Godzilla Minus One Review: Takashi Yamazaki’s Visually Dazzling War Film Is A Cinematic Masterpiece

Godzilla Minus One is streaming on Netflix.

A guilt-ridden Kamikaze pilot lands a jet at Odo island, a repair base for the suicide aviators. The pilot, Kōichi Shikishima (played to perfection by Ryunosuke Kamiki) is overwhelmed with guilt of having betrayed his countrymen and not executing the suicide attack by crashing his plane on the American ships. “A part of me wants to live”—he says in the film’s penultimate scene, just before flying the plane into Godzilla’s mouth, as he tries to redeem himself.

Godzilla Minus One Overview

Kamiki embodies Shikishima’s guilt and post-war PTSD to near-perfection. The film is reminiscent of Steven Speilberg’s Oscar-winning war-epic Saving Private Ryan (1998), also set in the backdrop of World War II. Writer Robert Rodat’s screenplay intersperses moments of mayhem where Godzilla wreaks havoc in Tokyo with relatively calm scenes that play out in a domestic setting. The jump cuts between intense action scenes with explosions and relatively calmer indoors accentuate just how formidable the creature really is.

As Godzilla walks through the ocean and the city, it emits blue-hued nuclear rays which cause massive, deafening explosions, flattening entire cities and destroying ships in a split-second. The monster has regenerative capabilities too. As Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), the chief weapons engineer says “Godzilla is virtually immune to any form of weaponry.

Godzilla Minus One Plot

As Shikisama arrives in Tokyo, he is plagued by survivor’s guilt. This guilt is a driving force behind his decision to financially support Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe) and her orphaned baby Sae Akiko (Nagatani). Shikisama and Noriko spend years living under the same roof, except not one of them has the courage to propose marriage to the other.

As Noriko drops hints and nudges Shikisama to think about making their union official, the former Kamikaze pilot is too traumatized (and frankly, scared) to take this decision, even as Akiko, their adopted daughter, calls him “Daddy”. Meanwhile, Godzilla continues wreaking havoc both in the ocean and on the land. In a shocking turn of event, Noriko loses her life trying to save Shikishima. The pilot, who is grieving the death of his wife, wants to avenge the death of his fellow soldiers (and also redeem himself) by flying a plane with explosives into Godzilla’s mouth.

Godzilla Minus One Performances

Freon gas bubbles, explosive mines, and acoustic speakers are some of the many mechanical devices used by the Japanese scientists to lure Godzilla into a trap. It is very intriguing to watch the use of innovative scientific techniques which are deployed to bury the monster 1,500 feet below the sea level—that it survives despite all the efforts is another story.

Godzilla Minus One is a character study on survivors of war—the mental blows of having lived through bombings and losing loved ones can cause PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Rarely has the mental health impact of war been portrayed so accurately in the recent past. Much of Shikisima’s pain manifests as chuckles, soft murmurs, at times as intense mental breakdowns and even nightmares.

Godzilla Minus One: What Works, What Doesn’t

When Shikisima says “My war isn’t over yet”, I just couldn't hold back my tears. A photo of his beloved Noriko in his cockpit as he fights Godzilla and the visual of a devastated Akiko knocking at her neighbor Sumiko Ōta’s (Sakura Ando) door with a letter in her hand, will stay with this critic for a long, long time.

The winner of Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards, the beauty of Godzilla Minus One doesn’t lie as much in its visual effects as its portrayal of the psychological impact of the war. Yamazaki’s film is a cinematic masterpiece. Seeing Shikisima overcome his survivor’s guilt and eject himself out of the plane shows that one can be courageous and still want “a part of me [them] to live”.

The film ends with a surprise—Noriko is alive, lying on a hospital bed. On seeing Shikisama, she asks. “This war of yours…can it finally be done now?” as the parent-daughter trio embrace each other. As for Godzilla, who is still alive somewhere under the ocean, the war has only begun.

Godzilla Minus One is streaming on Netflix.