Godzilla might be the best blockbuster franchise of all time, because there's always a guarantee of quality. The bad Godzilla movies might not be great from a critical perspective, but they're still a ton of fun because of the inherent cool factor of a giant radioactive lizard destroying cities and fighting giant monsters. The best part is that these two modes of Godzilla still coexist, and have for a long time.

The original 1954 Godzilla was a horror movie with serious themes of nuclear annihilation. The character was later adapted for use in more child-friendly, Saturday morning cartoon movies involving battles with other kaiju. Ever since then, Godzilla has existed in media with both tones, giving Godzilla fans an assortment of movies to choose from based on their taste. Thankfully, the trend continues to this day. The first trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire just recently released, promising some ridiculous monster fighting fun to come in 2024. The trailer drops in the midst of a big wave of hype for the big lizard, as Godzilla Minus One released to incredible reviews. Already being lauded as one of the best Godzilla films of all time, Godzilla Minus One definitely fits into the serious category. But what makes it so great?

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What's Going On With Godzilla Minus One?

Godzilla Minus One takes place in Japan in the very last days of World War II and in the immediate aftermath. This is why it's called Godzilla Minus One; Godzilla arrives in Japan after it's already been devastated by war. It's already at nothing, so the arrival of Godzilla brings it into the negatives. A suicide bomber named Shikishima fakes mechanical issues with his plane in order to avoid sacrificing himself, landing on an island with a military outpost.

The next night, the island is attacked by Godzilla. Shikishima makes it to his plane and prepares to fire at the monster, but he cannot bring himself to take the shot. Godzilla kills everyone on the island other than Shikishima and the lead mechanic, Tachibana.

Back in Tokyo following the end of the war, Shikishima finds that his parents have been killed, and his neighborhood has been completely decimated by air raids. While trying to make sense of the chaos, Shikishima takes in a woman named Noriko and the baby she has adopted, who was orphaned during the war. Shikishima takes work as a minesweeper, cleaning up the oceans after the war. He grows closer to his found family, but is plagued by survivor's guilt and fear of loss.

Things are relatively peaceful for some time, until Godzilla resurfaces. Mutated by American nuclear tests, Godzilla has grown massively in size and possesses radioactive breath. The monster crosses into Japan and levels Ginza, killing thousands. Shikishima feels that his war will never end unless he redeems himself and kills Godzilla, so he joins the civilian effort to take down the monster.

The Ending of Godzilla Minus One, Explained

Shikishima is tormented by what he's been through, unable to move on from the past. He cannot take his second chance at life, fearing losing everyone he loves a second time and feeling that he does not deserve to be alive. Shikishima readies a fighter plane with the reluctant assistance of Tachibana. The plan is to surround the monster with ships and use gas to sink Godzilla to the depths of the ocean quickly enough that the pressure will kill it, with Shikishima using his plane to lure it to the drop spot. Secretly, however, he plans to sacrifice himself by flying his plane into Godzilla's mouth, killing it from the inside.

The plan to kill Godzilla fails, as it manages to survive the plunge with only minor injuries. The monster resurfaces and begins to charge up its atomic breath, which will wipe out everyone on the boats. Shikishima swoops in as the beast prepares. He flies straight into its gaping mouth, where the plane explodes, blowing up Godzilla's head and taking it out.

Shikishima's friends are devastated, assuming that he has sacrificed his life. Everyone is overjoyed when they look up and see Shikishima floating through the sky with a parachute. A flashback shows Tachibana showing Shikishima the eject button he installed in the plane, a rarity for Japanese fighter planes of the time.

The significance of this ending is Shikishima's decision to fight for his life and for the future, rather than give up his life for it. He had believed himself unworthy of living; that if he did not sacrifice himself for the cause, he was living on cheated time. Shikishima felt that he could make better use of his life by ending it, ensuring a better future for those who came after him and fulfilling his duty. But he learns that there is nothing more valuable, and more worth fighting for, than life.

What Makes Godzilla Minus One So Good?

An issue that seems to plague most Godzilla movies is that Godzilla is only in them for about five minutes. Typically, this means that audiences get a little bit of cool Godzilla action, in between a lot of filler with boring human characters. There certainly are movies where the humans are interesting, however. Godzilla Minus One is not only one of them, but it might have the best human story line in the franchise's history.

Shikishima's plight is the heart and soul of the film. It's impossible not to want him to succeed, to see how the family and friends he loves are right in front of him, with him just being too scarred to embrace them. His desire to kill Godzilla feels meaningful because it doesn't come from a basic sense of nobility or duty. His history with the beast is deeply personal, as he feels that his inability to take his shot back on the island resulted in the death of thousands of innocents.

His demons are not born solely of Godzilla, which is also very important. Shikishima's spirit has been burned by the war that took everything away from him. He feels a deep conflict over standing by the country that saw his life as disposable, but still feels guilt over not sacrificing himself. He is a broken man living in a broken land, and he fears moving on. He could lose everything again if he allows himself to care again. For a good stretch of the film, Godzilla isn't mentioned at all, and it can be assumed that he is somewhere deep under the sea again. The Godzilla action scenes are fantastic, striking a similar tone to movies like Jaws and Jurassic Park to become truly terrifying.

But the true villain here is not Godzilla. The real villain is war and the governments that perpetuate it, cast their citizen's lives aside, and then leave them to deal with the aftermath. Another unique aspect of Godzilla Minus One is that the military presence is minimal. The Japanese military contributes virtually nothing, refusing to take action against Godzilla out of fear of accelerating tensions between the United States and Russia. The effort to defeat Godzilla is led by civilians, taking a stand to defend themselves while pledging not to lose a single life in the process.

Godzilla Minus One is simply beautiful. Godzilla is as terrifying as he's ever been, a real and brutal presence whose devastating destructive tendencies have never felt more brutal. But the movie's core does not depend on Godzilla; it depends on the ordinary humans trying their best to put a stop to him. The final moment, where Godzilla's body begins to regenerate under the sea, somehow feels unnecessary rather than exciting. The story is already done. The war is over. Godzilla Minus One somehow does the unthinkable: create a Godzilla movie where Godzilla is not the most interesting part.

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