The Ending Of Godzilla Minus One Explained

the cost of War families and homes torn to shreds and a big pissed-off lizard Godzilla minus one has it all here's a breakdown to the ending of too's fantastic Kaiju Blockbuster like the original 1954 film Godzilla minus one is a war movie even though it mostly takes place after the end of World War II in the opening scene we meet koichi shikishima a Japanese kamakazi pilot who abandons his Squadron under false pretenses of mechanical trouble he lands at the air base on Odo Island fearing that the other soldiers will condemn him as a coward however the command the base actually supports him saying that it's foolish to die when Japan seems destined to lose the war that night the entire base is wiped out by Godzilla kichi has a chance to shoot the monster but he panics leaving him a mechanic Tachi bana as the only survivors scorned by tachibana for his cowardice kuichi returns home after the war to find his Tokyo neighborhood decimated by American bombings in the reubel he meets noro a young woman caring for an orphan baby named Akiko the three form a kind of family while koichi Gets a Job dismantling mines off the coast of Japan in a montage we see that Godzilla is mutated by the nuclear weapons test at bikini ATL and begins attacking us ships he eventually reaches Japan where he destroys more ships and lays ways to Tokyo's ginsa District seemingly killing norico in the process devastated koichi joins a civilian effort to kill the Beast volunteering to serve his baits while flying an untested experimental aircraft from the war because the Japanese military was disarmed following World War II there's very little to stop Godzilla's Rampage in the absence of Armed Force Dr Kenji Nota devises a complex plan to defeat the Beast he intends to lure Godzilla out into a deep area of water wrap him up in cables laced with pron tanks and use them to drop the monster 1500 M down if the rapid change in pressure doesn't kill him flotation devices will be deployed to bring Godzilla back up to the surface further wreaking havoc on his body as Nota helps organize the civilian Navy mostly consisting of former soldiers demand the necessary ships kuichi enlists tachibana to modify his shindin fighter plane if all else fails he plants the fly into Godzilla's jaw Paws hopefully destroying his brain and killing him with a mouthful of explosives none of this makes Godzilla any happier the plan plays out smoothly with kuichi and his plane leading Godzilla out to the Target location the freon canisters fail to do the job though and the Kaiju choose to the flotation devices at 800 M when they pull him back up all seems lost but in the hour of Despair a whole Fleet of tugboats arrives to help yank the monster to the surface Dr Nota and the other older men take the responsibility for the attack on Godzilla upon the M themselves all survivors of the war they see the Beast as a remnant of that violence left unfinished though the young shirou wants to come with them they order him to stay behind of course it's shirou who leads the tugboat charge the dedication of the former soldiers while well placed isn't enough to fully defeat Godzilla it's no accident that they require assistance from the useless as shirou calls them those who never fought in the War to literally pull them out for Japan to move on and properly begin rebuilding the movie seems to say it will take a combined effort from the survivors and those who represent the future right right as aaiu is charging up his Atomic heat ray kuichi flies into Godzilla's mouth and detonates the payload kuichi survives having used the ejector seat to jump to safety in a happy twist kichi returns home to a telegram revealing that noro is actually still alive the chaos in the Ginza attack left many victims injured and lost with no way to identify them it seems that this fate also befell noro who sustained wounds from Godzilla's heat ray blast but survived after being taken to a hospital kuichi rushes to her bedside with Akiko in his arms and the family is reunited noro asks if koichi's war is finally over and he breaks down crying clutching her to his body and declaring that yes it finally is of course it isn't all sunshine and rainbows as a happy reunion Fades out the camera shifts suspiciously to noro's neck with a faint design of something dark can be seen undela beneath the skin this could simply be some kind of ordinary radiation poisoning but with Godzilla still being an unknown quantity in this Incarnation it could also be a sign of something more Sinister perhaps noro is exposed to some kind of Godzilla DNA or G cells as they've often been called in previous movies such an infection might have even helped her survive her injuries for now though there's too little evidence to say for certain what's happening to her hopefully the little family has weathered enough tragedies but when it comes to Godzilla of course the threat is never really gone the final shot at the end of Godzilla minus one is an ominous one the camera jumps to the depths of the sea where a moled chunk of Godzilla's body begins to regenerate on its own the shot doesn't necessarily mean that a sequel is coming in fact it's pretty common for Godzilla FS to end with the promise of the monster's return there will always be another Godzilla film be it a direct sequel or yet another reboot and one of the Kaiju defining traits is that he never stays down for long still given the critical success of Godzilla minus one and its widespread US release it could also become the first Toho entry in two decades to get a proper sequel the dominant message of Godzilla minus one is clear living is the real Victory any supposed accomplishment that necessitates death any great sacrifice in the name of Fame honor or fortune pales in comparison into the simple victory of living to build a new for most of the movie kichi is racked by guilt calling himself someone who wasn't supposed to live he goes to Great Lengths to bring in Tachi bana to fix the shindin because he wants Absolution he wants to look the man who called him a coward in the eyes and declare that he's willing to die this time but after kuichi flies to shindin into Godzilla we see tabana listening at the radio with baited breath only when he hears that kuichi is still alive does he exhale his own War seems to have been ended by the act of forgiveness and the choice to live in fact not a single human dies during the final attack against Godzilla a decoy Destroyer is blown up but every other craft remains intact unlike the war it's not a battle to the death it's a battle for life and for the future in his best films Godzilla has always been a symbol most frequently a walking embodiment to the destructive power of nuclear weapons or an avatar for the punishment Japan received after World War II that's certainly part of his characterization in minus one but the film makes the king of the monsters more complicated than that writer director tekashi amazaki recently told vulture Godzilla is more of an undiscerning God in Japan it's integrated into Shinto belief all of these negative things in the world have manifested themselves into Godzilla and us as humans we not out to kill Godzilla but were're able to calm Godzilla and bring ourselves back to peace the Kaiju was arguably it as most terrifying ever in minus one with a heat ray that detonates like a nuclear warhead and a roar that follows every brutal attack Godzilla doesn't just seem angry at Humanity he seems angry at simply being alive it's a rage that reflects koichi's own survivors guilt a feeling of discomfort with the gift of life it's not just the atomic bomb that has summoned the monster in this version of the story but the combined grief anger violence and shame that those who escaped the war left with defeating Godzilla means putting those things to rest and finally choosing to live for the future that's why the former soldiers need the younger generation to help them win in the end and it's the reason that the true victory for kichi means surviving his final attack the emotional core of Godzilla minus one is unique family dynamic between kuichi noro and Akiko they first meet by sheer hapim stance and kuichi quickly learns that Akiko isn't even noro's baby just the child of a Dying woman who asked noro to take care of her then Sumo jumps in and is sort of a surrogate aunt or grandmother it's a family that would have never been formed had any of the adults simply chosen to act selfishly but the result is a happy stable home albe it one still haunted by kui's lingering trauma by the end of Godzilla minus one kuichi finally puts those demons to rest this strange forsome seems indicative of the larger reconstruction movement shown throughout the film pretty much everyone we meet in the movie lost someone in the war and yet faced with what feels like insurmountable grief they build a new community and push forward in a midm movie montage we see the bombed out house where koichi's family once lived slowly rebuilt it's this Defiance in the face of Devastation this passion for a better future that helps these characters make it through writer director tekashi amazaki has spoken extensively about his goals for Godzilla minus one in the films that inspired it he told movie phone regarding past Godzilla films sometimes the story is told where you switch to Godzilla and then you switch to the human story and they end up kind of existing independently but I really wanted to make sure that they were intertwined in a balanced way so that the human drama and whatever is going on with Godzilla had the right balance asked about the lasting impact of Godzilla yamazaki explained his perspective on what the creature represents culturally saying it's a concept of an animal or object absorbing so much evil energy or the negativity of the world that it takes shape this needs a cycle every couple of decades think maybe it's just the timing that we need to be reminded and go through the exercise of visualizing your worries evils and whatever's going on in the world nothing can save the city now the ending of Godzilla minus one practically begs for a sequel and with all the praise that the human characters in the movie have gotten from critics and viewers it would be great to see the cast return for a follow-up but How likely is that toou hasn't made a proper liveaction sequel to a Godzilla movie since 2003 when Godzilla Tokyo SOS followed up the story of the previous years's Godzilla against Mecca Godzilla only three live-action Godzilla films have been released by Tojo since then 2004's Godzilla final wars 2016's Shin Godzilla and now minus one each of those projects acts as an independent story with no shared continuity between them in short Toho has been stingier than ever over the last two decades when it comes to the king of the monsters that makes the chances of a minus one sequel look slim but there is hope thanks in part to the success of legendaries monster riverse films Godzilla has had somewhat of an international Resurgence and with minus one receiving a wide release in North America too could be testing the waters for more frequent Productions going forward it's all up in the air for now but even if no sequel arrives Godzilla minus one has gifted fans with one of the greatest Kaiju movies ever and one of the best films of [Music] 2023

Channel: Looper

Views: 363,559

Keywords: looper, godzilla, godzilla minus one, ending explained, gojira

Id: gXao3vq0x4s

Length: 9min 53sec (593 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 10 2023