Godzilla has blazed a new path of destruction on the big screen, as Godzilla Minus One has become a critical and box office hit (particularly for a foreign language movie). Hailing from Japan, many have enjoyed this back to basic approach for the long-running monster franchise. But there's still a lot going on with the Godzilla Minus One ending that may raise some questions for audiences, which we are here to help try and explain.
Before we dive into what happens in Godzilla Minus One, here's a recap of the basics. If you haven't watched Godzilla Minus One, warning, SPOILERS ahead. Go see the movie first if you don't want to have it ruined for you.
Godzilla Minus One comes from Toho, which has produced many Godzilla movies throughout its history, and writer/director Takashi Yamazaki. The story serves as a reimagined origin for Godzilla, forgoing the previous movies from Toho or anything that US studios have done with the monster (including the recent streaming series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and Godzilla vs Kong).
Godzilla Minus One takes place in post World War Two Japan, where the country is still recovering. The main character is Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze pilot during the war who survived because he disobeyed his orders to preserve himself, blaming mechanical failures with his plane. On the small island he landed on for maintenance he comes in contact with Godzilla for the first time, who while large is not the size that we normally associate with the monster. Still, Godzilla kills most of the soldiers on the island, but Shikishima survives again, but also fails to act, not firing at Godzilla. As he returns to the mainland, another survivor from the island, Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki), blames Shikishima for his friends and comrades dying.
Shikishima returns to Tokyo, but finds his home ruined and parents dead from the bombings, and his neighbor, Sumiko (Sakura Ando), shuns him because she knows he was a kamikaze and his return meant he failed to do his duty. But Shikishima soons find company in a young woman, Noriko (Minami Hamabe), who is on her own and the baby, Akiko, she has taken in. Together they create a blended family, including with the help of Sumiko, who is able to forgive Shikishima.
In need of work, Shikishima joins a crew recovering sea mines from the war and destroying them. His crewmates include Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), the boat's captain, Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), a weapons engineer during the war, and Mizushima (Yuki Yamada), a young trainee who missed serving in the war. The job goes well for a couple of years, but eventually Godzilla emerges, larger than before from nuclear blast tests performed by the US. Now Shikishima and the rest of Tokyo must figure out how to stop Godzilla before he kills them all.
So do they? Here's a breakdown of the Godzilla Minus One ending.
Do they kill Godzilla in Godzilla Minus One?
This version of Godzilla looks totally unstoppable for most of the movie. He is able to regenerate from wounds incredibly quickly and is so large that most weapons have no effect on him.
After destroying a part of Tokyo called Ginza, where Noriko is lost among the destruction, a group of former Navy veterans are brought together to figure out how to stop Godzilla (because the Japanese government will not take direct involvement). Noda uses his past experience to devise a plan where they will get a wire around Godzilla with freon gas tanks attached that when released should sink Godzilla to the depths of a trench, with the pressure hopefully killing him. If that does not work, the wire also has flotation devices that will bring him back up rapidly, with the idea being the impact decompression will finish him off.
But Shikishima has his own plan. He tells Noda that he needs a fighter jet so he can help draw Godzilla into the area they want him to be, but what he really plans to do is outfit his jet with bombs and kamikaze into Godzilla's mouth, believing he is only vulnerable from inside his body. This would mean sacrificing himself and in his eyes redeeming himself after all these years. To do this, he recruits Tachibana to help outfit his jet.
When Godzilla returns, Shikishima leaves Akiko with Sumiko so she will be looked after once he is gone. Once he is in the air, he is able to lure Godzilla to the sea and Noda and the others are able to enact their plan. However, they have multiple setbacks, including the flotation devices being destroyed. But Mizushima and an armada of tug boats arrive to help lift Godzilla back to the surface. Still, the decompression didn't work and Godzilla is charging up for a heat ray. It is then that Shikishima flies his plane into Godzilla's mouth and the bombs go off, blowing up Godzilla's head. his body disintegrates and falls into the sea.
Shikishima is not dead, however. He ejected just before impact, as Tachibana told him the jet had an ejector seat (something other kamikaze planes did not have) believing he should live to continue to be there for his family.
We see in the final moments though, Godzilla does not appear to be entirely dead either. As the monster's head is sinking into the sea, it looks to be regenerating. While it would likely take some time for him to get back to his full form, Godzilla seems poised to return.
What is the mark on Noriko's neck in Godzilla Minus One?
There is one more miraculous survival in Godzilla Minus One — Noriko is alive as well. She was injured from Godzilla's blast but did not die. Days after the attack, presumably finally awake from her injuries, she sent a telegram to Sumiko letting them know she was alive.
After Godzilla is defeated, Shikishima takes Akiko to the hospital, where they have a teary reunion with Noriko. However, as they all hug, the camera focuses on Noriko's neck, where a black mark seems to be growing.
Isn't what this means in the movie, but because it is shown immediately before we see Godzilla's head regenerating, we have a couple of theories. The first is that while her injuries from the initial blast didn't kill her, Noriko may still be poisoned, likely from radiation, that could threaten her life in any possible future movies. The other theory, and the one that we tend to lean toward, is somehow Noriko is now connected with Godizlla (again, likely from the radiation) and this mark growing represents Godizlla is still alive. Perhaps in future movies, the mark will be a warning sign for Shikishima and others that Godzilla is near.
What does the title Godzilla Minus One mean?
Something that is not abundantly clear from the movie's plot is why it is called Godzilla Minus One?
In a press release after the movie's announcement, director Yamazaki said, "Post war Japan has lost everything," referring to it as at "zero." So when Godzilla arrives and inflicts "unprecedented despair," the city is set back to "minus one."
Godzilla Minus One is currently playing exclusively in US movie theaters. It releases in the UK on December 15.
