Nearing the end of WWII, a kamikaze pilot named Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) lands on Odo Island for repairs. The head mechanic, Sosaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki) inspects the plane and finds nothing wrong with it. He surmises that Shikishima got cold feet and his will to live was stronger than his duty to commit suicide for the government. Tachibana understands how powerful the instinct to survive is and doesn’t criticize the young pilot.
Later that night Shikishima is sitting by the water contemplating when he sees some unusual fish. The island is then attacked by a giant monster. Shikishima recognizes the beast from stories he heard about a creature called Godzilla. Godzilla rampages across the island killing the mechanics. Shikishima tries to shoot the monster with the guns on his plane, but he freezes. Godzilla continues his rampage and Shikishima is knocked unconscious. When he wakes everyone is dead except for Tachibana who is angry that Shikishima let everyone be killed.
Shikishima returns home to find nothing but devastation. He ends up taking in a young woman, Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe) and an orphaned infant, Akiko (Sae Nagatani). After the war, Shikishima gets a job as part of a minesweeper crew finding and destroying underwater mines. Since the job is dangerous it pays well. Shikishima is able to earn enough money to buy a house and provide well for Noriko and Akiko.
Atomic testing, done by the U.S. at Bikini Atoll, mutates Godzilla. He is now bigger, stronger and more powerful with a heat ray that can destroy battleships. He destroys several ships, eventually comes on land, and devastates Ginza. One of the casualties is Noriko. With all governments busy with their own wars, it is left to the civilians of Japan to devise a plan to destroy Godzilla and save Japan. Professor Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), one of the crew on the minesweeper ship with Shikishima, used to be a naval engineer during the war. He comes up with a plan to take down Godzilla. To do that, he will need Shikishima’s help to lure Godzilla into open water. Shikishima understands that this could be a suicide mission.
“Godzilla Minus One” AKA “Gojira -1.0” was released in 2023 and was directed by Takashi Yamazaki. It is a Japanese Kaiju film and the thirty-seventh film in the Godzilla franchise, the thirty-third Toho film and the fifth film in the Reiwa era. Due to Toho’s contract with Legendary Entertainment, the making of another live action Godzilla movie was prohibited until 2020. Then Covid pushed things further out.
This is a little different from the usual Godzilla film. This one is darker and a little grittier. It also includes a tiny bit of stock footage to give it a sense of authenticity. Set in the post war era, the film incorporates realistic elements such as PTSD, survivor guilt, and the ravages of war. It is a standalone movie and is not connected to any other Godzilla film. It ended up being a really good movie, a kind of back to its roots movie.
The roar used in the film was from the original Godzilla. The term ‘minus one’ refers to Japan, already devastated by war, being brought down to level zero, then the attack by Godzilla, hitting an already destroyed country, takes Japan below zero, or from zero to minus. It is the second Toho produced Godzilla film using CGI instead of a guy in a suit. The first was “Shin Godzilla” 2016.