchange happens. After Shikishima
sends those letters, it offends Tachibana greatly, and the novelization
apparently tells us that the specifics of what he wrote was that Tachibana
fired on a U.S. ship prompting retaliation. However, once Tachibana tracks him
down, Shikishima explains that he just used that to flush him out and needs his
help to give his life to kill Godzilla. Tachibana is on board with this, and,
though he repairs the ejector seat as well as the rest of the Shinden, he does
not seem like he wants to tell Shikishima about it until what happens next.
Tachibana sees that
Shikishima has still held onto the pictures and is now dedicating himself to a
heroic sacrifice, but Tachibana also sees that Shikishima has a family to live
for like those mechanics did, and Tachibana, embodying the themes of Noda’s
earlier monologue, chooses to let Shikishima know about the ejector seat. The
words Tachibana says to the Shinden as it takes off have been translated a
variety of ways in the different releases and versions of the film I have
watched and will probably be different in the novel, but I interpret it as him
telling Shikishima to end the cycle of this war, the cycle of how the Japanese
government failed the veterans, as Akitsu and Noda earlier commented on.
Shikishima’s choice to
live in this climax has tension about it because the character could reasonably
choose either at this point based on how he has been written, but the film
literally showing us in the background Tachibana telling Shikishima about the
ejector seat without telling us that is what he is showing him, it is quite
predictable that Shikishima will survive if you are audience paying close
enough attention. That is fine. A well foreshadowed plot point will often be
predictable; it matters more if it is cathartic and still based on these
characters making the decision.
Sumiko finds Akiko with
a letter Shikishima prepared for her to give to Sumiko with money and
explaining she should use the money for Akiko and look after her, and Godzilla
is sighted in shallow water or rather the deep sea fish are, so they launch
into the next step of their plan, using a recording of Godzilla’s roar to lure
him to the target area. Godzilla is quicker than expected and throws the
underwater decoy team’s ship into a building, as the Shinden takes off. As I
mentioned at the start of this, Shikishima is flying very shortly after getting
a nasty bruised black eye. Now, it has mostly healed, but I still see slight
evidence of it, and it was like a day and a half ago he got it, so it should
still be there. Ultimately, it is not that big of an issue.
Over the communication
lines, Shikishima checks in and Akitsu responds that he had better not orphan
Akiko. It seems like Shikishima has not quite made a decision yet as a telegram
reaches the Shikishima household. As there are no other open plotlines for that
to be about, I will just say that this is the hospital notifying Shikishima
that Noriko is alive after all, and we’ll talk about that more in a second.
Shikishima lures
Godzilla away from the countryside and into position by circling around him,
and Godzilla, despite being a slow lumbering brute, has some quick reflexes. It
is honestly quite impressive that Shikishima manages to avoid the tail and jaws
of Godzilla while he’s moving like that.
Anyway, I’ll just say it
now. Despite being a real world vehicle in this franchise full of
unconventional sci-fi weaponry, from the Shinden’s build-up to its performance
in the dogfight, it is one of the coolest vehicles in the entire franchise,
easily on par with each Super X from the 80s and 90s films.
Godzilla preps and unleashes
his atomic breath at the decoy destroyer because he knows it worked well on the
Takao beforehand, and Noda realized Godzilla is a thinking creature. Godzilla
is burnt from using it again, and Noda explains that Godzilla has to recharge
before he can use it again. The Godzilla theme kicks in as the remaining
destroyers enact the plan to wrap the freon chambers around Godzilla. And then
because the soundtrack wants to piss me off, it does a rendition of the song
that the islanders in King Kong vs Godzilla play to put Kong to sleep. It’s a
good piece of music, but there’s no reason it and Mahara Mothra (a peaceful
ode) should be in this film or the scenes they are in. Evidently, Godzilla
feels the same way, because it motivates him to recharge his beam faster.
However, step one of the
plan worked, and the freon drags Godzilla down to the depths. Though he likely
would have survived anyway, I interpret the visual language of the film showing
that Godzilla’s nuclear charge dissipates from his dorsals back into his body
as meaning that it helped him to counteract the effects. Because he survived,
they implement step two of the plan to use the inflatable rafts to bring him
up, but he cuts through the cables halfway through, even as his body is
suffering the effects of the explosive decompression. Then, as Mizushima
predicted, the destroyers have to pull Godzilla up, but he has arrived with a
bunch of tugboats to help. Within moments, the tugboats are hooked up to each
destroyer, helping to pull Godzilla up, and that is a bit of an issue. It
probably took like a half hour to do that, and the film glosses over that. It
is only a presentation issue in the editing though, so I have no real problem
with it.
They pull Godzilla out
of the water but, though he is thrashing in pain, and segments of his skin have
exploded outward including an eye, he is still very much alive, readying up
another atomic breath. As we all truly knew it would, everything comes down to
Shikishima in his kamikaze Shinden. The camera pans over the veterans in shock
and horror and very serious expressions except for one extra, the tall one with
the mustache, who is pointing up with a big smile on his face. It still
confuses me why he is making that face in this scene when everyone around him
is acting differently. Maybe he saw Shikishima coming, but I don’t think
Shikishima should be visible to any of them yet.
Shikishima, who has been
flying around this whole time, flies in for his charge, outpacing Godzilla’s own
beam (the charge is taking longer than usual, but that is probably because
Godzilla is very injured right now and according to Yamazaki if Godzilla were
to actually fire that beam he would have blown himself up there too).
Shikishima looks at Noriko’s picture, aims the Shinden into Godzilla’s mouth
and ejects. Everybody thinks Shikishima died to explode Godzilla for a moment,
but Noda sees Shikishima’s parachute, and even Tachibana is pleased to hear he
survives as we then flashback to Tahcibana showing him the ejector seat. The
rest of Godzilla’s body disintegrates, and the veterans salute their fallen
foe. The characters actually also did that in the original Godzilla film from
1954, but it is more blatant here.
The team makes it back
to shore, and Mizushima embraces Shikishima, congratulating him. Sumiko comes
up to the crew holding Akiko, and gives him the telegram. It is worth pointing
out that Sumiko’s introduction was hitting Shikishima because he did not carry
out his kamikaze and now she hits him because he almost did. Shikishima and
Akiko race to the hospital where they see Noriko, arm in a sling, head wrapped
and in a bed but alive. She asks if Koichi’s war is finally over, confirming
they had a conversation about settling down together, probably at the point I
speculated. He nods and puts his head on her heart again. However, Noriko has
an undulating mark in the shape of Godzilla’s dorsal fins on her neck, and
Godzilla’s own heart starts to beat again underwater, referencing the end of
Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All Out Attack which itself was
referencing Reptilicus, so consequently I have hidden a reference to Repticilus
earlier in this script. Let me know in the comments if you find it.
Noriko’s survival is
something of a divisive topic. I do not have an issue with it, and I will
explain why, but I am sympathetic to the opposing viewpoint. The initial count
of the Ginza attack was (an inclusive or) dead or injured, and she was injured.
Any documents to identify her could have been destroyed in the water or the
blast, and this unprecedented attack would have flooded the system with so many
victims, it would take a while to notify the families definitively. They also,
in this case, might have to wait for Noriko to wake up from any hypothetical
coma, and we actually do see the hospital reach out to Shikishima once she is
awake and ready, but it took a while as I said it would.
But okay okay, how did
she survive unscathed? Well, it wasn’t exactly unscathed. The Godzilla cell on
her neck can mean one of two things: 1. She survived but with radiation
poisoning embodied through the G-Cell, which means she does not have much time
left, and thus the attack still had a life ending consequence or 2. She would
not have survived if not for the application of that Godzilla cell on her neck,
which has granted her some of Godzilla’s regeneration. Either one would be
tragic and also still work as a justifiable excuse, so I am open-minded to
whatever the novelization or a future movie says.
However, again I do not
like relying on external media, and I also do not like relying on inferences in
a movie that otherwise spelled out so much so meticulously. Noriko was not
always supposed to survive this film, and it is very difficult to believe that
she did. However, do you remember what I said at the beginning of this about
the three steps you will disagree with in analysis, and how it often comes down
to comparisons to other media? Is this more or less egregious than when last
minute edits saved characters in Frankenstein 1931 and its first sequel Bride
of Frankenstein? I do not find it so, because there are easy inferences to make
to explain this. Also, those instances did not ruin those films in my critical
evaluations of them, so this should not either. It is not ideal, and her
survival is one of the weaker parts of this movie, but I have more of an issue
with Shikishima’s survival given that it had no assist from the G-Cell.
This is a near perfect
movie in my estimations, one of the most impressive films on a character,
writing and technical level in the Godzilla franchise. But is it the best
Godzilla film overall if it still features some flaws? The title of best
Godzilla film most commonly describes Minus One or the original film, and Doug
Gibson and I recently filmed a debate on this subject you can follow the links
to find before I conclude on this film
and give it a score out of 10.
Link to the debate: https://youtu.be/bjGSaU7H4TE?si=_AAgVsvy0tZ1aWGN
Well, whoever compelled you compelled you. I’m just going to call
the debate a draw, yes a draw. My viewpoint got a little more airtime though so
I’m confident you at least can understand where I am coming from, but I should
probably wrap all of what I’ve talked about up into a neatly digestible
conclusion
When it comes down to
it, Godzilla Minus One is a film very dear to my heart. Otherwise, I do not
think I would have spent this amount of time articulating these points. I have
heard many commentators say this has features of the Godzilla film they have
always wanted, the film they always had in their head as a bizarre reinvention
of the 54 film and thus they have an emotional attachment to its ideas. I do
not think I am coming from the same place, however. I am just as happy with a
serious Godzilla film as I am a wacky one, and I hope that means I can be a
little more objective than some others.
Some of the possible
issues in this film are naturally up to debate, and there are probably better
arguments than mine on both sides of the aisle about Noriko’s survival,
Shikishima finding Noriko in Ginza, Shikishima’s own survival in Ginza,
Tachibana’s offscreen characterization and the deceptive editing at play for
Mizushima and the tugboats hooking up to the ships to pull Godzilla out of the
water. Right now, I can only offer you Doug and Joe’s thoughts.
Now, yes, I am aware
that in my Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II review I treated Minus One as a 10 out
of 10 film in an aside, and, frankly that was mainly because I wanted an
example nobody would question as the best of the best for the specific point I
was making. I have never believed Minus One could be a 10 out of 10 for longer
than a couple hours at a time after each viewing because there are flaws, as
slight as the blatant ones are and as debatable as the remaining issues seem to
be. Consequently, based on the strong characters, consistent themes and tense
and effective plot, I tend to hover somewhere between an 8 and a 9. If 8.5
seems low to you, then you can take comfort in the fact that, by virtue of
arguing the movie is better than I think it is, Doug Gibson’s score is likely
higher. (These scores are also arbitrary, and, to the extent that Godzilla
Minus One is greater than the sum of its parts, I am only measuring that sum at
this time.)
Regardless of if you
think Godzilla Minus One is the best Godzilla film, the second best Godzilla
film or some other third option it is clear it is not going anywhere. First, an
extended American release, then a rerelease in black and white and an
additional rerelease run with BTS interview clips, it took the world by storm.
Yes, it is true that Godzilla x Kong made more money and is part of a mostly
successful cinematic universe, but Wingard is out (despite saving the
Monsterverse), yet Yamazaki will be back for a new movie. Technically it is
unconfirmed if it will be a direct sequel or just another project, but come on,
you gotta follow up the momentum of this Godzilla, these characters, this film.
Hedorah is speculated to be a returning monster for Godzilla to fight, and even
Yamazaki seems pleased with that prospect. If anyone is capable of resurrecting
that abomination convincingly, it would be Yamazaki. Other possibilities
include Anguirus (if the sequel is to homage Godzilla Raids Again) or Rodan (so
that the sequel can have as much aerial dogfighting action) or even some
mutation akin to Biollante (with the G cells implanted in Noriko’s neck as
radiation scars), but whatever monster they choose if Godzilla even has an
opponent, I have high hopes that Yamazaki will adapt it well if not perfectly.
Let’s look toward the
future of Godzilla’s Reiwa era. All Roads Lead to Godzilla Minus Two.
