Note that Koichi insisted that Tachibana be his mechanic because he knew that Tachibana would cooperate with his suicide mission. Then to have Tachibana be the one to give him the way to live… Good stuff.
I thought that was a really nice twist. I already saw the ejector coming, thanks to some clever foreshadowing. But The reveal that Tachibana would be the one to teach him that was a pleasant surprise.
@Deadsnake989 I personally didn't find the foreshadowing good. With a pay-off like that, you want it set up so it makes sense when it happens, but also unknown to the audience so we believe that koichi might actually kamikaze. My partner and I independently saw it coming when Doc said the Japanese government created kamikaze planes without ejector seats. Anything after that was just laying it on thick, from Tachibana looking at the seat when inspecting the plane for a good 3+ seconds before it fades to black to him telling Koichi "one more thing" after telling him how to arm the bomb. It was too much and too obvious. Personally, I think it would have been much better had Doc only mentioned Kamikaze pilots in criticism of the government, and not the lack of ejector seats, and have the scene with Tachibana and Koichi end with him going over more details of the plane as it fades to black, instead of a massive "one more thing." Then, keep the scene of Tachibana looking at the seat as the only obvious foreshadowing. With all three instances in the movie, there was no room left for interpretation as too what was actually going to occur. It lessened the impact of the pay-off to the point that they should have just had it in the scene of Tachibana revealing it to Koichi in the same scene as briefing him on how to arm the bombs, adding in a chance of failure (due to the plane not originally being made with ejection seats) to maintain Koichi's willingness to sacrifice himself if he must, but also his intent to live to continue to care for those he loves. It'd be a better parallel to him on Oda beach, where he couldn't overcome the fear of uncertainty between life and death
The only problem I have with that plot point is that Koichi wastes valuable time they don't have when he could use another mechanic that is just as skilled.
@aidanmattys7488 There's no reason to think another mechanic wouldn't agree to the bombing plan, especially when you combine the threat and the cultural mindset behind kamikaze pilots. The kamikaze was the backup plan if the decompression didn't work.
I've liked the idea of Godzilla but only seen recent Godzilla movies (and the appalling 1998 version, none of Japanese old ones), but both Shin Godzilla and Minus one have blown me out or water, I like both movies very much. Any US versions I've seen have been pretty pathetic. In King of the monsters I liked few musical themes (nice versions based of the originals), but I would have liked if ALL the humans would have been all wiped out (whole Godzilla vs. Kong just looked depressing idea as general). Contrary to e.g. Minus one or Shin Godzilla where 'human bits' were very engaging. Such great movie, have to wait until Blue Ray version appears, in our town there was just 1 bloody change to see it in a theater.
@@szeltovivarsydroxan9944 i also does right all the things hollywood seems to have forgotten and what all the critics have been begging for. Yes, it's a movie about a giant mutant lizard smashing tokyo.... but at the same time it's also a fantastic look at the human toll of war and the scars it leaves even on those who don't serve on the front lines. And people will happily pay to see it. Yes, you CAN, in fact, have intelligently written and multilayered 'popcorn flicks', you don't have to turn your brain off to be able to enjoy it. It just takes a little bit of effort when you write the movie.
Godzilla has been: An allegory for nuclear holocaust A hero of the earth Friend of the children A single father A time traveling mutant dinosaur An environmentalist A fucking Onryo made up of the spiteful victims of the atomic bombs An allegory for government incompetence An allegory for mans ability to overcome A Lovecraftian planet eater Thats what's great about Godzilla. He can be anything, he has been everything. There's not one singular correct version of him. It's also the only franchise where my top 5 favorite entries include both cinematic masterpieces and shitty b movie shlockfests. He can be so good its great, and so bad its awesome.
The idea for Godzilla Minus One's title is that, post-WW2, Japan is at its lowest possible point; economically, recovery and morale-wise. Attempting to recover from the after-effects from the air raid bombings of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That they are at level zero. Then comes along Godzilla and thrusts them even further down, into the negative zone. Hence, Godzilla Minus One. I've already written a script and plan on doing a praise of the film once it comes out on home media or digital.
Godzilla Minus One is a great example of how to integrate themes and messages in a story. It is the polar opposite of the Last Jedi, which is an example of how not to do it
I remember reading an interesting fact that the reason why it was called Minus 1 is because at the end of WWII Japan considered their society set back to 0 and that they had to reset themselves and build themselves back up again from square one essentially so with Godzilla hitting them in the midst of this period it sets them back even further, hence -1. So in that regard Fringy was actually pretty close with his own guess though it's really interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on what it meant otherwise! Loving the discussion thus far though and looking forward to listening to the rest of it!
My favorite payoff in the whole movie has to be the ejector seat. The way the scene is shot, it's framed to make the audience believe that the mechanic either didn't tell the pilot about it, or worse, outright sabotaged it. It's a proper subversion when we find out the mechanic did neither of those things, but instead insists the pilot keep living when he is the last character in the film we would expect to take such a position. For a character that has maybe three minutes of screen time at most, the mechanic's arc of forgiveness is top notch development.
And it pays off the first scenes of the movie, with Tachibana wanting Koichi to throw his life away with a gun that's probably just going to piss Godzilla off.
I was under the impression that the trigger for the bomb that he told him to pull right before impact would actually be an eject switch. I think that would've been a better twist than revealing that he actually told him about the eject seat beforehand
Well i dont know about that, i just watched the film for the first time, and it was immediately obvious to me Tachibana was showing him the ejection procedure when telling him about the bomb. He says something like "there is one more thing i want to show you" and then it cuts to a wide shot of the hangar with tachibana pointing something out. I called it immediately. So when the ejection happened I said aloud "yep, he ejected"
I don't even really think it was forgiveness. For him to forgive Shikishima would imply that Shikishima was in the wrong for simply wanting to live. I saw it more as Tachibana realizing that it was wrong to encourage or outright force Kamikaze pilots into their role, forced to die for their country, and trying to dissuade Shikishima from doing the same with Godzilla.
Timestamps 0:00 The Big Lizard Movie 2:24 Trailers 5:24 Godzilla vs Kong 9:09 Humans 10:33 Budget, Director & Success 12:39 Quick Opinions 20:49 The Movie Begins 27:22 Kamikaze 34:55 Godzilla 40:09 Reactions 49:00 Back In Tokyo 52:53 Marketplace 57:02 Post War Japan 1:07:05 Freudian Slip 1:08:20 The Boys 1:12:00 Nightmare 1:15:20 Time Passes 1:16:26 Strong Indipendent Woman 1:18:00 The Writer's Problem 1:22:22 A Political Angle 1:27:16 Something Is Coming 1:29:56 The Mission 1:37:24 The Takao 1:38:35 Godzilla vs The Marvels 1:45:30 A Theatre Movie 1:46:57 The Film Of The Year 1:47:50 Godzilla vs The Takao 1:48:58 The Heat Ray 1:51:38 Regeneration 1:53:23 Preventing Panic 1:56:10 Opening Up 2:03:20 Ginza 2:09:38 Independence Day 2:11:15 Rescue 2:13:13 The Second Heat Ray 2:15:30 Plot Armor 2:21:00 Revenge 2:25:40 Death & Destruction 2:28:12 Authorities Involvements 2:30:20 The Plan 2:39:00 Putting Together A Team 2:42:43 Godzilla Is Coming 2:45:35 The Day Before The Battle 2:49:00 Full Circle 2:56:57 The Final Fight 3:14:19 Sacrifice 3:16:35 Kamikaze, Germans & WW2 3:19:45 Payoff 3:22:12 Victory 3:25:00 Reunion & Regeneration 3:28:30 Conclusions (1) 3:31:05 Lessons & Sequels 3:34:03 The Cake Effect 3:35:00 Conclusions (2)
Nooooo! Rags when you described Noriko getting a job you totally missed the fact that that happened right after the main character (forgot his name) rejected the idea that they would marry and that he is the father to their child. She got the job because she realized that she needed a husband and if the main character isn't going to step up then she would need to vecome independent. She also did it to put pressure on the main character to actually marry her. It is a sad development, the main character is about to loss his shot at a better life if he keeps holding back.
Yeah, I think a second watch of this movie will increase its standing in the crew's mind. It won't negate the flaws, but it will highlight some of the details.
Yea, I'm disappointed the crew miss this part. Not trying to insult but, I guess they're too used with movie telling audience about characters motivation. Minus one surprisingly have lots of "show not tell" moment
It’s odd how detailed their breakdowns are for crap like ant man or whatever. But it feels they they speed run a little bit with the things they like. It was the same with andor. At least everything everywhere got a worthy breakdown. That movie deserves it. I also wanted them to note sumiko’s change in attitude when she finds out there’s a baby in play. She goes from “I don’t even care” to “take all my rice” in one conversation.
@@chernobog9when the movie is shit it feels like an eternity to go through and you have a lot of time for criticism and when it's good it flows by so fast that you'll need a few rewatches to analyze it better
@@chernobog9 I agree, though on the sumiko point it always came across that she didn't care about them at first but did care what happened to the baby, and then through the baby she started to care about them.
One thing that a lot of people I have talked to and listened to reviews about the film missed is that Koichi conflict starts because his mother told him to live, to come back alive. The conflict between what the government wants and the common people is personified by the main character. His struggles between shame and living makes him very relatable.
01:35:10 - I took godzilla's slow moving speed chasing them as a predator toying with his prey. He's already destroyed that one large ship, took out the sister ship, and is basically having fun watching the last little one run knowing he can destroy it whenever he wants. It's only when they blow up the mine in godzilla's mouth that he really moves to take them out, but the war ship arrives to save them and get destroyed in their place.
Maybe it feels weird because he's a reptile? Mammals do that kind of shit all the time but I've never seen a reptile not go straight for the food. Then again, maybe Godzilla is from the dinosaur line like birds, they also play with their prey sometimes... It just looks weird to see essentially a giant iguana behaving like a cat when you're used to seeing things that look like that behaving like... Wel,, iguanas
@@mordirit8727 well said. Definitely understand that perspective, thanks for sharing your view. I'm just gonna chalk it up to creative liberties & enjoy the nod to Jaws as Godzilla's head blows up. Great stuff.
@@mordirit8727 Godzilla generally is characterized as being very intelligent. For instance, the lack of gore discussion, I remember hearing that there is a rule that Toho enforces that Godzilla is not allowed to eat people. Besides the obvious fact that sometimes he is depicted heroically so it wouldn't fit there, the other reason is that it animalizes him. Basically, if he eats a person, it gives off the impression that he is simply a carnivorous animal just looking for food, and therefore his destruction is both more incidental, and more forgivable (from a naturalist perspective, obviously for humans its still bad, but if a tiger destroys a rat's nest to eat the rat, that is simply nature as example). But Godzilla doesn't NEED to eat people, rather he WANTS to destroy humanity as vengeance for the atomic bomb. By not eating people and simply tossing them and stepping on them, it gives off the impression that he is doing this for sport essentially. He is targeting humans for emotional reasons and shows intelligence while doing it. Hopefully that makes sense to you (I'm bad at explaining things sometimes), and shows that Godzilla was always meant to be a intelligent creature, rather than a wild animal. The '98 Roland Emmerich film DOES have him depicted as a wild animal, but even then the rule was likely enforced as there are a few times that people end up in it's mouth but he never eats anyone. Though Toho must have given up enforcing the rule as the babies at the end of the movie do eat people, but Zilla itself never does, or perhaps they don't apply since they aren't "Godzilla" technically.
Shin Godzilla was also great. Instead of brainless US human "drama", people actually trying to figure things out. The whole air defense was such trump card.
It was so nice to see humans characters act like humans for once in a monster movie. Their motivations, flaws, and actions made sense. I was invested in every person's journey instead of wishing I could fast forward their dialog.
It was my reason for hating 2014, I was invested in Brian Cranston’s character, and then they killed him 1/3rd into the film, and left us with his bland biscuit son for the rest of the film….
@overkillforever1 True, but Godzilla movies aren't consistent with that each movie. It's just really nice, especially after how Monsterverse has sorta struggled with that
@overlillforever1 So many people speaking on Godzilla Minus One haven’t seen most of the previous Godzilla films and end up unknowingly saying really ignorant things about Godzilla and the series altogether. I’m fine with people talking about Godzilla Minus One, but they should stick to just Minus One and not try to talk about Godzilla like they have the knowledge to do so.
I think it's still the #1 Godzilla film of all time. A shame its release in the West wasn't as big as Minus One, but at least the latter owes to Shin's success for its widespread impact and reach. If not for it, you would probably not be seeing EFAP cover a Godzilla film like this.
A few things I'll throw in here... - Noriko's decision to get a job occurs right after she overhears Shikishima say that he has no interest in her as a wife. - The ship hit by Godzilla's breath attack was in fact an empty decoy. You get a quick shot of the rigged steering column before he blows it up. It's also likely that the ship with the speaker playing Godzilla's "voice" was also an empty decoy, which would mean that everyone involved in Hotta's & Noda's operation survives. - Tachibana (the mechanic) didn't install the ejector seat on the Shinden plane. He simply showed Shikishima that it was there, and told him to use it.
I tried to predict what was gonna happen and thought Tachibana was lying about arming the bomb. I thought it was the ejection. But i missed the detail of him noticing the actual ejection.
The thing I took away from this video is that Rags' dad is doing well. You could hear it in his voice how much it meant to him. Good on you dude! Hope your dad will continue being healthy!
Tachibana didn't put the ejector seat in the plane! Though he definitely made that last-minute decision to inform the protagonist about it. The seat came with the plane because it was a different kind of plane from all of the other Japanese planes. I got tipped off to the ejector seat very early on because right after Doc mentioned Japanese planes not having ejector seats, a shot of the final plane showed that its seat had German writing on it. Japanese seats didn't eject... yet this seat is German... HMMM.... It was a neat little detail that spoiled the movie, but in a good way. I was happy to pick up on it.
Side note, I adore the beat of Tachibana not only encouraging the man he blamed for the tragedy that haunts him to survive, but how he actively worries for Koichi's survival. He let go of the pain, and he wanted Koichi to let go too. He realized that nobody's life deserves to be wasted, and that the only real way to avenge his fallen friends is for the survivors to live on in their honor. I love the way he looks at the photos he kept with him all this time, great visual storytelling to convey the realization that he isn't the only one who has been haunted.
I knew that moment was coming when Tachibana said "One more thing" and the scene cut. I just KNEW there would be an ejector seat when that happened. And yeah, Tachibana making sure that Koichi could come back is one of many great payoffs of this movie.
When I watched Godzilla Minus One, I was actually surprised by how little time Godzilla was on screen and how much I didn't care about it because I was invested in humans in this story.
I was also way more invested in the human drama, which is weird. But Big Lizard had 12 minutes of screentime, which is actually standard for almost every Godzilla movie.
Ooof, really, well okay then, I guess I'll skip it. I want Godzilla to be the star of his own movies like he used to be. I'm glad you didn't care about such things but I would care.
@@zigzag1630 I hope then that you will see this movie and recognize it maybe not as a great Godzilla film but a great film overall. And I would like to see a movie with Godzilla as 'lead' too, so let's hope for the best in the future
@@zigzag1630 The longest screentime Godzilla has was 20 minutes. He barely has more than 10 in the MonsterVerse. He has literally never had a long screentime in any of his films
To answer the question concerning the name Minus One, I believe the meaning put forth by the director is that it refers to the idea that Japan was brought down to zero by the end of the war and that the arrival of Godzilla brings it even lowers ie. Minus One
Godzilla Minus One is proof that Hollywood can learn all kinds of things from Japan. Especially with pretty much every high budget movie from last year being miss after miss, they can learn to not only tell deep and compelling narratives, but also not dump hundreds of millions of dollars into their films and expecting all of them to succeed. Makes me miss the old days of the film industry.
It's funny two of the most talked about films and critically aclaimed and positive in 2023 starts with a film about creating a Nuclear Bomb with it's creator ultimately fearing the consequences of his discovery; and we end the year with a film that basically gave us a pretty terrible, horrific consequence and aftermath of said invention ending with Hope of rebirth and perseverance of life.
It's super relevant though, because America is a world-superpower that hates the fact that it's a world-superpower and what damage it's wrought along the way; and Japan is a country whose masculinity got defeated and they never got over it. A lot of our social anxieties today go right back 90 years ago.
Very happy to hear EFAP’s analysis of Minus One. Godzilla and a lot of Kaiju are viewed as mythical forces of nature, that though they can be injured or in some cases killed, will always return. Their presence is always felt. When they appear it’s like a tsunami or typhoon. When it shows up, you can’t stop it, you do what you can to survive, and at some point in the future, it will return. Regarding Kamikaze, historians and researchers have discovered that not all of the pilots followed through and many thought it was insanity that the military and government would continue to kill the youth in a war they deduced had been over. You see the theme of being confronted by an overwhelming military force in early anime epics like Macross, Space Battlesip Yamato, and Gundam from the late 70’s & early 80’s. Godzilla as a character and how he is perceived by Japanese society is interesting. Depending on the prosperity or lack thereof on Japan’s history very much determines how Godzilla is written. During the 60’s and 70’s, when Japan was becoming an economic super power, Godzilla is viewed more as a protector of Japan but the consequences are significant to the Japanese people.
Hearing the crew talk about checking out other Godzilla films sounds like such an amazing arc, not only is there a massive library of films to choose from, it shows how drastically Godzilla has changed over time. Starting from the Showa era, people remember the dark and depressing original 1954 film, and some of the later Vs films (vs Mothra, Ghidorah, Destroy All Monsters) but there were periods which felt more light-hearted and showcased a heroic Godzilla (Son of Godzilla, All Monsters Attack, vs Megalon which is Peak EFAP Movies material) then there's some really bizarre films which do very weird decisions (vs Hedorah and vs Gigan) then the Heisei era, a good chunk of films that never made it to the west, but showcased Godzilla as something to fight against again rather than a perfect protector of earth, he stopped some evil monsters for sure like Ghidorah, Biollante and Space-Godzilla (yes that's its real name) but a good chunk is dealing with the threat of Godzilla himself. Plus Goji got way more screentime in these films, Showa era he shows up for 10 minutes on average, whereas the Heisei era averages at 20 minutes. for context, that's still a better average than the Legendary Monster-verse films which are longer. the Millennium era has some hits too, each film seems to follow its own rules rather than follow directly after each prior film (with the 2 MechaGodzilla films being the Exception) All of these films show Godzilla in a different light through history, so while I understand, and occasionally agree, with the criticism for the American films, I still enjoy them for what they are as Goji has been so many different things over the years, this is just another odd piece. But with the success of Minus one, and in turn people going back and watching Shin Godzilla, makes me hopeful that we could see an increase in standards for what Godzilla films can be. last note, I truly hope we see EFAP at least cover Shin Godzilla, its the perfect blend of horror and weirdness that makes it so unique from other Godzilla movies. thank you to anyone who took the time to read this rambling mess, have a nice day 😊
It hurts whenever I sense the lack of understanding for this great franchise in EFAP and elsewhere, so I take joy knowing that there are other fans willing to explain it in brief like this.
In regards to Godzilla chasing the Shinseimaru, he's toyong with them. Notice how after they drop a mine into the water and they explode it on godzilla, once godzilla emerges from the waves, there's a moment where he lurches forward as he growls, and thrn gors back to his previous pace; basically his way of saying that he could get them, but he's simply enjoying the hunt. Once the Takao arrives, notice how quickly he swims towards the takao as his dorsal plates slice through the water. With the Shinseimaru, it's like someone throwing a pebble at you. No harm, no worry. With the Takao, with it being strong enough to, while not necessarily outright hurt godzilla, hit him with enough concussive force to launch him under the water; he's aware he needs to get rid of this (possible) threat. Hence, him moving a lot more quickly.
Yeah, basically how I saw it was: Other boat bumps Gojira; Gojira's like "Fuck you" and chomps them. But then Gojira spots the second boat and is like ". . . So what _are_ you little shits _doing,_ anyway?" But then they actually manage to blast his face, legitimately starting to piss him off "You little shits _thought,_ didn't you?" But all this is dwarfed by Takao showing up; "You got cannons? Fuck your cannons. . . . Yeah that's what I thought." And at that point he ain't got another second for the little boat; he's said his piece and retires.
I feel Goji somewhat suspect the tiny ship were luring him into trap. Unlike the airplane, who he really pissed with for some reason, that ship don't provoke him
The thing rags said about the lack of gore is interesting. Theres nothing that indicates that the people he grabs in his mouth are dead until you see their bodies, why, because they trust the audience to understand and be intelligent enough to know these fuckers are doomed. When someone gets thrown 100 yards and is bitten in the midsection by a giant dinosaur you dont need gore. You have everything you need to know
I'm also pretty sure that Toho has a rule that Godzilla doesn't eat humans. I think this is because it animalizes him, making it seem as though he is only attacking humans for a natural need to eat, rather than as a direct intelligent attack to them because of his anger or vengeance. It creates the idea that he doesn't NEED to do this, and he isn't doing it incidentally because he is an animal, but rather he WANTS to do this because he is targeting humans. It plays into the idea that Godzilla hates humanity because of what they did with the atomic bombs. For this movie though, I don't know if that is his motivation when he is small. Also I'm pretty sure that rule existed even for the Roland Emmerich film, which is why despite multiple attempts, he never eats anyone. Though the babies do, but maybe that skirted around the rule since they aren't Godzilla directly, or Toho stopped trying to enforce it at that point.
On top of that, Godzilla movies have gotten along mostly gore-free for 70 years (apart from monster gore), and while most of the movies are unrated, they've always seemed to aim for a pg/pg-13 rating in the past. It would feel pretty weird if suddenly you had an r-rated Godzilla movie with blood and body parts flying around all over the place. Sort of like Star Wars or Superman. Some franchises just don't need to go there.
I wanna disagree in regard to the cold war being the reason militaries arent involved. I think it is entirely reasonable and is a good way to use your setting to facilitate the plot you want. Yes, we know Godzilla is a massive threat to the human race, but the Soviets dont. They have virtually no presence in the Pacific and aren't too likely to believe their biggest rivals about how they totally need to run military operations in the region to fight a big lizard. Even the Americans and Japanese don't have any idea what Godzilla is truly capable of until after the attack on Tokyo. I understand that with meta knowledge it is easy to say everyone should be united against Godzilla. But i think in reality the world would be pretty slow to react to this especially coming off of the biggest armed conflict in human history. It is also worth noting that Godzilla is only really a known threat for a couple weeks. If the plot went on much longer i think more militaries would get involved but as it is, i dont think America or the USSR are gonna be quick to react without more info.
Yea. Also remember, post ww2 everyone still in shambles, even the "winners". American government basically don't want to help Japan for local kaiju problem, using Soviet/Russia as an excuse
Only four massives during this EFAP. Usually they have like 5,6 or sometimes eight if it’s soemthing this good. They might not have done the usual extra fun stuff and go right to the main course of atomic Rrat
While I absolutely love Minus One, I hate how it's making everyone go to the other extreme of believing we can't have a well written Godzilla film where he fights monsters and saving the Earth or mankind is just a byproduct of that. 😢
I watched Kung-fu Hustle recently, and it's insane how super crazy goofy stuff can "feel real" when everyone treats it like it's real. I can see a 40yo housewife with bangs do a looney toons run, laugh my ass off, and STILL feel the epic battles and deaths that happen later on because everybody is in on the world they live in: Kung-fu is stronger than bullets
Like someone said in this vid (forgot who or which part), lots of superhero movies break immersion in wrong way, audience can't take the story seriously. Compare Deadpool and She-Hulk for an example.
The thing is real violence is more sudden and more basic than you'd expect; blood takes a few seconds to spew out; it's more like "Huh, I didn't know the body could bend like that-- OH . . . OH YEAH, THERE'S BLOOD, FUCK, THAT'S BAD" Excessive gore is just one of those "movie things", soon as everyone's a water-baloon with copypasted splatter effects, it just gets silly.
So what you said actually about your disbelief in the situation actually happened in real life. A Japanese man got blasted back by little boy, then going home, got blasted by big boy. The reaction that took place is indescribable. However, there are stories that sound unrealistic, which are true. So it makes sense that he is probably feeding off real-life events. Sometimes reality is stranger then fiction.
Not to mention the movie makes it clear they are on the very edge of the cuccusive part of the blast. Because the explosion is farther away, the force of it though was so strong that it pushed the air outward at incredible speed, leaving an air pocket. This is why the explosion that hit them turned into an implosion as the air was sucked back to fill the void where the blast pushed the air out. Because of this, using how quickly the air switches from explosion to implosion in that area, shows that they were part of the edge of the area of effect, and the air slowing in order to reverse direction likely also lead to her being slowed down before even hitting the ground. Using all this, you could infer that its totally within the realm of probability that she would survive.
At last. This EFAP was long overdue, but this might be my favorite EFAP of all time. Shame it wasn't a livestream, but hey, at least we got the bois to talk about the best film of 2023, and arguably the best Godzilla movie of all time
I’m so glad we’ve been getting so many Godzilla movies lately. Especially one as good as this. I’d love to see Toho bring back some of their classic monsters for their next movies though.
I like Godzilla as a force of nature who takes out other, more destructive monsters, but is basically indifferent to humanity. Godzilla 2014 tried to do this, but then completely jumped the shark with the ending when everyone cheered for Godzilla like he's a superhero.
tbf that has more to do with humans assuming he intended to save them since he just leaves instead of continuing the destruction after he defeats the mutos. In the later movies he certainly gives zero fucks about his collateral damage
@revolverswitch I always thought it was silly that they thought that considering all the collateral damage in the film. Godzilla coming out of the ocean in Honolulu caused a massive tsunami that probably killed hundreds if not thousands of people. It felt like an abrupt tonal shift to me in a way it wouldn't in a Showa Era Godzilla film.
@@SolarDragon007 I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding your comment or not (so correct me if I am) but I would say the cheering aspect is very much in line with the showa Era, even if it doesn't fit into the 2014 movie. The showa Era is when godzilla started to be shown in that comedic/sympathetic/protector perspective (depending on which movie) I would use one of the last, mechagodzilla as an example. First when disguised mecha shows up and beats the crap outta the hedgehog monster (I have no idea how to spell his name) and the humans are surprised that godzilla would beat up his friend. Then 2 at the end the humans work to help godzilla team up with king Ceasar to fight mecha and cheer them on.
I do really like the idea of him eventually learning that if he doesn't attack the humans then they'll just leave him alone and not bother him much. This then leading to people just learning to live with him being there for the most part.
One thing I love in the Ginza destruction scene, after we see the mushroom cloud we see Godzilla’s reaction to it. Even big Lizard has a brief “oh damn” moment
42:00 I really like Rags' point here; what it is is the movie depicts violence as if it were happening to actual people whose descendants might be watching. You never get the sense that the carnage is being celebrated; the movie is _commemorating_ how brave the people were to face it, and the tragedy of their demise.
FINALLY! I saw this in 4DX. It was beyond any theater experience I've ever had. I actually cared about the quiet moments with the characters we got to know along the way. When Godzilla shows up and the chairs started to shake, I really didn't want the characters to lose everything they built.
I think the "chase" scene can just be seen as Godzilla stalking and observing the prey (as animals sometimes do) before eventually pouncing. I don't find it problematic personally.
Yeah I saw it as him just playing with them; like the other boat disturbed him and he one-shotted them; but then he investigates the second ship more curiously like "What _are_ ya guys up to, anyway?" but then they blow his face off and that makes him like "Alright, this isn't cute anymore" but he gets sidetracked by the Takao before he can one-shot them. 100% the moment Godzilla decides they're dead, he would do so; they just got lucky that a bigger fish showed up when it did.
Plus there's no reason for Godzilla to be really going after their dinky little boat at first. To him, it's no threat, so no need to expend too much effort to catch it.
Godzilla Minus One is the first movie in YEARS that when I was walking out of the theater, the only thing I could think about was when can I go see this again! I saw it 5 times!
The director said why it's called Minus One, basically post-war Japan had lost everything, going to zero, and big lizard shows up to shove them into minus. Also they kinda answer the question of whether or not the airplane could have killed little Godzilla, cause if he survived a frickin nuke, a plane wouldn't even tickle him
I saw this film 3 times, and was blown away. Wonderful character work, effects, and story. It's the best movie I've seen in years. The last time I was this impressed by a mainstream film, was with Joker in 2019.
I just saw it for the third time and of course I was sitting next to a group of loud ass teenagers giggling and commenting on everything. Still enjoyed it a lot, but I wanted to smack each one of those fuckers Will Smith style and tell them to stfu
Fringy raises an interesting question about the contradictory nature of us Godzilla fans - we will defend garbage like King of the Monsters and Kong vs Godzilla whilst also praising more serious character driven stuff like Minus One and Shin Godzilla (which I seriously hope makes it on the future Monster Arc). It's not like these are two separate fanbases. Godzilla is a franchise that has gone through so many different incarnations in its 70 year history we're just kinda used to Godzilla offering different things at different times. Sometimes you want mindless escapism, sometimes you want something more meaningful, metaphorical or emotional, and the fact that there are such varying movies within the same franchise is a fundamental part of the appeal for most Godzilla fans. Yes, it would have been great for the characters in the recent Monsterverse films to be more interesting/less annoying, but I can just about forgive that for the thrill of seeing Godzilla fight King Ghidora on a scale that Japanese budgets could never cover. You could probably find a better balancing act between character/writing and giant monster fighting in the 90s and 2000s era of Japanese films, my main recommendation being Giant Monsters All-Out Attack from 2001.
I wouldn't say we, I think there's a good chunk of the fanbase that just abhors those movies, myself included. Godzilla is kinda like Batman in a way, with his multiple tones and takes, but there are a select few that are taken as the preferred ones by almost everybody. While I do love these more dramatic pieces, it would've been nice if Godzilla, the hero worked as well as Godzilla, the monster and since I haven't seen many of the other films, I can't tell how well that worked out in the past. Maybe if Pacific Rim had been more successful, Del Toro would've gotten his Godzilla film that would set the tone for what we see today from the US films, but that's not the reality we are in today.
@@ProxyDoug Me saying "we" could've been clearer I guess, what I was going for is that Godzilla fans will usually have a great liking for movies of varying tones and styles, not that they necessarily love all of them. I for example can't stand Final Wars, which is many peoples favourite, but I'm not above liking other Godzilla movies that are equally silly. Also if you're looking for some "Hero Godzilla'" movies done better, the era from 1989's Godzilla vs Biolante onwards through the 90s has some decent stuff in it.
If you guys want to do a Godzilla/Kong arc, let me make a suggested list: -King Kong 1933 -Gojira 1954 -King Kong vs Godzilla 1962 -King Kong 1976 -Godzilla (Roland Emmerich) -"Long Kong" -Godzilla 2014 -Kong: Skull Island -Shin Godzilla -Godzilla vs Kong 2021 This gives you guys a look at the different depictions and interpretations of each creature's origin over the years, making comparisons easier. It's pretty wild to see the generstional influences on each character, especially King Kong
I think that would have resulted in a dead Koichi and a scarred Godzilla. The mechanic didn't KNOW it would work, he just assumed it would. Now if they'd had a proper warship at that point? That would be a different matter.
In regards to godzilla being nerfed during the chase scene you could make the assumption godzilla isnt gonna put in as much effort to chase a smaller boat that poses no threat to him which was made evident by him immediatly switching targets when the japanese warship shows up.
And the way Godzilla only _really_ gets pissed off when they blow his face off. He was about to actually fuck them up, one-shot, but him standing up meant the Takao could get a good shot at him. Overall the scene makes enough sense
When I watched the scene it looked like Godzilla wasn’t really trying that hard to catch them, almost like he was amused by the chase now part of it is for plot reasons, it’s one of the smallest instances of plot armor but doesn’t break your immersion like you see in a lot of big budget hollywood films where the challenge is immersing yourself at all with the terrible writing
EFAP rightfully praising Minus One is the only thing that brings me joy in life. As a Godzilla fan whose been watching the podcast from the beginning, this was what I've dreamed to see - a Godzilla movie that has earned their respect and admiration via good writing. Minus One is fighting hard with Shin Gojira as my #1 Godzilla film, I think Shin Gojira edges out slightly in favor of its themes of how nuclear power should be handled, staying true to the original message of the first movie and updating it to reflect the changing times. Godzilla in Minus One, his radiation aspect is as downplayed as the presence of governments both national and foreign, and the movie is still great in spite of that cuz it's a brilliant character drama.
Honestly... Ohio having a large portion poisoned and the government ignoring it among MANY other travesties makes the whole government non-involvement issue SO much more believable.
On the "people freeze to gawk at the monster when they should be running" thing, i think a big part of it is a crowd fallacy; you think "wow, that could really be a problem for someone," but it isn't immediately obvious whether or not that "someone" is gonna be you. There's plenty of other people around who could just as easily die before you do, and _they're_ not running, so you get a false sense of safety-in-numbers because no one expects themselves to be the guy who dies first. Reminds me of that one French avalanche movie, (Force Majeur, iirc) where there's an avalanche in the distance and they're all like "Is that something we should worry about?" And he's like "It's fine, it's just a controlled explosion and it's way over there" but the avalanche just kinda keeps coming, "It's fine, it won't hit us." "Yeah, yeah, it's big but it's fine it'll settle over there." "It's fine . . . . . . . KIDS GET YOUR THINGS, IT'S GONNA HI--" boom, buried instantly.
It's like "deer caught on headlight" reaction. Movie exaggerated, but lots of people kinda slow in taking action in that situation. And like you said, people weirdly wait someone else do something first, or being ordered to before doing it themselves
It's got nothing to do with competence, it's a budget constraint. They did not know what the effects shot was going to be when filming the scene, did not know what they were reacting too. It's the same in literally every shot, even the early ones with the small godzilla. @@arenkai
To clarify: us G fans go into G movies for the monsters. Unfortunately, most of the films have tismy human drama. We recognize they're not good, but we enjoy them nonetheless. But, in instances like Minus 1, Gojira, and Godzilla 1985, we celebrate the good writing. Of course, we'd love them more if they're better written. But the superficiality of giant monsters going on a rampage is fun for us.
Having seen the movie twice, once by myself and again with my siblings, we freakin’ loved it! One of the favorite things about it was seeing things I missed the first time round. Notably during the final battle where Godzilla blew up one of the ships, the doctor said, “He’s regenerating! We have a chance.” Que a quick cut to Godzilla whose head is regenerating. In short, it’s implying that Godzilla’s breath attack is so powerful that it burns his own throat out. And the only reason Godzilla survives it is due to his regeneration powers. Definitely one of the best monster movies that has come out in years.
1:50:00 the heat ray doesn’t explode against the Takao. It slices through the takao and fires into the air. The explosion is from the machinery of the takao exploding from the damage. As for Noriko surviving, the theory is she was infected with Godzilla’s cells when she was in his mouth on the train and she was killed by the blast, but she was regenerated as evidenced by the mark on her neck at the end and then it cutting to show Godzilla regenerating.
My suspicion is the next movie is going to be Godzilla Vs Biolante, with the twist being that Noriko is part of Biolante, and her connection with her daughter affects her in monster form somehow, either bringing her back or making sure he fight Godzilla instead of just rampaging.
Im seeing this movie tonight , so pumped ! It's kinda a small theater but most seats already reserved... this movie is making waves for sure. Ill catch this stream tomorrow and comment my thoughts Edit: The movie was freaking amazing. A little long ... but so well done . The blue power up, the human struggle and feeling of "oh sh*t we are all dead" they NAILED IT!!!, the graphics , the story ... i was totally transported ( and literally shaking ) . I want to watch it again right now. I could tell that this was done by a small team, who poured their hearts and souls into it. Go see it in theaters if you havent yet... u won't be disappointed . They knew they nailed it... they have like 5 ... "LOOK AT OUR GODZILLA" ( dun -dun DUN-DUN ) moments, Japan absolutely wrecked from the war, struggling people just trying to rebuild , and Zilla just keeps creeping closer and closer. . Some Anime ? feeling to it (i dont watch anime) . But not cheesy at all? The sound design was amazing too in the theaters ... absolute PEAK FIRE BRO.
Godzilla is such an interesting franchise for me. I love serious ones like Minus One, but Godzilla vs Megalon is unironically a favorite because it's goofy as hell and fun. Godzilla has managed to hit every genre aside from Noire, and Romcom- and they're all great in their own way. Godzilla vs Kong and the upcoming GxK New Empire movie all make me think about the 1960's Showa films, and I'm here for it. As a 40 year Godzilla fan, I'm glad you guys at least like SOMETHING this franchise has to offer.
That's what rules about Godzilla. There's something to offer for any persons taste. GvM is also a favorite of mine, it's the perfect kind of movie to watch with a bunch of friends and some drinks, shamelessly stupid and childishly fun. Final Wars is up there too, I appreciate that a series with such cultural importance and generational influence is not afraid to just be silly as often as it is serious. Probably the most creatively fruitful and liberating franchise out there. No rules, just make it big.
This movie is about the Japanese people. Having people from other countries would take away from that even if it would have made for a stronger script logicwise. It's one of the times where I think going for themes over logic makes for a better end product. Having USA and USSR not intervene because of tensions isn't great, but I'd argue having people from everywhere would be worse and dilute the Japaneseness of the story. It wouldn't be as authetic and feel like someone from the USA made it honestly, because that's not at all the Japanese mindset.
"the benefit of an alien threat, is it would unite the world." like a giant psychic squid.. the balloon idea to raise him to the surface. again, back to jaws. surprised you didn't mention it. as well even the exploding in his mouth.
Thank you for discussing this, I really love the movie. I like the arc on To Live or To Die. When people expect Koichii to die, he doesn't want to die, but when he's ready to die, people don't want him to die.
Godzilla’s heat ray, as they call it in this film, is nuclear. After he fires it off in Ginza, as Koichi is staring at him and screaming, you can see black rain start to fall. Black rain is a product of Nuclear Fallout, meaning that the blast was definitely atomic.
I think during the boat chase scene its pretty clear that up until they manage to actually hurt him hes playing with his food. This Godzilla is very thoroughly characterized as slightly malicious. Rather than being a panicking animal acting out of confusion and self defense like Shin Godzilla, hes more like an apex predator who HATES humanity
Of all the praises I see - rightfully - heaped on this movie is the connection between the MC and Godzilla. So many of Koichi’s low moments are directly or tangentially related to Zilla and when he finally decides to fight it it’s SUCH a ‘let’s go’ moment
Tachibana isn’t referencing it being lucky to fly and land the bucket of bolts plane. He never calls it a bucket of bolts. He says it’s amazing Shikishima could land it on the Swiss cheese runway that has craters in it
I'm not sure... from the sounds of it Rags' snow was pretty pure and the goo was only experimental. I need proof that the goo has been throroghly tested before being used on Godzilla. Fleem, however, is an established resourse@@sparkypack
Oh man this is going to be an absolute treat thank you so much for these. Been a rough week really going to enjoy this 3 hours breakdown of my favorite movie from 2023
During a lot of the very serious scenes in this film there was some guy laughing. For example in the scene where the daughter asked "where's mommy". It happened so much another person just angrily left the film muttering "I just want to watch the fucking film" Marvel has rotted people's brains to not take film seriously.
1:20:00 We could have had the Americans try to bring a fleet to bear against Godzilla, only to have the USSR blockade them. An actual international flair-up rather than a potential one could be an improvement.
@HungryForTastyFoodAndComicArt It would take a small amount of time more than the handwave we already have. News broadcast: ... strike group name "Baseball and Apple Pie" is diverted following a tense confrontation. The USSR has sent a clear message: American assets in the region will be treated as an invading force...
East Palestine Ohio: Ruined by a train wreck/fire/poisoning of the land and water, and from all I've heard the government has been ignoring it/doing as little as possible. The government poisoning alcohol during prohibition. And how many times has Japan kept something quiet to save face, despite costing lives? What's surprising is how few people understand that it's ACCURATE that the governments would have a pissing contest while Godzilla's killing cities.
This was by far and away the best Godzilla movie I've ever seen, it managed to make me actually kinda care about the human plot; seeing Mr. Kamikaze dueling Godzilla in his plane, knowing he's flying dangerously close because he doesn't plan to survive (or at least thinking that, even if the twist was predictable), was thrilling and fun. What I most want from this timeline most is a prequel where mini-godzilla from the start takes on Imperial soldiers in a jungle. Take it straight up action horror like predator and it could be amazing.
You can actually see a few holes in the budget for Godzilla at a couple points, and it stood out to me. He looks great when walking, swinging, roaring, and firing a lazer, but his back looks like a model, and his swimming looks pretty awkward. Edit: While I was watching the movie, I caught myself thinking "Ok, cool, Godzilla's here, but when can we get back to how our characters are doing?"
In many other war movies, the gores are thematically related about horrors of war and the fragility of human body/life. Minus one seems more focused on "rebuilding" and survival, gore not necessary
As a WW2 warships lover, the mispronounciation of the Imperial Japanese Navy Heavy Cruiser Takao really triggered me. Now the interesting part about that gunnery scene, was that IJN Takao had 203mm guns, and those did some serious damage to Godzilla. It also had type 93 torpedoes, which were really strong, but they were probably too close to be used because they might not arm. However, sustained fire from a battleship, like the Amagi or Nagato, if those hadnt been destroyed, would be interesting, given that those 2 ships rocked 410mm guns. The American counterparts would be North Carolina, South Dakota and Iowa class battleships, with 406mm guns. And of course Godzilla would be obliterated by the Yamato class battleship, with its 460mm guns. Assuming of course it didnt have time to fire the atomic breath. I loved those 2 minutes with the Takao.
It being called a destroyer bugged me while listening and then they called the four US destroyers battleships; I felt they missed the point the the IJN Takao represent how naval might failed while the tanks showed how the army failed.
There is an unfortunately easy wrong lesson to learn from this movie: Make more characters without actually making them good A lot of the problem with King of the Monsters and 2014 were that the characters sucked. And they were the main focus. So you had to watch these people who you didn't like, didn't care about (in gemeral) and weren't doing very good acting, and just being annoyed waiting for the monster to show up So instead of learning the lesson "make good characters", they're going to learn the lesson "make more characters
2:20:00 Did you all not see the woman’s neck at the end of the film. Something black moves under her skin. Very disturbing. This I think explains how she survived her obvious death.
Especially since, after the destruction of Ginza, we hear the news reporters state outright how chunks of the creature's flesh were discovered amidst the rubble; that very same flesh that, at the end of the film, would have been able to completely regrow Godzilla from just one small piece. The very same flesh lying amidst the very same rubble that Noriko was buried underneath. Especially since Noriko wasn't fine at the end of the movie; broken arm, damaged (possibly missing?) an eye (possible radiation poisoning?). That Godzilla's flesh was enough to save her, not immediately heal all of her wounds, but enough to just save her life is a nice trade-off I think.
Everyone already knew you could make a Godzilla movie with just Godzilla and human characters. The question has always been, can you make a Godzilla *versus* movie that's interesting and also delivers what people expect?
The name "Minus One". In the Japanese language, the idea of something being "Reduced to 0" is commonplace. It basically means hitting rock bottom. After WW2, Japan was at rock bottom and in the language it makes sense to say they were "reduced to 0". Then Godzilla brings them down right at that point in time to below rock bottom; Minus 1. Its much more significant to the Japanese.
Godzilla Minus One was a great reimagining of, and tribute to, the 1954 Gojira! It does a phenomenal job in effectively depicting the themes of the original while still adding, and well-depicting new themes.
I will absolutely say, that people who say "monster movies are about the monsters and human parts are crap" don't know what they want. Two Hours of monsters fighting would bore the hell out of you. You need good human elements. Those make the best monster movies.
Well the problem with “two hours of monsters fighting” isn’t the lack of humans. It’s the lack of a story being told at all, the lack of a reason to care about what’s happening. A fight without a story behind it can be boring because there’s nothing fueling it. You could absolutely make a movie featuring only monsters by making the monsters themselves into fleshed out characters and using them to tell a story. The Monster Island Animations by Quazies are a good example of how you can tell a story where the monsters are the primary focus.
Hearing them talk about the theme of "answering the call of duty", with one character desiring for that call, and the protagonist broken because of it. The movie does have a point that there is nothing wrong about the idea of answering the call, its about the conditions, how you answer it. People do risk their lifes at the end, but willingly, knowing well what could happen, with no glorification beyond "we think we should do this to protect our families and ourselfs". The young guy its not wrong for having that desire of "serve" and "do something", wishing for the war, but for not understanding the realities behind the war, being the main giy someone seemingly motivated by similar wishes of "serve" and "be useful", and broken for the excesses around those concepts because of the war and the culture around it in Japan. Basically, the movie does point out, its not bad fir a young man to go out and wish to do stuff. Its healthy even, at the end of the movie. Just be wary and do not glorify it or desire for bad for it, do not wish for something to happen for you to test your might. Dont do it for some obscure force, like a government tells you to.
This movie has convinced me that America made the right decision in WW2. A movie all about the regret of not being a kamikaze pilot. Yeah, looks like they really would have thrown every man, woman, and child that could hold a sharpened stick right into America's jaws if a ground invasion had happened. Doing it the way that happened did indeed save many millions of lives.
Minus 1 was great. I even shed a couple of manly tears. My missus absolutely loved it too. We were talking about it for days. Loved hearing the original theme aswell. So powerful
Note that Koichi insisted that Tachibana be his mechanic because he knew that Tachibana would cooperate with his suicide mission. Then to have Tachibana be the one to give him the way to live… Good stuff.
I thought that was a really nice twist. I already saw the ejector coming, thanks to some clever foreshadowing. But The reveal that Tachibana would be the one to teach him that was a pleasant surprise.
@Deadsnake989 I personally didn't find the foreshadowing good. With a pay-off like that, you want it set up so it makes sense when it happens, but also unknown to the audience so we believe that koichi might actually kamikaze. My partner and I independently saw it coming when Doc said the Japanese government created kamikaze planes without ejector seats. Anything after that was just laying it on thick, from Tachibana looking at the seat when inspecting the plane for a good 3+ seconds before it fades to black to him telling Koichi "one more thing" after telling him how to arm the bomb. It was too much and too obvious. Personally, I think it would have been much better had Doc only mentioned Kamikaze pilots in criticism of the government, and not the lack of ejector seats, and have the scene with Tachibana and Koichi end with him going over more details of the plane as it fades to black, instead of a massive "one more thing." Then, keep the scene of Tachibana looking at the seat as the only obvious foreshadowing. With all three instances in the movie, there was no room left for interpretation as too what was actually going to occur. It lessened the impact of the pay-off to the point that they should have just had it in the scene of Tachibana revealing it to Koichi in the same scene as briefing him on how to arm the bombs, adding in a chance of failure (due to the plane not originally being made with ejection seats) to maintain Koichi's willingness to sacrifice himself if he must, but also his intent to live to continue to care for those he loves. It'd be a better parallel to him on Oda beach, where he couldn't overcome the fear of uncertainty between life and death
The only problem I have with that plot point is that Koichi wastes valuable time they don't have when he could use another mechanic that is just as skilled.
@@jeggsonvohees2201 another mechanic that is just as skilled, but not one that'd agree to his suicide mission
@aidanmattys7488 There's no reason to think another mechanic wouldn't agree to the bombing plan, especially when you combine the threat and the cultural mindset behind kamikaze pilots.
The kamikaze was the backup plan if the decompression didn't work.
It’s really surreal to see EFAP and so many other people praise a Godzilla movie this much. As a Godzilla fan, that makes me super happy.
It's because it's not only a fantastic Godzilla movie, it's a great film in general.
I've liked the idea of Godzilla but only seen recent Godzilla movies (and the appalling 1998 version, none of Japanese old ones), but both Shin Godzilla and Minus one have blown me out or water, I like both movies very much.
Any US versions I've seen have been pretty pathetic. In King of the monsters I liked few musical themes (nice versions based of the originals), but I would have liked if ALL the humans would have been all wiped out (whole Godzilla vs. Kong just looked depressing idea as general). Contrary to e.g. Minus one or Shin Godzilla where 'human bits' were very engaging. Such great movie, have to wait until Blue Ray version appears, in our town there was just 1 bloody change to see it in a theater.
Because it's a really good character drama. Get rid of Godzilla and the movie's theme and message is still intact
@@szeltovivarsydroxan9944 i also does right all the things hollywood seems to have forgotten and what all the critics have been begging for. Yes, it's a movie about a giant mutant lizard smashing tokyo.... but at the same time it's also a fantastic look at the human toll of war and the scars it leaves even on those who don't serve on the front lines. And people will happily pay to see it.
Yes, you CAN, in fact, have intelligently written and multilayered 'popcorn flicks', you don't have to turn your brain off to be able to enjoy it. It just takes a little bit of effort when you write the movie.
It’s a great time to be a Godzilla fan!
Godzilla has been:
An allegory for nuclear holocaust
A hero of the earth
Friend of the children
A single father
A time traveling mutant dinosaur
An environmentalist
A fucking Onryo made up of the spiteful victims of the atomic bombs
An allegory for government incompetence
An allegory for mans ability to overcome
A Lovecraftian planet eater
Thats what's great about Godzilla. He can be anything, he has been everything. There's not one singular correct version of him.
It's also the only franchise where my top 5 favorite entries include both cinematic masterpieces and shitty b movie shlockfests. He can be so good its great, and so bad its awesome.
Huzzah! A man of quality! Do you mind if I ask what your top 5 are?
Excuse me, Gamera is the friend of all children, not Godzilla, thank you very much.
@@ezrataylor2956
1) Godzilla (1954)
2) Godzilla Minus One
3) Shin Godzilla
4) Godzilla vs Destoroyah
5) Godzilla Final Wars
Godzilla is and has always been stunning and brave.
Yeah,but are you ready for Zack Snyder’s Godzilla?
The idea for Godzilla Minus One's title is that, post-WW2, Japan is at its lowest possible point; economically, recovery and morale-wise. Attempting to recover from the after-effects from the air raid bombings of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That they are at level zero. Then comes along Godzilla and thrusts them even further down, into the negative zone. Hence, Godzilla Minus One.
I've already written a script and plan on doing a praise of the film once it comes out on home media or digital.
Lose war.
Get nuked.
"Well that happened"
Giant nuclear monster comes from the sea.
"He is behind me, isn't he?
Lose war.
Get nuked.
"Well that happened"
Giant nuclear monster comes from the sea.
"He is behind me, isn't he?
Lose war.
Get nuked.
"Well that happened"
Giant nuclear monster comes from the sea.
"He is behind me, isn't he?
Lose war.
Get nuked.
"Well that happened"
Giant nuclear monster comes from the sea.
"He is behind me, isn't he?
Lose war.
Get nuked.
"Well that happened"
Giant nuclear monster comes from the sea.
"He is behind me, isn't he?
Godzilla Minus One is a great example of how to integrate themes and messages in a story. It is the polar opposite of the Last Jedi, which is an example of how not to do it
It is THE example of how not to do it.
I remember reading an interesting fact that the reason why it was called Minus 1 is because at the end of WWII Japan considered their society set back to 0 and that they had to reset themselves and build themselves back up again from square one essentially so with Godzilla hitting them in the midst of this period it sets them back even further, hence -1. So in that regard Fringy was actually pretty close with his own guess though it's really interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on what it meant otherwise! Loving the discussion thus far though and looking forward to listening to the rest of it!
It's literally explained in the first trailer for the movie
Ya they explained it in the trailer lol
@@szeltovivarsydroxan9944to be fair, didn’t a few of them say they hadn’t really watched any of the trailers?
I just figured it was an edgy way to make a prequel
Massive Lizard representation, finally!
I'll support any lizard as long as its not on my wall.
I love the basilisk from Harry Potter
Finally a film for massives
Lizzo in The Mandalorian?
Reptile from mortal Kombat: :(
@@szeltovivarsydroxan9944 if she ate grogu or assimilated him. She'd qualify
My favorite payoff in the whole movie has to be the ejector seat. The way the scene is shot, it's framed to make the audience believe that the mechanic either didn't tell the pilot about it, or worse, outright sabotaged it. It's a proper subversion when we find out the mechanic did neither of those things, but instead insists the pilot keep living when he is the last character in the film we would expect to take such a position. For a character that has maybe three minutes of screen time at most, the mechanic's arc of forgiveness is top notch development.
And it pays off the first scenes of the movie, with Tachibana wanting Koichi to throw his life away with a gun that's probably just going to piss Godzilla off.
I was under the impression that the trigger for the bomb that he told him to pull right before impact would actually be an eject switch. I think that would've been a better twist than revealing that he actually told him about the eject seat beforehand
Well i dont know about that, i just watched the film for the first time, and it was immediately obvious to me Tachibana was showing him the ejection procedure when telling him about the bomb. He says something like "there is one more thing i want to show you" and then it cuts to a wide shot of the hangar with tachibana pointing something out. I called it immediately. So when the ejection happened I said aloud "yep, he ejected"
I don't even really think it was forgiveness. For him to forgive Shikishima would imply that Shikishima was in the wrong for simply wanting to live. I saw it more as Tachibana realizing that it was wrong to encourage or outright force Kamikaze pilots into their role, forced to die for their country, and trying to dissuade Shikishima from doing the same with Godzilla.
Timestamps
0:00 The Big Lizard Movie
2:24 Trailers
5:24 Godzilla vs Kong
9:09 Humans
10:33 Budget, Director & Success
12:39 Quick Opinions
20:49 The Movie Begins
27:22 Kamikaze
34:55 Godzilla
40:09 Reactions
49:00 Back In Tokyo
52:53 Marketplace
57:02 Post War Japan
1:07:05 Freudian Slip
1:08:20 The Boys
1:12:00 Nightmare
1:15:20 Time Passes
1:16:26 Strong Indipendent Woman
1:18:00 The Writer's Problem
1:22:22 A Political Angle
1:27:16 Something Is Coming
1:29:56 The Mission
1:37:24 The Takao
1:38:35 Godzilla vs The Marvels
1:45:30 A Theatre Movie
1:46:57 The Film Of The Year
1:47:50 Godzilla vs The Takao
1:48:58 The Heat Ray
1:51:38 Regeneration
1:53:23 Preventing Panic
1:56:10 Opening Up
2:03:20 Ginza
2:09:38 Independence Day
2:11:15 Rescue
2:13:13 The Second Heat Ray
2:15:30 Plot Armor
2:21:00 Revenge
2:25:40 Death & Destruction
2:28:12 Authorities Involvements
2:30:20 The Plan
2:39:00 Putting Together A Team
2:42:43 Godzilla Is Coming
2:45:35 The Day Before The Battle
2:49:00 Full Circle
2:56:57 The Final Fight
3:14:19 Sacrifice
3:16:35 Kamikaze, Germans & WW2
3:19:45 Payoff
3:22:12 Victory
3:25:00 Reunion & Regeneration
3:28:30 Conclusions (1)
3:31:05 Lessons & Sequels
3:34:03 The Cake Effect
3:35:00 Conclusions (2)
I shall watch your career with great interest- sheev palpatine “the senate”
arigatou heroda
⏳👀
@@bumblebee1300 I work in the music industry... I'm already on the dark side. 🤣
@@Soapy-chan 🙏
Nooooo! Rags when you described Noriko getting a job you totally missed the fact that that happened right after the main character (forgot his name) rejected the idea that they would marry and that he is the father to their child. She got the job because she realized that she needed a husband and if the main character isn't going to step up then she would need to vecome independent. She also did it to put pressure on the main character to actually marry her. It is a sad development, the main character is about to loss his shot at a better life if he keeps holding back.
Yeah, I think a second watch of this movie will increase its standing in the crew's mind. It won't negate the flaws, but it will highlight some of the details.
Yea, I'm disappointed the crew miss this part. Not trying to insult but, I guess they're too used with movie telling audience about characters motivation. Minus one surprisingly have lots of "show not tell" moment
It’s odd how detailed their breakdowns are for crap like ant man or whatever. But it feels they they speed run a little bit with the things they like. It was the same with andor. At least everything everywhere got a worthy breakdown. That movie deserves it.
I also wanted them to note sumiko’s change in attitude when she finds out there’s a baby in play. She goes from “I don’t even care” to “take all my rice” in one conversation.
@@chernobog9when the movie is shit it feels like an eternity to go through and you have a lot of time for criticism and when it's good it flows by so fast that you'll need a few rewatches to analyze it better
@@chernobog9 I agree, though on the sumiko point it always came across that she didn't care about them at first but did care what happened to the baby, and then through the baby she started to care about them.
One thing that a lot of people I have talked to and listened to reviews about the film missed is that Koichi conflict starts because his mother told him to live, to come back alive. The conflict between what the government wants and the common people is personified by the main character. His struggles between shame and living makes him very relatable.
01:35:10 - I took godzilla's slow moving speed chasing them as a predator toying with his prey. He's already destroyed that one large ship, took out the sister ship, and is basically having fun watching the last little one run knowing he can destroy it whenever he wants. It's only when they blow up the mine in godzilla's mouth that he really moves to take them out, but the war ship arrives to save them and get destroyed in their place.
Yeah, it seemed like an Orca toying with a Seal.
Same!
Maybe it feels weird because he's a reptile? Mammals do that kind of shit all the time but I've never seen a reptile not go straight for the food. Then again, maybe Godzilla is from the dinosaur line like birds, they also play with their prey sometimes... It just looks weird to see essentially a giant iguana behaving like a cat when you're used to seeing things that look like that behaving like... Wel,, iguanas
@@mordirit8727 well said. Definitely understand that perspective, thanks for sharing your view. I'm just gonna chalk it up to creative liberties & enjoy the nod to Jaws as Godzilla's head blows up. Great stuff.
@@mordirit8727 Godzilla generally is characterized as being very intelligent. For instance, the lack of gore discussion, I remember hearing that there is a rule that Toho enforces that Godzilla is not allowed to eat people. Besides the obvious fact that sometimes he is depicted heroically so it wouldn't fit there, the other reason is that it animalizes him. Basically, if he eats a person, it gives off the impression that he is simply a carnivorous animal just looking for food, and therefore his destruction is both more incidental, and more forgivable (from a naturalist perspective, obviously for humans its still bad, but if a tiger destroys a rat's nest to eat the rat, that is simply nature as example). But Godzilla doesn't NEED to eat people, rather he WANTS to destroy humanity as vengeance for the atomic bomb. By not eating people and simply tossing them and stepping on them, it gives off the impression that he is doing this for sport essentially. He is targeting humans for emotional reasons and shows intelligence while doing it. Hopefully that makes sense to you (I'm bad at explaining things sometimes), and shows that Godzilla was always meant to be a intelligent creature, rather than a wild animal. The '98 Roland Emmerich film DOES have him depicted as a wild animal, but even then the rule was likely enforced as there are a few times that people end up in it's mouth but he never eats anyone. Though Toho must have given up enforcing the rule as the babies at the end of the movie do eat people, but Zilla itself never does, or perhaps they don't apply since they aren't "Godzilla" technically.
Glad you guys enjoyed the film. It’s very different than most Godzilla films, in a good way.
Shin Godzilla was also great. Instead of brainless US human "drama", people actually trying to figure things out. The whole air defense was such trump card.
If I might add, the best Godzilla films are more alike to this Film, especially the original and GMK
It was so nice to see humans characters act like humans for once in a monster movie.
Their motivations, flaws, and actions made sense.
I was invested in every person's journey instead of wishing I could fast forward their dialog.
Tell that to AdamDoesMovies and Noah Oskow.
It was my reason for hating 2014, I was invested in Brian Cranston’s character, and then they killed him 1/3rd into the film, and left us with his bland biscuit son for the rest of the film….
For once? There’s been plenty of Monster movies that did just that, the original Gojira for prime example.
@overkillforever1 True, but Godzilla movies aren't consistent with that each movie. It's just really nice, especially after how Monsterverse has sorta struggled with that
@overlillforever1 So many people speaking on Godzilla Minus One haven’t seen most of the previous Godzilla films and end up unknowingly saying really ignorant things about Godzilla and the series altogether. I’m fine with people talking about Godzilla Minus One, but they should stick to just Minus One and not try to talk about Godzilla like they have the knowledge to do so.
11:27 Shin Godzilla is SO worth checking out, I still think it’s probably the scariest Godzilla we’ve ever had.
Especially the last scene, that GODDAMN last scene.
I think Shin Godzilla and Minus One have peaked the atomic breath scene as a set piece in the movie
I think it's still the #1 Godzilla film of all time. A shame its release in the West wasn't as big as Minus One, but at least the latter owes to Shin's success for its widespread impact and reach. If not for it, you would probably not be seeing EFAP cover a Godzilla film like this.
I hated that movie on so many levels lol
Shin Godzilla was such great movie, loved that too.
A few things I'll throw in here...
- Noriko's decision to get a job occurs right after she overhears Shikishima say that he has no interest in her as a wife.
- The ship hit by Godzilla's breath attack was in fact an empty decoy. You get a quick shot of the rigged steering column before he blows it up. It's also likely that the ship with the speaker playing Godzilla's "voice" was also an empty decoy, which would mean that everyone involved in Hotta's & Noda's operation survives.
- Tachibana (the mechanic) didn't install the ejector seat on the Shinden plane. He simply showed Shikishima that it was there, and told him to use it.
Yeah. The movie have some "show not tell" moments
I tried to predict what was gonna happen and thought Tachibana was lying about arming the bomb. I thought it was the ejection. But i missed the detail of him noticing the actual ejection.
The thing I took away from this video is that Rags' dad is doing well. You could hear it in his voice how much it meant to him. Good on you dude! Hope your dad will continue being healthy!
Tachibana didn't put the ejector seat in the plane! Though he definitely made that last-minute decision to inform the protagonist about it. The seat came with the plane because it was a different kind of plane from all of the other Japanese planes. I got tipped off to the ejector seat very early on because right after Doc mentioned Japanese planes not having ejector seats, a shot of the final plane showed that its seat had German writing on it. Japanese seats didn't eject... yet this seat is German... HMMM.... It was a neat little detail that spoiled the movie, but in a good way. I was happy to pick up on it.
Side note, I adore the beat of Tachibana not only encouraging the man he blamed for the tragedy that haunts him to survive, but how he actively worries for Koichi's survival. He let go of the pain, and he wanted Koichi to let go too. He realized that nobody's life deserves to be wasted, and that the only real way to avenge his fallen friends is for the survivors to live on in their honor. I love the way he looks at the photos he kept with him all this time, great visual storytelling to convey the realization that he isn't the only one who has been haunted.
I knew that moment was coming when Tachibana said "One more thing" and the scene cut. I just KNEW there would be an ejector seat when that happened.
And yeah, Tachibana making sure that Koichi could come back is one of many great payoffs of this movie.
When I watched Godzilla Minus One, I was actually surprised by how little time Godzilla was on screen and how much I didn't care about it because I was invested in humans in this story.
I was also way more invested in the human drama, which is weird. But Big Lizard had 12 minutes of screentime, which is actually standard for almost every Godzilla movie.
Ooof, really, well okay then, I guess I'll skip it. I want Godzilla to be the star of his own movies like he used to be. I'm glad you didn't care about such things but I would care.
@@zigzag1630you're still missing out on probably the best Godzilla action ever put on screen. And I'm not a fan of hyperbole.
@@zigzag1630 I hope then that you will see this movie and recognize it maybe not as a great Godzilla film but a great film overall. And I would like to see a movie with Godzilla as 'lead' too, so let's hope for the best in the future
@@zigzag1630 The longest screentime Godzilla has was 20 minutes. He barely has more than 10 in the MonsterVerse. He has literally never had a long screentime in any of his films
To answer the question concerning the name Minus One, I believe the meaning put forth by the director is that it refers to the idea that Japan was brought down to zero by the end of the war and that the arrival of Godzilla brings it even lowers ie. Minus One
Yup, that was also shown in first trailer. Postwar Japan had lost everything - from zero to minus; as you described.
It's spelled out in the trailer.
Godzilla Minus One is proof that Hollywood can learn all kinds of things from Japan. Especially with pretty much every high budget movie from last year being miss after miss, they can learn to not only tell deep and compelling narratives, but also not dump hundreds of millions of dollars into their films and expecting all of them to succeed. Makes me miss the old days of the film industry.
Like what making boring overrated movies?
@@dongxxL take.
@@JavRexgteneg2pIift Eric butts be like:
@@dongxx Eric Butts doesn't understand what quality content is, which is an attribute someone else in this comment section possesses.
@dongxx
My experience would be the exact opposite.
How’d you experience it?
It's funny two of the most talked about films and critically aclaimed and positive in 2023 starts with a film about creating a Nuclear Bomb with it's creator ultimately fearing the consequences of his discovery; and we end the year with a film that basically gave us a pretty terrible, horrific consequence and aftermath of said invention ending with Hope of rebirth and perseverance of life.
It's super relevant though, because America is a world-superpower that hates the fact that it's a world-superpower and what damage it's wrought along the way; and Japan is a country whose masculinity got defeated and they never got over it. A lot of our social anxieties today go right back 90 years ago.
Very happy to hear EFAP’s analysis of Minus One.
Godzilla and a lot of Kaiju are viewed as mythical forces of nature, that though they can be injured or in some cases killed, will always return.
Their presence is always felt. When they appear it’s like a tsunami or typhoon. When it shows up, you can’t stop it, you do what you can to survive, and at some point in the future, it will return.
Regarding Kamikaze, historians and researchers have discovered that not all of the pilots followed through and many thought it was insanity that the military and government would continue to kill the youth in a war they deduced had been over.
You see the theme of being confronted by an overwhelming military force in early anime epics like Macross, Space Battlesip Yamato, and Gundam from the late 70’s & early 80’s.
Godzilla as a character and how he is perceived by Japanese society is interesting.
Depending on the prosperity or lack thereof on Japan’s history very much determines how Godzilla is written.
During the 60’s and 70’s, when Japan was becoming an economic super power, Godzilla is viewed more as a protector of Japan but the consequences are significant to the Japanese people.
Hearing the crew talk about checking out other Godzilla films sounds like such an amazing arc, not only is there a massive library of films to choose from, it shows how drastically Godzilla has changed over time.
Starting from the Showa era, people remember the dark and depressing original 1954 film, and some of the later Vs films (vs Mothra, Ghidorah, Destroy All Monsters) but there were periods which felt more light-hearted and showcased a heroic Godzilla (Son of Godzilla, All Monsters Attack, vs Megalon which is Peak EFAP Movies material) then there's some really bizarre films which do very weird decisions (vs Hedorah and vs Gigan)
then the Heisei era, a good chunk of films that never made it to the west, but showcased Godzilla as something to fight against again rather than a perfect protector of earth, he stopped some evil monsters for sure like Ghidorah, Biollante and Space-Godzilla (yes that's its real name) but a good chunk is dealing with the threat of Godzilla himself. Plus Goji got way more screentime in these films, Showa era he shows up for 10 minutes on average, whereas the Heisei era averages at 20 minutes. for context, that's still a better average than the Legendary Monster-verse films which are longer.
the Millennium era has some hits too, each film seems to follow its own rules rather than follow directly after each prior film (with the 2 MechaGodzilla films being the Exception)
All of these films show Godzilla in a different light through history, so while I understand, and occasionally agree, with the criticism for the American films, I still enjoy them for what they are as Goji has been so many different things over the years, this is just another odd piece. But with the success of Minus one, and in turn people going back and watching Shin Godzilla, makes me hopeful that we could see an increase in standards for what Godzilla films can be.
last note, I truly hope we see EFAP at least cover Shin Godzilla, its the perfect blend of horror and weirdness that makes it so unique from other Godzilla movies.
thank you to anyone who took the time to read this rambling mess, have a nice day 😊
It hurts whenever I sense the lack of understanding for this great franchise in EFAP and elsewhere, so I take joy knowing that there are other fans willing to explain it in brief like this.
In regards to Godzilla chasing the Shinseimaru, he's toyong with them. Notice how after they drop a mine into the water and they explode it on godzilla, once godzilla emerges from the waves, there's a moment where he lurches forward as he growls, and thrn gors back to his previous pace; basically his way of saying that he could get them, but he's simply enjoying the hunt.
Once the Takao arrives, notice how quickly he swims towards the takao as his dorsal plates slice through the water.
With the Shinseimaru, it's like someone throwing a pebble at you. No harm, no worry.
With the Takao, with it being strong enough to, while not necessarily outright hurt godzilla, hit him with enough concussive force to launch him under the water; he's aware he needs to get rid of this (possible) threat. Hence, him moving a lot more quickly.
Yeah, basically how I saw it was:
Other boat bumps Gojira; Gojira's like "Fuck you" and chomps them.
But then Gojira spots the second boat and is like ". . . So what _are_ you little shits _doing,_ anyway?" But then they actually manage to blast his face, legitimately starting to piss him off "You little shits _thought,_ didn't you?"
But all this is dwarfed by Takao showing up; "You got cannons? Fuck your cannons. . . . Yeah that's what I thought." And at that point he ain't got another second for the little boat; he's said his piece and retires.
I feel Goji somewhat suspect the tiny ship were luring him into trap. Unlike the airplane, who he really pissed with for some reason, that ship don't provoke him
The thing rags said about the lack of gore is interesting. Theres nothing that indicates that the people he grabs in his mouth are dead until you see their bodies, why, because they trust the audience to understand and be intelligent enough to know these fuckers are doomed. When someone gets thrown 100 yards and is bitten in the midsection by a giant dinosaur you dont need gore. You have everything you need to know
no one's ever really gone
"Getting bitten by a thirty-foot dinosaur kills people?"
--Disney Godzilla
but wat about force n stuff daisey ridley could definitely survive that. lame characters. need riann's tismic touch.
I'm also pretty sure that Toho has a rule that Godzilla doesn't eat humans. I think this is because it animalizes him, making it seem as though he is only attacking humans for a natural need to eat, rather than as a direct intelligent attack to them because of his anger or vengeance. It creates the idea that he doesn't NEED to do this, and he isn't doing it incidentally because he is an animal, but rather he WANTS to do this because he is targeting humans. It plays into the idea that Godzilla hates humanity because of what they did with the atomic bombs. For this movie though, I don't know if that is his motivation when he is small. Also I'm pretty sure that rule existed even for the Roland Emmerich film, which is why despite multiple attempts, he never eats anyone. Though the babies do, but maybe that skirted around the rule since they aren't Godzilla directly, or Toho stopped trying to enforce it at that point.
On top of that, Godzilla movies have gotten along mostly gore-free for 70 years (apart from monster gore), and while most of the movies are unrated, they've always seemed to aim for a pg/pg-13 rating in the past. It would feel pretty weird if suddenly you had an r-rated Godzilla movie with blood and body parts flying around all over the place. Sort of like Star Wars or Superman. Some franchises just don't need to go there.
I wanna disagree in regard to the cold war being the reason militaries arent involved. I think it is entirely reasonable and is a good way to use your setting to facilitate the plot you want.
Yes, we know Godzilla is a massive threat to the human race, but the Soviets dont. They have virtually no presence in the Pacific and aren't too likely to believe their biggest rivals about how they totally need to run military operations in the region to fight a big lizard. Even the Americans and Japanese don't have any idea what Godzilla is truly capable of until after the attack on Tokyo.
I understand that with meta knowledge it is easy to say everyone should be united against Godzilla. But i think in reality the world would be pretty slow to react to this especially coming off of the biggest armed conflict in human history. It is also worth noting that Godzilla is only really a known threat for a couple weeks. If the plot went on much longer i think more militaries would get involved but as it is, i dont think America or the USSR are gonna be quick to react without more info.
Yea. Also remember, post ww2 everyone still in shambles, even the "winners". American government basically don't want to help Japan for local kaiju problem, using Soviet/Russia as an excuse
One of the few movies I saw multiple times in theaters. A movie that actually respects the source material and has good characters is rare these days
Our city only had one viewing of the damn thing. Good I saw it but would have watched at least twice if there would have been a change to do so.
You would expect a longgggggg EFAP for such a massive lizard.
The atomic breath build-up is longer than this EFAP.
It takes more time to break down why something doesn't work, than to state how it does work?
@@AnnaMarianne This is true. I guess a short EFAP is a necessary sacrifice in this case.
Only four massives during this EFAP.
Usually they have like 5,6 or sometimes eight if it’s soemthing this good.
They might not have done the usual extra fun stuff and go right to the main course of atomic Rrat
The longest of lizzards
While I absolutely love Minus One, I hate how it's making everyone go to the other extreme of believing we can't have a well written Godzilla film where he fights monsters and saving the Earth or mankind is just a byproduct of that. 😢
You've seen Skipper's video?
I watched Kung-fu Hustle recently, and it's insane how super crazy goofy stuff can "feel real" when everyone treats it like it's real.
I can see a 40yo housewife with bangs do a looney toons run, laugh my ass off, and STILL feel the epic battles and deaths that happen later on because everybody is in on the world they live in: Kung-fu is stronger than bullets
good acting can indeed contribute to good suspension of disbelief
Like someone said in this vid (forgot who or which part), lots of superhero movies break immersion in wrong way, audience can't take the story seriously. Compare Deadpool and She-Hulk for an example.
I agree with Raggleton! Or what i think he was attempting to explain. You can communicate hazard without gore.
The thing is real violence is more sudden and more basic than you'd expect; blood takes a few seconds to spew out; it's more like "Huh, I didn't know the body could bend like that-- OH . . . OH YEAH, THERE'S BLOOD, FUCK, THAT'S BAD"
Excessive gore is just one of those "movie things", soon as everyone's a water-baloon with copypasted splatter effects, it just gets silly.
Watching his neighbor berate him for returning alive hurt my soul
So what you said actually about your disbelief in the situation actually happened in real life. A Japanese man got blasted back by little boy, then going home, got blasted by big boy. The reaction that took place is indescribable. However, there are stories that sound unrealistic, which are true. So it makes sense that he is probably feeding off real-life events. Sometimes reality is stranger then fiction.
Not to mention the movie makes it clear they are on the very edge of the cuccusive part of the blast. Because the explosion is farther away, the force of it though was so strong that it pushed the air outward at incredible speed, leaving an air pocket. This is why the explosion that hit them turned into an implosion as the air was sucked back to fill the void where the blast pushed the air out. Because of this, using how quickly the air switches from explosion to implosion in that area, shows that they were part of the edge of the area of effect, and the air slowing in order to reverse direction likely also lead to her being slowed down before even hitting the ground. Using all this, you could infer that its totally within the realm of probability that she would survive.
At last. This EFAP was long overdue, but this might be my favorite EFAP of all time. Shame it wasn't a livestream, but hey, at least we got the bois to talk about the best film of 2023, and arguably the best Godzilla movie of all time
I’m so glad we’ve been getting so many Godzilla movies lately. Especially one as good as this. I’d love to see Toho bring back some of their classic monsters for their next movies though.
Ghidorah was so cool and yet so wasted in kotm
@@zeporion6091KOTM was a waste of a movie. It really sucks that so many awesome monsters and concepts were dropped down the KOTM pit.
Only one has been any good.
@@zeporion6091feel he carried the movie, he should of been the main villain in Godzilla vs kong.
I like Godzilla as a force of nature who takes out other, more destructive monsters, but is basically indifferent to humanity. Godzilla 2014 tried to do this, but then completely jumped the shark with the ending when everyone cheered for Godzilla like he's a superhero.
tbf that has more to do with humans assuming he intended to save them since he just leaves instead of continuing the destruction after he defeats the mutos. In the later movies he certainly gives zero fucks about his collateral damage
@revolverswitch I always thought it was silly that they thought that considering
all the collateral damage in the film. Godzilla coming out of the ocean in Honolulu caused a massive tsunami that probably killed hundreds if not thousands of people. It felt like an abrupt tonal shift to me in a way it wouldn't in a Showa Era Godzilla film.
@@SolarDragon007 I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding your comment or not (so correct me if I am) but I would say the cheering aspect is very much in line with the showa Era, even if it doesn't fit into the 2014 movie. The showa Era is when godzilla started to be shown in that comedic/sympathetic/protector perspective (depending on which movie) I would use one of the last, mechagodzilla as an example. First when disguised mecha shows up and beats the crap outta the hedgehog monster (I have no idea how to spell his name) and the humans are surprised that godzilla would beat up his friend. Then 2 at the end the humans work to help godzilla team up with king Ceasar to fight mecha and cheer them on.
I do really like the idea of him eventually learning that if he doesn't attack the humans then they'll just leave him alone and not bother him much. This then leading to people just learning to live with him being there for the most part.
One thing I love in the Ginza destruction scene, after we see the mushroom cloud we see Godzilla’s reaction to it. Even big Lizard has a brief “oh damn” moment
Either that or ". . . . . . That's what I thought!"
42:00 I really like Rags' point here; what it is is the movie depicts violence as if it were happening to actual people whose descendants might be watching. You never get the sense that the carnage is being celebrated; the movie is _commemorating_ how brave the people were to face it, and the tragedy of their demise.
FINALLY! I saw this in 4DX. It was beyond any theater experience I've ever had. I actually cared about the quiet moments with the characters we got to know along the way.
When Godzilla shows up and the chairs started to shake, I really didn't want the characters to lose everything they built.
I think the "chase" scene can just be seen as Godzilla stalking and observing the prey (as animals sometimes do) before eventually pouncing. I don't find it problematic personally.
Yeah I saw it as him just playing with them; like the other boat disturbed him and he one-shotted them; but then he investigates the second ship more curiously like "What _are_ ya guys up to, anyway?" but then they blow his face off and that makes him like "Alright, this isn't cute anymore" but he gets sidetracked by the Takao before he can one-shot them.
100% the moment Godzilla decides they're dead, he would do so; they just got lucky that a bigger fish showed up when it did.
Plus there's no reason for Godzilla to be really going after their dinky little boat at first. To him, it's no threat, so no need to expend too much effort to catch it.
Godzilla Minus One is the first movie in YEARS that when I was walking out of the theater, the only thing I could think about was when can I go see this again! I saw it 5 times!
The director said why it's called Minus One, basically post-war Japan had lost everything, going to zero, and big lizard shows up to shove them into minus. Also they kinda answer the question of whether or not the airplane could have killed little Godzilla, cause if he survived a frickin nuke, a plane wouldn't even tickle him
I saw this film 3 times, and was blown away. Wonderful character work, effects, and story. It's the best movie I've seen in years. The last time I was this impressed by a mainstream film, was with Joker in 2019.
I just saw it for the third time and of course I was sitting next to a group of loud ass teenagers giggling and commenting on everything. Still enjoyed it a lot, but I wanted to smack each one of those fuckers Will Smith style and tell them to stfu
Rags did an amzing job on this EFAP!
Fringy raises an interesting question about the contradictory nature of us Godzilla fans - we will defend garbage like King of the Monsters and Kong vs Godzilla whilst also praising more serious character driven stuff like Minus One and Shin Godzilla (which I seriously hope makes it on the future Monster Arc). It's not like these are two separate fanbases. Godzilla is a franchise that has gone through so many different incarnations in its 70 year history we're just kinda used to Godzilla offering different things at different times. Sometimes you want mindless escapism, sometimes you want something more meaningful, metaphorical or emotional, and the fact that there are such varying movies within the same franchise is a fundamental part of the appeal for most Godzilla fans.
Yes, it would have been great for the characters in the recent Monsterverse films to be more interesting/less annoying, but I can just about forgive that for the thrill of seeing Godzilla fight King Ghidora on a scale that Japanese budgets could never cover.
You could probably find a better balancing act between character/writing and giant monster fighting in the 90s and 2000s era of Japanese films, my main recommendation being Giant Monsters All-Out Attack from 2001.
I wouldn't say we, I think there's a good chunk of the fanbase that just abhors those movies, myself included. Godzilla is kinda like Batman in a way, with his multiple tones and takes, but there are a select few that are taken as the preferred ones by almost everybody.
While I do love these more dramatic pieces, it would've been nice if Godzilla, the hero worked as well as Godzilla, the monster and since I haven't seen many of the other films, I can't tell how well that worked out in the past. Maybe if Pacific Rim had been more successful, Del Toro would've gotten his Godzilla film that would set the tone for what we see today from the US films, but that's not the reality we are in today.
@@ProxyDoug Me saying "we" could've been clearer I guess, what I was going for is that Godzilla fans will usually have a great liking for movies of varying tones and styles, not that they necessarily love all of them.
I for example can't stand Final Wars, which is many peoples favourite, but I'm not above liking other Godzilla movies that are equally silly.
Also if you're looking for some "Hero Godzilla'" movies done better, the era from 1989's Godzilla vs Biolante onwards through the 90s has some decent stuff in it.
I just love Godzilla. I'll praise really good movies like Minue One, but I still enjoy cheesy stuff like KotM. I don't think it's contradictory.
C Animus made a 2 hour video going over KOTM's writing as good, it's really interesting.
It called having a very low bar to satisfy.
Apparently the minus-one comes from the fact that Japan was already at 0 after the war, and Godzilla brings it even lower.
If you guys want to do a Godzilla/Kong arc, let me make a suggested list:
-King Kong 1933
-Gojira 1954
-King Kong vs Godzilla 1962
-King Kong 1976
-Godzilla (Roland Emmerich)
-"Long Kong"
-Godzilla 2014
-Kong: Skull Island
-Shin Godzilla
-Godzilla vs Kong 2021
This gives you guys a look at the different depictions and interpretations of each creature's origin over the years, making comparisons easier. It's pretty wild to see the generstional influences on each character, especially King Kong
The original Kong and Godzilla movies should definitely be on the list.
thanks brother
You should include Mothra vs Godzilla, and Invasion of the Astro Monster
I mean, this doesn't really cover much of Godzilla's interpretations.
It lacks both Showa silliness and Heisei grittiness. And Final Wars.
i would add gamera 1965 to the list
I like the implication of Koichi growing a pair and ending the franchise prematurely by shooting Godzilla.
I think that would have resulted in a dead Koichi and a scarred Godzilla. The mechanic didn't KNOW it would work, he just assumed it would.
Now if they'd had a proper warship at that point? That would be a different matter.
In regards to godzilla being nerfed during the chase scene you could make the assumption godzilla isnt gonna put in as much effort to chase a smaller boat that poses no threat to him which was made evident by him immediatly switching targets when the japanese warship shows up.
And the way Godzilla only _really_ gets pissed off when they blow his face off. He was about to actually fuck them up, one-shot, but him standing up meant the Takao could get a good shot at him.
Overall the scene makes enough sense
When I watched the scene it looked like Godzilla wasn’t really trying that hard to catch them, almost like he was amused by the chase now part of it is for plot reasons, it’s one of the smallest instances of plot armor but doesn’t break your immersion like you see in a lot of big budget hollywood films where the challenge is immersing yourself at all with the terrible writing
EFAP rightfully praising Minus One is the only thing that brings me joy in life. As a Godzilla fan whose been watching the podcast from the beginning, this was what I've dreamed to see - a Godzilla movie that has earned their respect and admiration via good writing. Minus One is fighting hard with Shin Gojira as my #1 Godzilla film, I think Shin Gojira edges out slightly in favor of its themes of how nuclear power should be handled, staying true to the original message of the first movie and updating it to reflect the changing times. Godzilla in Minus One, his radiation aspect is as downplayed as the presence of governments both national and foreign, and the movie is still great in spite of that cuz it's a brilliant character drama.
Honestly... Ohio having a large portion poisoned and the government ignoring it among MANY other travesties makes the whole government non-involvement issue SO much more believable.
On the "people freeze to gawk at the monster when they should be running" thing, i think a big part of it is a crowd fallacy; you think "wow, that could really be a problem for someone," but it isn't immediately obvious whether or not that "someone" is gonna be you. There's plenty of other people around who could just as easily die before you do, and _they're_ not running, so you get a false sense of safety-in-numbers because no one expects themselves to be the guy who dies first.
Reminds me of that one French avalanche movie, (Force Majeur, iirc) where there's an avalanche in the distance and they're all like "Is that something we should worry about?" And he's like "It's fine, it's just a controlled explosion and it's way over there" but the avalanche just kinda keeps coming, "It's fine, it won't hit us." "Yeah, yeah, it's big but it's fine it'll settle over there." "It's fine . . . . . . . KIDS GET YOUR THINGS, IT'S GONNA HI--" boom, buried instantly.
Yeah right either that or just poorly shot reaction scenes cut together with separate effects scenes.
It's like "deer caught on headlight" reaction. Movie exaggerated, but lots of people kinda slow in taking action in that situation. And like you said, people weirdly wait someone else do something first, or being ordered to before doing it themselves
@@c0ldfury I prefer to assume competence until proven otherwise. Here I think they earned it.
It's got nothing to do with competence, it's a budget constraint. They did not know what the effects shot was going to be when filming the scene, did not know what they were reacting too. It's the same in literally every shot, even the early ones with the small godzilla. @@arenkai
Of course, SEP fields, the ultimate camouflage in the galaxy!
To clarify: us G fans go into G movies for the monsters. Unfortunately, most of the films have tismy human drama. We recognize they're not good, but we enjoy them nonetheless. But, in instances like Minus 1, Gojira, and Godzilla 1985, we celebrate the good writing. Of course, we'd love them more if they're better written. But the superficiality of giant monsters going on a rampage is fun for us.
Having seen the movie twice, once by myself and again with my siblings, we freakin’ loved it!
One of the favorite things about it was seeing things I missed the first time round. Notably during the final battle where Godzilla blew up one of the ships, the doctor said, “He’s regenerating! We have a chance.” Que a quick cut to Godzilla whose head is regenerating.
In short, it’s implying that Godzilla’s breath attack is so powerful that it burns his own throat out. And the only reason Godzilla survives it is due to his regeneration powers.
Definitely one of the best monster movies that has come out in years.
To be honest, I thought it was called "Minus One" simply due to the fact that it’s the first Godzilla film to be set before 1954.
1:50:00 the heat ray doesn’t explode against the Takao. It slices through the takao and fires into the air. The explosion is from the machinery of the takao exploding from the damage.
As for Noriko surviving, the theory is she was infected with Godzilla’s cells when she was in his mouth on the train and she was killed by the blast, but she was regenerated as evidenced by the mark on her neck at the end and then it cutting to show Godzilla regenerating.
My suspicion is the next movie is going to be Godzilla Vs Biolante, with the twist being that Noriko is part of Biolante, and her connection with her daughter affects her in monster form somehow, either bringing her back or making sure he fight Godzilla instead of just rampaging.
Im seeing this movie tonight , so pumped ! It's kinda a small theater but most seats already reserved... this movie is making waves for sure. Ill catch this stream tomorrow and comment my thoughts
Edit: The movie was freaking amazing. A little long ... but so well done . The blue power up, the human struggle and feeling of "oh sh*t we are all dead" they NAILED IT!!!, the graphics , the story ... i was totally transported ( and literally shaking ) . I want to watch it again right now. I could tell that this was done by a small team, who poured their hearts and souls into it. Go see it in theaters if you havent yet... u won't be disappointed . They knew they nailed it... they have like 5 ... "LOOK AT OUR GODZILLA" ( dun -dun DUN-DUN ) moments, Japan absolutely wrecked from the war, struggling people just trying to rebuild , and Zilla just keeps creeping closer and closer. . Some Anime ? feeling to it (i dont watch anime) . But not cheesy at all? The sound design was amazing too in the theaters ... absolute PEAK FIRE BRO.
Godzilla is such an interesting franchise for me. I love serious ones like Minus One, but Godzilla vs Megalon is unironically a favorite because it's goofy as hell and fun. Godzilla has managed to hit every genre aside from Noire, and Romcom- and they're all great in their own way. Godzilla vs Kong and the upcoming GxK New Empire movie all make me think about the 1960's Showa films, and I'm here for it. As a 40 year Godzilla fan, I'm glad you guys at least like SOMETHING this franchise has to offer.
That's what rules about Godzilla. There's something to offer for any persons taste. GvM is also a favorite of mine, it's the perfect kind of movie to watch with a bunch of friends and some drinks, shamelessly stupid and childishly fun. Final Wars is up there too, I appreciate that a series with such cultural importance and generational influence is not afraid to just be silly as often as it is serious. Probably the most creatively fruitful and liberating franchise out there. No rules, just make it big.
This movie is about the Japanese people. Having people from other countries would take away from that even if it would have made for a stronger script logicwise.
It's one of the times where I think going for themes over logic makes for a better end product.
Having USA and USSR not intervene because of tensions isn't great, but I'd argue having people from everywhere would be worse and dilute the Japaneseness of the story. It wouldn't be as authetic and feel like someone from the USA made it honestly, because that's not at all the Japanese mindset.
As fan of all of the Toho Godzilla films since I was a kid, I can honestly say that Godzilla Minus One is by far the best Godzilla movie yet
"the benefit of an alien threat, is it would unite the world." like a giant psychic squid..
the balloon idea to raise him to the surface. again, back to jaws. surprised you didn't mention it. as well even the exploding in his mouth.
Obligatory "watch Shin Godzilla, you massives" comment
If it ain't over 4 hours it ain't EFAP.
Thank you for discussing this, I really love the movie. I like the arc on To Live or To Die. When people expect Koichii to die, he doesn't want to die, but when he's ready to die, people don't want him to die.
Godzilla’s heat ray, as they call it in this film, is nuclear. After he fires it off in Ginza, as Koichi is staring at him and screaming, you can see black rain start to fall. Black rain is a product of Nuclear Fallout, meaning that the blast was definitely atomic.
I think during the boat chase scene its pretty clear that up until they manage to actually hurt him hes playing with his food. This Godzilla is very thoroughly characterized as slightly malicious. Rather than being a panicking animal acting out of confusion and self defense like Shin Godzilla, hes more like an apex predator who HATES humanity
Of all the praises I see - rightfully - heaped on this movie is the connection between the MC and Godzilla. So many of Koichi’s low moments are directly or tangentially related to Zilla and when he finally decides to fight it it’s SUCH a ‘let’s go’ moment
Tachibana isn’t referencing it being lucky to fly and land the bucket of bolts plane. He never calls it a bucket of bolts. He says it’s amazing Shikishima could land it on the Swiss cheese runway that has craters in it
*Godzilla steps on Echo* "Sorry you didn't sign fast enough and I didn't hear you.".
They shot godzilla with Fleem gas
outrageous! 😠
@@sparkypack would it have been better to use Fringy's goo?
@@unbridledmayo Fringy's goo for sure. Possibly more useful than Rag's snow. 🐶👀
I'm not sure... from the sounds of it Rags' snow was pretty pure and the goo was only experimental. I need proof that the goo has been throroghly tested before being used on Godzilla. Fleem, however, is an established resourse@@sparkypack
Oh man this is going to be an absolute treat thank you so much for these. Been a rough week really going to enjoy this 3 hours breakdown of my favorite movie from 2023
During a lot of the very serious scenes in this film there was some guy laughing. For example in the scene where the daughter asked "where's mommy". It happened so much another person just angrily left the film muttering "I just want to watch the fucking film"
Marvel has rotted people's brains to not take film seriously.
Marvel has rotted your brain to the point if someone doesn't take a film seriously you blame Marvel.
@@BaldorfBreakdowns 👍
1:20:00
We could have had the Americans try to bring a fleet to bear against Godzilla, only to have the USSR blockade them. An actual international flair-up rather than a potential one could be an improvement.
Which would confuse the plot and diminish the amount of "monster-footage".
@HungryForTastyFoodAndComicArt
It would take a small amount of time more than the handwave we already have.
News broadcast:
... strike group name "Baseball and Apple Pie" is diverted following a tense confrontation. The USSR has sent a clear message: American assets in the region will be treated as an invading force...
East Palestine Ohio: Ruined by a train wreck/fire/poisoning of the land and water, and from all I've heard the government has been ignoring it/doing as little as possible.
The government poisoning alcohol during prohibition.
And how many times has Japan kept something quiet to save face, despite costing lives?
What's surprising is how few people understand that it's ACCURATE that the governments would have a pissing contest while Godzilla's killing cities.
First movie to make a Godzillion dollars
#GodzillaSweep Gojirillion
@@HectorLopez0217Gōjiriryon
I wish these guys would watch some of the goofier Showa era films. Their reactions would be priceless.
This was by far and away the best Godzilla movie I've ever seen, it managed to make me actually kinda care about the human plot; seeing Mr. Kamikaze dueling Godzilla in his plane, knowing he's flying dangerously close because he doesn't plan to survive (or at least thinking that, even if the twist was predictable), was thrilling and fun. What I most want from this timeline most is a prequel where mini-godzilla from the start takes on Imperial soldiers in a jungle. Take it straight up action horror like predator and it could be amazing.
You can actually see a few holes in the budget for Godzilla at a couple points, and it stood out to me. He looks great when walking, swinging, roaring, and firing a lazer, but his back looks like a model, and his swimming looks pretty awkward.
Edit: While I was watching the movie, I caught myself thinking "Ok, cool, Godzilla's here, but when can we get back to how our characters are doing?"
My theory is that Noriko was dead and Godzilla flesh brought her back to life somehow.
There's no way she survived that otherwise.
I think the lack of gore is respectful of the people who are dying, which goes well with the overall theme of the movie of respecting human life.
In many other war movies, the gores are thematically related about horrors of war and the fragility of human body/life. Minus one seems more focused on "rebuilding" and survival, gore not necessary
As a WW2 warships lover, the mispronounciation of the Imperial Japanese Navy Heavy Cruiser Takao really triggered me. Now the interesting part about that gunnery scene, was that IJN Takao had 203mm guns, and those did some serious damage to Godzilla. It also had type 93 torpedoes, which were really strong, but they were probably too close to be used because they might not arm.
However, sustained fire from a battleship, like the Amagi or Nagato, if those hadnt been destroyed, would be interesting, given that those 2 ships rocked 410mm guns. The American counterparts would be North Carolina, South Dakota and Iowa class battleships, with 406mm guns.
And of course Godzilla would be obliterated by the Yamato class battleship, with its 460mm guns. Assuming of course it didnt have time to fire the atomic breath.
I loved those 2 minutes with the Takao.
It being called a destroyer bugged me while listening and then they called the four US destroyers battleships; I felt they missed the point the the IJN Takao represent how naval might failed while the tanks showed how the army failed.
When the o.g godzilla theme tune kicks in... *chefs kiss*
There is an unfortunately easy wrong lesson to learn from this movie: Make more characters without actually making them good
A lot of the problem with King of the Monsters and 2014 were that the characters sucked. And they were the main focus. So you had to watch these people who you didn't like, didn't care about (in gemeral) and weren't doing very good acting, and just being annoyed waiting for the monster to show up
So instead of learning the lesson "make good characters", they're going to learn the lesson "make more characters
2:20:00 Did you all not see the woman’s neck at the end of the film. Something black moves under her skin. Very disturbing. This I think explains how she survived her obvious death.
Never mind, you got to it.
Especially since, after the destruction of Ginza, we hear the news reporters state outright how chunks of the creature's flesh were discovered amidst the rubble; that very same flesh that, at the end of the film, would have been able to completely regrow Godzilla from just one small piece. The very same flesh lying amidst the very same rubble that Noriko was buried underneath.
Especially since Noriko wasn't fine at the end of the movie; broken arm, damaged (possibly missing?) an eye (possible radiation poisoning?). That Godzilla's flesh was enough to save her, not immediately heal all of her wounds, but enough to just save her life is a nice trade-off I think.
It's pretty easy to miss when you're laughing/rolling your eyes at the absolute absurdity of her living through that blast.
@@BaldorfBreakdowns Dude, relax. I was wrong.
@@SeanAkyne What? Relax yourself, dude.
It's just a comment. Chill.
Everyone already knew you could make a Godzilla movie with just Godzilla and human characters. The question has always been, can you make a Godzilla *versus* movie that's interesting and also delivers what people expect?
The Trilogy of Shin Movies, that being Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider, are all fantastic watches and a big recommendation
Never clicked on an EFAP episode faster.
The name "Minus One". In the Japanese language, the idea of something being "Reduced to 0" is commonplace. It basically means hitting rock bottom. After WW2, Japan was at rock bottom and in the language it makes sense to say they were "reduced to 0". Then Godzilla brings them down right at that point in time to below rock bottom; Minus 1. Its much more significant to the Japanese.
Godzilla Minus One was a great reimagining of, and tribute to, the 1954 Gojira! It does a phenomenal job in effectively depicting the themes of the original while still adding, and well-depicting new themes.
I will absolutely say, that people who say "monster movies are about the monsters and human parts are crap" don't know what they want. Two Hours of monsters fighting would bore the hell out of you. You need good human elements. Those make the best monster movies.
Well the problem with “two hours of monsters fighting” isn’t the lack of humans. It’s the lack of a story being told at all, the lack of a reason to care about what’s happening. A fight without a story behind it can be boring because there’s nothing fueling it. You could absolutely make a movie featuring only monsters by making the monsters themselves into fleshed out characters and using them to tell a story. The Monster Island Animations by Quazies are a good example of how you can tell a story where the monsters are the primary focus.
You need good characters, not necessarily good human elements. I feel like a lot of people overlook that the kaiju are characters themselves.
I watched it because all the good word of mouth and I’m glad I did!😊
I complained about only reviewing things that was going to get nothing but criticism and hate...I stand corrected this is excellent 👏
Have you seen their faps on arcane, andor and EEAO?
Godzilla efap on my birthday wtf!!!
A glorious day of earthly incarnation to you!
Hearing them talk about the theme of "answering the call of duty", with one character desiring for that call, and the protagonist broken because of it. The movie does have a point that there is nothing wrong about the idea of answering the call, its about the conditions, how you answer it. People do risk their lifes at the end, but willingly, knowing well what could happen, with no glorification beyond "we think we should do this to protect our families and ourselfs". The young guy its not wrong for having that desire of "serve" and "do something", wishing for the war, but for not understanding the realities behind the war, being the main giy someone seemingly motivated by similar wishes of "serve" and "be useful", and broken for the excesses around those concepts because of the war and the culture around it in Japan. Basically, the movie does point out, its not bad fir a young man to go out and wish to do stuff. Its healthy even, at the end of the movie. Just be wary and do not glorify it or desire for bad for it, do not wish for something to happen for you to test your might. Dont do it for some obscure force, like a government tells you to.
This movie has convinced me that America made the right decision in WW2. A movie all about the regret of not being a kamikaze pilot. Yeah, looks like they really would have thrown every man, woman, and child that could hold a sharpened stick right into America's jaws if a ground invasion had happened. Doing it the way that happened did indeed save many millions of lives.
Minus 1 was great. I even shed a couple of manly tears. My missus absolutely loved it too. We were talking about it for days. Loved hearing the original theme aswell. So powerful
People talk about how Godzilla Minus one over performed when Shin Godzilla was pretty comparable.
Edit. Shin made 78 mil with a 7 mil budget
It's very refreshing to see the fellas ( and Rags) gushing over something.
This is by far my favorite of 2023.
Who would have thought Godzilla of all films be the most talked about and praised. Best film of 2023. (Oppenheimer was good too).
Also maybe be minus one is literally and means godzella vs a zero pilot.
If the Don had a pet, Godzilla would be a good choice.