Story
Kamikaze pilot Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) lands at Odo Airfield during the last days of World War II. When the mechanics find nothing wrong with the plane, Shikishima realises they must know that he chose not to die in a last-ditch attempt to damage the enemy, but landed his plane so he could live instead.
As evening approaches, Shikishima notices dead deep-sea fish rising to the surface of the ocean and washing up along the shore. Shortly thereafter, a gigantic monster the locals call Godzilla rises from the deep and attacks the airbase. Shikishima goes to his plane to try to use the guns but is too terrified to shoot and freezes up instead. When his plane is destroyed by the monster, Shikishima is knocked unconscious. He wakes the next morning to discover that all the mechanics have been brutally killed by Godzilla, except for the head mechanic called Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki), who blames Shikishima for the death of his friends.
Shikishima returns to the ruins of his home in war-ravaged Tokyo, only to find that his parents are dead, most people he knows didn’t survive, and he’s blamed for living because his job was to die for his country. When a young woman suddenly pushes a baby into his arms, everything changes. The woman’s name is Noriko (Minami Hamabe), and she promised a dying mother that she would care for her baby daughter Akiko (Sae Nagatani). With nowhere to go and no-one to help her, Noriko ends up staying with Shikishima and they work out a system that benefits them both.
Years later, Godzilla returns to threaten the mainland and attack Tokyo, and he’s much larger than before and far more deadly. Shikishima is still battling an internal war of nightmares and shame. He’s just beginning to find a way to move forward when Godzilla attacks and Noriko is killed. Ultimately, it’s the loss of this love Shikishima never knew he had that motivates him and gives him the strength to do what he wished to do in the past.
Shikishima decides to help in a large-scale attack against a monster that can regenerate and deliver powerful and destructive blasts from its mouth. Shikishima is determined not to fail and to do whatever it takes to destroy Godzilla and save his homeland once and for all.
Themes
Suicide; war; children losing parents and families being separated; death; monsters; nightmares; psychological shame
Violence
Godzilla Minus One has some violence. For example:
- Godzilla explodes things near the airfield. Men scream as they run and hide.
- Men shoot at Godzilla while he roars and stomps on them.
- Godzilla bites off the heads of some men. He eats men, flings men, crushes men and throws men away.
- Godzilla bites a plane in half, and Shikishima is knocked unconscious as the plane explodes. Godzilla rages and screams. In the morning, there are many dead bodies lying all over the ground. One man is injured, with a bone poking out of the side of his leg.
- A person tells Shikishima that Shikishima was a kamikaze pilot and if he’d done his job, children wouldn’t have died.
- Shikishima’s neighbourhood is firebombed, and there are few survivors. People huddle in the ruins.
- Shikishima’s parents are killed in an air raid.
- Shikishima goes to work, shooting mines left at sea.
- After atomic bomb blasts in Bikini Atoll, men lose control and start shooting because they can see that Godzilla has returned, stronger than ever.
- We’re told how baby Akiko was orphaned in an air raid.
- Photos emerge of a massive undersea organism damaging and destroying the wreckage of boats.
- Godzilla rises, grabs a boat and drags it down into the water. He then starts chasing another boat.
- Men drop a mine and explode it against Godzilla.
- Shikishima shoots at Godzilla with a machinegun.
- Shikishima and some men manage to lodge a mine in Godzilla’s mouth. It doesn’t explode so they shoot the mine, causing a massive explosion that rips Godzilla’s face apart. Moments later, he starts healing himself. His skin repairs itself too.
- Powerful weapons from a ship blast Godzilla. He goes after the ship, tearing it apart. Men scream as they’re crushed. They fly through the air and fall overboard.
- Naval officers shoot at Godzilla, who shoots a white light from his mouth, incinerating everything in its path.
- Shikishima is covered in blood and falls down unconscious after the attack.
- Godzilla heads toward Tokyo Bay. Men launch bombs at him, but it makes no difference. Godzilla heads straight for land. He throws buses, rips up power lines, and crushes people beneath his feet as they try to escape.
- Godzilla throws a train onto tracks and bites another train in half. Noriko hangs onto a bar as she dangles over the city. She falls into the ocean when the train is cast aside. The carriage nearly crushes her as it falls into the water.
- Godzilla’s tail destroys buildings and turns them to rubble. Reporters are killed as they fall off a building.
- The army fires tanks at Godzilla, but that only makes him angry.
- Scientists explain how they plan to crush Godzilla by sending him quickly to the bottom of a deep-sea trench and then allowing him to rise back up just as fast.
- Tachibana knocks Shikishima to the ground and punches him. They fight each other until Shikishima can explain why he has asked Tachibana to come.
- Shikishima explains that he can kill Godzilla if he flies a plane full of explosives into Godzilla’s mouth.
- A boat is on fire as it flies through the air.
- Godzilla approaches Tokyo Bay while explosions happen all around him.
- Godzilla crushes houses and buildings as he makes his way inland.
- Shikishima shoots at Godzilla with the guns on his plane, trying to lure him back to the deep water. Godzilla tries to bite the plane, jumping up from the water to grab it with his mouth. He misses but blasts his light ray at the boats.
- Boats drag Godzilla to the sea and wrap canisters of gas around him while he gets ready to send forth another light ray. He is plunged into the water to be crushed by nature, only he rises again, battered but otherwise unscathed.
- Godzilla is about to blast the boats with his powerful light ray when Shikishima flies his plane directly into the monster’s mouth. Godzilla’s head explodes as his body crumbles apart.
Sexual references
Godzilla Minus One has some sexual references, including when a character is told not to covet Noriko. She says, ‘I am not a wife’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Godzilla Minus One shows some use of substances. For example:
- Shikishima gets drunk after Noriko dies.
- Mechanics smoke cigarettes.
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Godzilla Minus One.
Product placement
There’s no product placement in Godzilla Minus One.
Coarse language
There is some coarse language in Godzilla Minus One, including ‘screwed’, ‘hell’, ‘Damn it!’, ‘fool’, ‘damned’, ‘bastards’, ‘you suck’ and ‘pissed’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Godzilla Minus One is a Japanese adventure movie with English subtitles. The story is set in the 1940s and is the 37th movie in the Godzilla franchise. This movie is best suited to older audiences and fans of Japanese cinema.
These are the main messages from Godzilla Minus One:
- Not all battles need to cost life.
- You can find courage in the most unlikely places.
- Love is the strongest force on earth.
Values in Godzilla Minus One that you could reinforce with your children include courage, honour, sacrifice, ingenuity and teamwork.
Godzilla Minus One could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues, like:
- kamikaze pilots or suicide bombers
- the costs of war
- the effort involved in trying to do everything or carry burdens by yourself
- blame and responsibility for things you can’t prevent or change.