The story follows Koichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot at the very end of World War II. He lands on Odo Island, faking mechanical issues with his plane. He spends the night on Odo Island, only to be awoken by an unmutated, more dinosaur-like Godzilla. A mechanic on the island, Sosaku Tachibana, directs Shikishima to use his plane’s gun to shoot down the creature as “a 40mm gun can kill anything”. However, before he can do so, he freezes up, and the island base’s staff (entirely made up of mechanics) open fire. However, this does exactly jack and shit to Godzilla, who kills everyone on the island, save for Shikishima and Tachibana. When Shikishima awakens the next day, he is blamed by Tachibana for the death of all of the men on Odo Island.
This opening scene does so much to establish the two surviving characters for later on in the story, with Shikishima and Tachibana both haunted by this grizzly event. It is also visually stunning, with the action being both satisfying and ghastly. I don’t know how else to describe the feeling you get of a well-animated kaiju attack.
Two years pass and Shikishima returns home, discovering that his house is now smoldering rubble, but that parents are dead. This makes Shikishama not only a survivor of the Odo Island incident, but now the sole survivor of his family. In the market, he meets a young woman with a baby (Noriko Oshi and Akiko respectively), ending with the two winding up living with him.
More time passes, and Koichi now has a job minesweeping, where he meets scientist Kenji Noda, who is part of the crew of the minesweeping operation, and things are maybe starting to come together nicely for Koichi. Until the Bikini Atoll tests occur, directly mutating Godzilla into a much larger and more terrifying beast. It destroys several warships and makes headway toward Japan, with the US unable to muster any assistance, due to fears of it escalating tensions with the USSR.
The Japanese government later contacts the minesweeping vessel Koichi was a part of, where it is tasked to be a diversion against Godzilla, as it has the ability to procure mines on-site, as well as a mounted gun. Godzilla shows up and we see just how effective both tools are. Once again, they do both jack and shit, but the mine does slightly more than nothing at all after it detonates in Godzilla’s mouth. They manage to stall until the heavy cruiser Takao artrives, attacking Godzilla, until its nuclear breath absolutely demolishes the ship. Koichi and the rest of the crew simply watch on in horror as Godzilla retreats, and Koichi loses consciousness.
This entire scene gives us our first real look at the new Godzilla design, which is very well done and impressively realized via computer-generated imagery. While I am a lover of suitmation, the effects on display genuinely impressed me enough to where the nostalgia-driven glands of my head, desperately craving for Blockbuster to somehow return out from the ether finally shut the fuck up. However, while the action and character work are both stellar, the latter only gets to shine more during coming scenes.
Koichi, after returning from the hospital, confides in Noriko about his experiences with the monster, as well as the survivor's guilt he has been feeling for what has now been years. Noriko comforts him as he fully has a breakdown, which shows off both the actors’ (Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe) range, in what is one of the most emotionally powerful segments of the film. The next day, Koichi tells himself that maybe now, surrounded by the love of friends and Noriko, he may finally begin to let himself live again. However, the peace is quickly shattered as Godzilla arrives in Ginza, where Noriko works.
The next segment of the film is nearly entirely action. There are very impressive shots of Godzilla attacking the train Noriko is riding, leaving her dangling, only able to fall into the water near the train lines, barely avoiding disaster after disaster. Koichi arrives, trying to save her and bring her away from the walking instrument of death that has just leveled a good portion of the area. However, in their escape, tanks begin firing on Godzilla, leading him to unleash his heat ray once again, and this time the effects of it are made very clear. The beam, upon hitting an object, causes a nuclear explosion, which Koichi only survives because Noriko pushes him into an alley, away from the oncoming blastwave. Noriko vanishes after this, leaving Koichi alone again, screaming and weeping as the black rain falls. Godzilla roars.
After Godzilla leaves land to return to the ocean, Koichi is dragged along to a meeting of civilians (mostly ex-Navy personnel) to be briefed on a plan that Koichi’s scientist friend, Kenji Noda, has been cooking up. This plan is Showa-era planning in the absolute best way, just without the more fantastical elements like Oxygen Destroyers. The plan is to ensnare Godzilla between two ships cables’, with the cable lined with freon gas canisters. Freon gas lowers the buoyancy of the surrounding water, causing Godzilla to sink to 1,500 meters, letting pressure do all the work and taking care of the giant lizard problem. And if that wouldn’t work, they would then use literal fucking balloons to shoot him back up to the surface to kill him via decompression. A good portion of the audience, including Koichi, end up going along with the plan, with Koichi only requesting they find him a plane. Once again, this plan is some crazy-go-nuts but actually well thought out bullshit that I cannot help but just smile, nod, and see where the fuck they go with this concept.
They end up finding a plane for Koichi, but it’s in bad shape and would need lots of work to actually get it airworthy. Fortunately, Koichi knows of Tachibana, and in spite of the fact Tachibana is desperately trying to live a low-profile life, Koichi goads him into pursuing him. He does this by directly blaming him for the Odo Island incident. What the fuck, Koichi? He only gets him to agree to this, saying that their wars are not yet over, implying that Godzilla is this last grizzly aspect of the war.
With Godzilla approaching Tokyo, Koichi diverts Godzilla’s attention by flying his plane close, drawing him out to sea. The boats then proceed with the ensnarement maneuver and manage to sink him. This, however, only injures him. They attempt to bring him back up with the balloons, but Godzilla simply shreds them to pieces without a second thought. With the limited tow power, the ships cannot ever hope to get Godzilla to the surface to inflict the final blow of this plan. However, a fleet of civilian tugboats arrive (most of which did not go along with the plan at the earlier meeting), inspired by the heroism of the volunteer crew, and proceed to tow him back to shore. However, Godzilla still refuses to die, and begins opening his mouth to charge the heat ray, spelling doom for all. However, Koichi suddenly dives in, suddenly ejecting, choosing to live for the hope of the future instead of dying. Godzilla crumbles into the sea, and upon return to the surface, Koichi finds Noriko alive in the hospital, injured, and breaks down. As we cut to a different angle we see…something on Noriko’s neck (Godzilla cells? Stylized radiation sickness????), but otherwise, all is well.
In the last shot before the credits, we cut beneath the surface of the waves, watching a part of Godzilla’s body knit the flesh and muscle back together once again.
This film is a great unique retelling of the original Godzilla story. I cannot express how much I enjoyed it. My only major issue with the film is the ending, which I found to be too much of a stretch to have Noriko still alive. I feel the ending would be much more impactful if Noriko was truly dead. It makes her sacrifice in the earlier attack scene feel…undone, which impacts a LOT of Koichi’s character work in the third act. Otherwise, this film has great acting, writing, and monster-related action that you would want out of some of the best of the Godzilla film series.
8.5/10.
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