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Toys on FIlm: Godzilla Minus One
401 Plays11 months ago
Welcome back to Toys on Film! This week we're talking all about the new Toho Godzilla release celebrating 70 years of the King of Monsters, "Godzilla Minus One!" We had the opportunity to see an early press screening of the iconic kaiju's relaunch at the Japan Society in New York City ahead of the release in the United States. Spoilers ahead as we do a full breakdown of the film, give our review, and of course, talk about the toys that support it!
See Godzilla Minus One in theaters and IMAX on December 1st!
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:04
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls. Along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
00:00:33
Speaker
toys on film. Hi, I did it a little different because Yeah, I was trying to think of a Duran Duran. Yeah, from
00:00:48
Speaker
Eventually, we have to increase the production value and get a parody cover of that done for this. We'll
Excitement for 'Godzilla Minus One' Screening
00:00:56
Speaker
workshop that in 2024. So we are back with another edition, our second edition. I'm not going to commit to numbering these because that's just not going to work over time. We're back with another edition of Toys on Film. And this is a special one.
00:01:17
Speaker
Because just last night, you're going to be hearing this like about a week, last week. Dave and I were invited back to the Japan Society for a special press screening of Godzilla minus one.
00:01:42
Speaker
You know that this is like I said gonna be a special edition of toys on film because you're gonna be hearing this and the movie is technically not Officially out in the United States yet as of as of of hearing this or wait or is it? No December 1st comes out officially December. It'll be coming out this coming weekend Yeah, so this yeah, yeah as usual as as we do Believe the first
00:02:08
Speaker
day is the 30 20 20th. Yeah. 30 days has September, April, June, and November. Yes. The 30th. Yeah. Yep. Thursday. I think special screenings. Some theaters are starting to screen it. Like some of the IMAX screens are starting as early as the 28th, but, um, which would be tomorrow, Tuesday, the 28th, but, um, yeah. So do we want to, before we jump in any further, do we want to give like a quick, like 62nd spoiler free, like,
00:02:36
Speaker
Just some things to expect in this film, some kind of reaction. Because
Themes and Tone of 'Godzilla Minus One'
00:02:40
Speaker
I know, as a parent, this is not a film that I would want to take my eight-year-old to. No, I could see Godzilla being quite terrifying in this. Yeah. So I think kind of just the long and short of, before we get into the spoiler territory, is this is a serious film. It's not funny. It's not campy. It's not...
00:03:07
Speaker
If anything, you could, you could almost put this into the category of historical fiction. Um, I would say it's almost like a, not a remake, not a re-imagining, but like a.
00:03:24
Speaker
I would actually go as far as to say that this is a reimagining of the original one. I mean... Yeah, I guess it would be more of a reimagining of the original 1954 movie. Yeah. But this is a... In the sense of, you know, this is what we can do with it now. Yeah. This is a serious post-World War II drama that features an antagonist that is a giant
00:03:51
Speaker
radioactive lizard monster dinosaur Godzilla is scary Godzilla is not by by any stretch of the imagination imagination is not a he is not our friend no he is not your friend you are not rooting for Godzilla I mean maybe you are but
00:04:10
Speaker
That's that's a whole whole other can of worms for you to unpack but um, no, he Godzilla is a monster The motivation is just destruction It is a wild animal in that in that regard It is it is brutal It is heavy There are a lot of very heavy themes like like PTSD and and yeah, it really delves more into the
00:04:42
Speaker
So I would say the things that existed but weren't really like topics in 1954. Yeah, there is still the whole geopolitical thing, which we- We'll get into. Yeah. We'll get into. We won't dive heavily into, I would imagine, but we'll get into it. But there is also
00:05:10
Speaker
as with more modern war films or films involving war, um, the human aspect of it and the, um, certainly the physical and emotional toll of it on not only the participants, but the, you know, civilian aspect of it. And, um, you know, I think
00:05:37
Speaker
Yes, some of the most fun Godzilla movies have been 90 minutes of kaiju hijinks, but I think the best Godzilla movies have been the ones that have discussed the human aspect of it or have gotten, you know, really it's, yes, this thing is going on, but here's the kind of literally ground level
00:06:06
Speaker
stakes that this has. And that's why I enjoy the original. That's why I enjoyed the first legendary one as more than the rest. That's why I enjoyed this one as much as I did. Yeah.
Praise for 'Godzilla Minus One'
00:06:20
Speaker
And I think that that about sums it up in terms of like the non-spoilery stuff. So that's your primer going into it. If you do not want to be spoiled, this is the moment now where you're going to want to
00:06:33
Speaker
Hit pause on this podcast and come back to us after you've seen the film because from now on Spoilers there we're gonna talk about stuff that happens in the movie. So as we did in the last episode of toys on film Let's start with just some kind of facts about the the movie Dave Why don't you why don't you run down some some some top line facts
Release Details of 'Godzilla Minus One'
00:06:53
Speaker
here? So Godzilla minus one It is of course a 2023 release and
00:07:01
Speaker
came out November 3rd in Japan. It is coming out December 1st here in the United States. Of note, November 3rd was the 69th anniversary of the 1954 Godzilla and Godzilla Day. And they're celebrating the 70th anniversary of Godzilla with this film. But that date is significant, that November 3rd date. Because it was the original film release. Yep.
00:07:32
Speaker
So far, the movie is 125 minutes long and it is a it is a swift 125 minutes. The movie has so far. And I don't think it includes this most recent weekend, but I don't think it has. Has made 19 million dollars, 2.85 billion yen on a budget of 15 million.
00:08:03
Speaker
U.S. dollars, so it is already well on its way to being a very profitable film. It was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, which he said that he wrote the script over the course of three years, and this is from Wikipedia, taking influence from the original 1954 Godzilla film and the 2001 Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah film.
00:08:33
Speaker
Uh, taking a look at the cast, uh, we've got, uh, we've got a pretty tight cast. There are a lot of, uh, you know, I don't know, supporting cast members, but we have kind of this core of, of seven, uh, seven actors. Um, we have. Reunosuke, uh, Kamiki in our, in our lead role as Koichi, you have, uh, Minami Hamabe as Noriko, uh, Yuki Yamada as Shiro.
00:09:02
Speaker
Munetaka Aoki as Mr. Tachibana, Hidetaka Yoshio-ka as Kenji, Sakura Ando as Sumiko, and Kuranosuki Sasaki as Yoji. So, yeah, really- And Kenji is, you'll know him in the film as Doc. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And just kind of of note,
00:09:32
Speaker
So, Reunosuke Kamiki, the star of the film, he has done a lot of work in some very familiar pieces, especially in the world of Studio Ghibli. He's in Your Name, he's in The Secret of Arrietty, he's in Spirited Away, he's in Summer Wars.
00:09:57
Speaker
He's also done just a ton of work. Japanese fans will definitely be familiar with, including Dora Mon as well. And then the main female actress, so Minami Himabe, she has done work for Shin Kamen Rider as well as Shin Chan.
00:10:27
Speaker
and some other, like I said, just heavy hitter in that tokusatsu and anime world. So it's a, one could say that it is a star-studded cast in that regard. But yeah, awesome cast.
Character Introduction: Koichi
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah, they put quite a team together for this. Should we get into the plot here a little bit? Yeah, let's do it.
00:10:52
Speaker
So as we mentioned at the top, this is a reimagining of sorts of that 1954 Godzilla. So we are back in the 40s at the start of the film. 1945. 1945, yeah. We're actually led into the film with the title card that says the final days of World War II. As we meet our star, Koichi, we very quickly learned that he is a kamikaze pilot.
00:11:22
Speaker
that has decided to abandon his mission. And for those who are not history buffs or have never heard the term kamikaze before, those were suicide missions where the plane was the weapon. So he has abandoned his duty and he heads to Odo Island under the pretense that there is something wrong with his plane where he meets
00:11:52
Speaker
It was a repair station. Yeah, repair station on Odo Island where he meets Tachibana, who is the head of, he's the head mechanic there. And we right out of the gate have our first meeting with Godzilla on the Island. The mechanics who are stationed on the Island are familiar with the locals who have told them the tale of Godzilla.
00:12:20
Speaker
And we also see visually, along with Godzilla, one of the things that you're going to see over and over in the film, one of the ways that they know Godzilla is coming because all of these like bloated, air-filled deep sea fish all kind of rise to the surface just from something that large coming out of the ocean. It brings up all these deep sea fish with it. And they're all floating in the wake of the ocean.
00:12:49
Speaker
And yeah, and that that kind of idea of pressure and yeah Yep, you know effectively giving things the bends. Yep Actors in later on. Yes, it does and We immediately see that this is this is not the Godzilla of recent years. This is a this is a monster it's Picking it's ripping people in half. It's tossing people
00:13:17
Speaker
with its mouth, it's crushing them with its feet, it's blowing things up. And I thought one of the cool special effects right out of the gate was you could see almost like the saliva or bile coming from Godzilla's mouth. Yeah. And if you've watched the trailer, too, at this point, you have this kind of visual indicator where it's like, huh, in the trailer, Godzilla looked a lot bigger.
00:13:46
Speaker
And that is going to be the case. So Godzilla is going to get larger as this, this film goes on. Um, so, but they, they still at the very beginning here, um, the theme throughout this, like, like we had mentioned, there are themes of PTSD and, and, you know, post, post-war depression. Um, Koichi has, is given kind of the, the role to hop back in his plane and, and fire upon Godzilla with the, the,
00:14:16
Speaker
the machine gun on the plane and he freezes, he can't do it. And Godzilla ends up killing all of the mechanics on the island with the exception of Koichi and the head mechanic.
00:14:32
Speaker
So we then are hit with a bunch of flash forwards as Koichi arrives back home in Tokyo. And Tokyo is destroyed from the World War II bombings, the air raids. He has lost his parents. You can see that the part of Tokyo that he lives in is absolutely decimated. A surviving neighbor.
00:14:56
Speaker
knows what his role was and immediately like shames him for being alive as you know she has lost her entire family to the same air raids.
00:15:06
Speaker
And then we continue with kind of this just depiction that's the humanity of what's happening post-world war two in Tokyo is As you see people just kind of cobbling their homes together from rubble going to you know Bread lines and soup lines in order to be you know to find food where we then meet
00:15:27
Speaker
we meet Noriko and the child that she's carrying, Akiko. She just kind of moves in with Koichi. There are, when I said that this movie was not funny, there are humorous elements to it, just kind of those little- Yeah, there are moments of levity. Yeah, those character interactions. And Noriko runs the full gamut.
00:15:55
Speaker
where she helps provide some of the more funny moments and some of the absolute most gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching moments in the film. But she moves in. You learn that Akiko is not her child. Her mother, the child's mother, begged her to take Akiko.
00:16:20
Speaker
when, you know, again, when these air raids were happening and, uh, and Noriko lost her entire family as well. So it's basically just three orphans at this point, you know, finding a life together. Um, you know, this is where you get into another theme. Really, I'll say two other themes, um, of the movie, which is the how precious life is and, um, the kind of importance of promise. Yeah.
00:16:48
Speaker
Yeah, like he could have very easily kicked out this woman and this child that's not even hers. And he actually says to her, what are you stupid for taking a kid in? You can barely take care of yourself. How are you taking care of a kid? And we then see another montage where a few years jump forward.
00:17:08
Speaker
before this, a very, and it's almost like this is, if I can have one minor thing, this almost comes across as too brief.
00:17:22
Speaker
but because it kind of like I had to put two and two together for it, but it's a little too, like it could have used a slight bit more explanation. So US nuclear testing causes a mutation of Godzilla. We don't know to what degree, but Godzilla is present during the nuclear tests.
00:17:49
Speaker
Oh yeah, you're right. There is that tiny little clip. And Godzilla is also, in response to the nuclear tests, destroys U.S. ships. Yeah, we do get a cut in with a newsreel. It's a brief montage. That's actually read in English, too. It's like that late 40s, early 50s. Well, it's read more as like
00:18:19
Speaker
It's more of like a military brief. Yeah, but it's shown in that kind of... It's quick cutting of documents and still photos and stuff like that. Almost a little too quick. And you also learn that with... To the point where you almost lost this. I actually did. You also learn that there's, you know, while the US and Japan are, you know, kind of...
00:18:46
Speaker
forming their relationship, reforming their relationship. There's also tensions building between the United States and the Soviets at that point. So they start to kind of set the political stage too of what's going on in that little clip. To the point where because of that, any maneuvers in the area would cause more tension. So the US cannot help.
00:19:07
Speaker
Yeah. And then we cut to Koichi letting Noriko know that he has found a job and it is back with the government. And at this point too, just Noriko does not know Koichi's past. She just knows that he came back from the war. She doesn't know the Kamikaze thing. He's having nightmares. He's not letting her into any of this. They are living
00:19:34
Speaker
They're raising this little girl together, but they are not together in a sense. They are not together.
00:19:43
Speaker
Basically we're roommates. So he gets a job with some other former military personnel, minesweeping. So it's a dangerous job, but it pays well. They're going out into the ocean in wooden boats, picking up magnetic, picking up and discharging magnetic mines.
00:20:05
Speaker
is the work, but he ends up meeting, who we'll refer to as Doc, Captain, and Kid on the boat. That's their nicknames for each other. He is hired because he was a former pilot. He has a great shot with a mounted machine gun, so as they pull the mines up, he's on the mounted gun and he's blowing them up.
00:20:31
Speaker
We then get another montage where now a key code is getting a little bit older he's making money he gets a motorcycle he builds a better house you know we're seeing kind of all this develop pretty quickly here and then they then get sent out on a mission where they are there near a very destroyed us military.
00:20:50
Speaker
The original one, the one that they initially spoke of. Yeah. And Koichi now knows what's up. He knows that this could only be Godzilla.
00:21:04
Speaker
And everyone's like, what are you talking about? Yeah, they don't believe them. And if they do, they're like, don't worry. This other warship is coming in. We're just stalling for time. Somebody's
Godzilla's Attack on Minesweeping Operation
00:21:17
Speaker
got to just kind of- The best warship in the- In the fleet. In the fleet. And basically, the political aspect of this too is post-World War II,
00:21:27
Speaker
the Axis powers were basically ordered by the United Nations to decommission the majority of their weapons. And so everything they have is still usable with the permission of the UN? Yes. So they've gotten special permission in order to utilize some of these vessels that were supposed to be decommissioned.
00:21:51
Speaker
Because of course, as always, the government knows what Godzilla is, but they refuse to tell the people. And they actually make jokes several times, the characters that like, you know, Japan... Of course the government would do this. Japan excels at lying to its people and hiding the truth and everything. Because again, you know, going back to those post-war themes. But here we now were reintroduced to Godzilla
00:22:16
Speaker
They're there to stall for the ship, and there's two boats doing the minesweeping operation. Godzilla shows up and just destroys the first boat, sight unseen, and everyone's like, pardon me, everyone on the ship is like, uh-oh, yeah, this is very real. So they come up with the idea of they've been saving mines. The government was like, use the mines on the creature.
00:22:43
Speaker
Now, while they're literally sprinting, because at first they're like, yeah, we'll stay and fight. No, we'll not. No, we're not. Like, we're going. As this is happening, this is where I drew some allusions to like Jaws, it being like the we're going to need a bigger boat type thing. Oh, yeah. You know, four guys on a boat just.
00:23:05
Speaker
talking about life and- In over their heads. In over their heads with a giant creature, which I loved. I loved that you could draw influence from a lot of historical film and it's not done in a
00:23:24
Speaker
you know, rip off or anything like that way. It's done in a very kind of referential way. Yeah. Which I think is great. I love when that happens. They're great beats to use. I mean, we were on the edges of our seat during this whole part. So this led to two of my favorite moments while watching the movie. Because when you're everybody seeing the movie for the first time, for the most part, I would imagine in that room,
00:23:51
Speaker
You know, the full theater response is the best. The first mind does nothing, it bounces off Godzilla's skin and blows up and nothing happens. He comes back. There's a lot of those, did it work moments? And then he just shows through and is like angrier. So then Doc goes, well, let's try to get one in its mouth.
00:24:17
Speaker
And so get one in his mouth, Koichi shoots it and it blows off half of Godzilla's face. And they're like, we did it. It's gruesome. And all of a sudden you just start to see him Wolverine back up like he regenerates. And the crowd goes, Oh, which was one of the best crowd moments until about five minutes after this when
00:24:44
Speaker
the aircraft carrier comes for Godzilla and they just start unloading on it. And it's seemingly working. I mean, like it's seemingly working. It's taking them out. Like it's taken chunks of them off. And Godzilla just floats below the surface. You just start to see like a blue glow come from underneath the water and the ship just explodes.
00:25:09
Speaker
And it just was like a from the crowd, like. And and then and then and then you just see the other the other moment that's cool about this, too, is where you see that you see that the blue explosion, it fires straight up in the air through the through the ship into the sky. And then you see Godzilla in the wreckage and you could see Godzilla is a little worse for wear, like he's a little messed up. He's he's still kind of glowing blue. He almost looks like craggly.
00:25:37
Speaker
And he goes back underwater and swims away and leaves the wreckage. Meanwhile, our ship and our heroes of the story, their ship is completely like trash. They can't sail away. So it fades to black and we find out that they get air lifted. They were also injured from the explosions. Yeah, because it happened pretty close to them. So now somebody, the kid broke his arm and
00:26:03
Speaker
Shikishima Koichi has like a head injury. He was bleeding from the head. So skipping a little bit forward, we're going to skip over a couple things here, but they get airlifted out. He goes back home, finds out that
00:26:23
Speaker
that Minami, or I'm sorry, Noriko, has gotten a job of her own in Ginza. She's kind of tired of waiting around for him to kind of make a move. She wants to start to kind of get back on her own feet. Their neighbor is watching Akiko while they're both at work. Yes, Imiko, I believe, is her name. Yeah.
00:26:51
Speaker
So, and he's just kind of not willing to kind of make any sort of move or commitment yet either, because you'll find out that to him, his war has not ended yet. He didn't do right by the mechanics that he left on the island. He didn't do right by his country. He has a lot of survivor's guilt, a lot of PTSD, and his war is now with Godzilla.
00:27:19
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:28:08
Speaker
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00:28:39
Speaker
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and use the code AICPOD12 to get 12% off your order and free two-day shipping. Shop today to get the best deal ever. And now back to the ship. All right, so next up, we find out that Godzilla has made his first landfall in mainland Japan. And wouldn't you know it, it just so happens to be in the city.
00:30:37
Speaker
that poor Noriko is working in. It's Ginza. And not poor Noriko. Why poor Noriko? She's on her own in 1940s Japan getting a job. Or in 1940s world. Poor Noriko. We know what's about to happen to her, poor Noriko.
00:30:58
Speaker
Um, she's about to get dangled from a trolley car. Uh, so yeah, so Godzilla makes his, its, its first mainland Japan, uh, uh, appearance here. And Dave alluded to this before, but we get to see the other, that other moment. One of, one of those theater moments, which I think they showed in the trailer. Yeah. They, they showed in the full trailer, but we get to see the full effect of, of this version of Godzilla's atomic breath. Um, these, uh, is, um,
00:31:26
Speaker
we'll say like tailbone just expands, turns blue, and he unleashes nuclear havoc from his mouth. Yeah, I mean, this is the first time that like, it's been called atomic breath, you know, since the very beginning. Shoot looked like fallout. Yeah, this is what you've been told fallout looks like, because none of us who are listening to this know what fallout looks like. And
00:31:51
Speaker
Uh, in, in, in a last moment, as Godzilla is about to unleash this or as he's unleashing this, um, Noriko shoves Koichi into a, after she's been through an ordeal, she's been her trolley car gets picked up. She gets dropped into the, the, you know, our, uh, an inlet. She swims to safety. She runs for her life. She runs into Koichi. Um, looking for him looking for her after hearing that, that, that, uh, that, uh, it was, they were under attack.
00:32:20
Speaker
And she shoves him into an alleyway and bye-bye Noriko. She gets caught up in the kind of nuclear atomic wind from the shockwaves of the explosion and she is gone. And once again, Koichi is left with just survivors, grief, guilt as he watches and we see the scope of the damage that Godzilla has done.
00:32:50
Speaker
And, you know, we, we pan up to Godzilla, just kind of looking over, you know, the destruction and just walking away and it starts to rain ash. And, you know, the, the atmosphere is all, you know, out of whack because of the, the mushroom cloud. And, you know, again, like in, when this movie came out in 1954.
00:33:12
Speaker
it was very real that like Japan was still recovering from World War II and this really like is for me him on his knees screaming at like the nuclear you know rain that's coming out of the sky and the full destruction really kind of puts you makes you feel so tight being effectively solitary in this area he's literally just lost like all that's left yeah and um you know he he clearly you know
00:33:43
Speaker
makes it his point moving forward that like he's going to do he is going to move heaven and earth and uh do whatever he can to stop godzilla um and and godzilla's destruction is very you know um you know you look at when he first came home like the the the gravity of it is similar to the you know atomic bombs dropped by you know the u.s military like it's it's all on par like
00:34:11
Speaker
Yeah, and it has equally as devastating. And it's just that they really convey that feeling of devastation in this in a way that you can only honestly that you can only understand by watching the movie. Unless, you know, it's just I was I was completely blown away by this part because again, just this this is the first time I really feel like a Godzilla movie has nailed that scope of just absolute devastation.
00:34:39
Speaker
So they have the funeral. We see kind of like the repass of Noriko as people are leaving their house.
00:34:54
Speaker
And this is where we find out that Doc is an ex-Navy engineer scientist and along with some other ex-Naval leaders and a kind of a bastion of civilians and former service people.
00:35:16
Speaker
Um,
Civilian Plan to Defeat Godzilla
00:35:17
Speaker
they are putting together a civilian effort, uh, to stop Godzilla. And again, it can't be, it's not allowed to be official. Yep. It's not allowed to be official. And they, they can not allowed to be official, official, but it's being encouraged. Yes. And as we mentioned before, the United States is unable to help because any movement in that part of the world, uh, with, with military vessels, um, runs the risk of.
00:35:43
Speaker
of, uh, was in war with, with the Soviet Union. Yeah. So they, we then have the awesome, um, briefing, uh, scene where we see this is really cool. Doc has his moment. So we had the, the, the oxygen bomb in, uh, in the original Godzilla. And here, uh, we have, uh, uh, uh, I guess you could say a Freon belt. Um, it was like effectively a Freon belt. They've developed a Freon belt and they, they show a little,
00:36:13
Speaker
you know, scale model of how, you know, in saltwater, when you surround something with, with Freon tanks and, and let them bubble, it will sink whatever is attached to it rapidly. And they find a part of, of the, uh, the ocean, uh, Bay that is very, very deep.
00:36:30
Speaker
And the goal is to take these two vessels and almost a la AT-AT and Empire Strikes Back, wrap Godzilla in cable that has these Freon bombs, Freon tanks strapped to them and detonate them and sink him to the bottom of the ocean and hope that the severe pressure will crush him.
00:36:59
Speaker
but there is a plan B if that does not work because they know he comes from from the bottom of the ocean and this is what Dave alluded to earlier when he said the bends they hired a Japanese balloon company that makes a
00:37:14
Speaker
Parachutes and and and crash pads to basically make a giant co2 filled crash pad that they can detonate and expand and then Rapidly rise him to the surface So if the if the see the rapid sinking does not kill him The hope is that the rapid rising will give will give Godzilla the bends and you know Basically, they understand that basically explode him internally. Yeah, they they know that he can heal and
00:37:40
Speaker
So the idea is to cause as much damage to him as humanly possible, as quickly as possible, in hopes that he can't recover from it. Or at the very least weaken him so that way they can fire upon him. This is their only plan. This is the only thing that they think will work. So along with the plan, so that they got to get him into the bay somehow. We've talked about the belt, we've talked about the Freon belt and the
00:38:07
Speaker
the platform so they have an auto a water acoustic speaker that they're going to play Godzilla noises to lead him into the bay Koichi says get me a plane I can I can help so they find him a prototype
00:38:26
Speaker
plane that never actually saw any wartime, but it was kind of hidden away in a hangar somewhere, but it is not ready for flight. So Koichi then goes on a little bit of a journey to find the head mechanic, his co-survivor from Odo Island, which he is able to find.
00:38:51
Speaker
He agrees after some convincing that he will fix the plane and get it ready for flight. Now what Doc does not know is that Koichi has also convinced Tachibana to turn the plane into a Kamikaze plane. So massive bomb. He's taken out fuel cells and replaced them with bombs. Again, Doc does not know this. He thinks that
00:39:17
Speaker
He's just going to lead Godzilla out into the, into the ocean. And, um, you know, basically Koichi knows that with this plane, if he can fly it into Godzilla's mouth, there's enough explosives in there to, to, to basically decapitate, um, Godzilla. So the night before they get, um, they're, they're going over the plan and they tell the youngest member of the crew, don't come. Even the fact that you weren't unable to serve initially.
00:39:47
Speaker
Um, is a good thing. You know, you don't need this burden on you and they tell him to stay home. He's upset about it. Um, kind of long story short there. Yeah. So we get to the next day where we're out on the mission. However, Godzilla kind of as, as Godzilla tends to do, he does not go according to plan and makes landfall heading towards heading towards land and he's, he's on land. So, um,
00:40:14
Speaker
Koichi has to take off, he has to fly, and he draws Godzilla away from... Away from Tokyo? Yeah, from Tokyo, he's heading right towards Tokyo. Away from land and back into the bay. And then the boats start to go full-on, like, at-at.
00:40:36
Speaker
And they successfully wrapped Godzilla with the Freon belt. Yep. And they activate it. They sink him. And meanwhile, he's got his atomic breath charged. He's ready to rip on this. And they sink him before he can- Just in time. Yeah, just in time. And it deactivates the injury, deactivates him, but does not kill him. Yeah. So they say, all right, bring him up.
00:41:03
Speaker
So they inflate. They start to bring him up and he makes it about halfway before he eats through the cable. And they try to use the ships to pull Godzilla to the surface of the water, but they are unable to because he is so massive. So the kid got all of the tugboats together, all of the civilian fishermen to come help. And
00:41:31
Speaker
They are able to bring Godzilla to the surface. He is not dead, but he is... He's real messed up. Very beat up and very angry. Yeah. And we can see, you know, alluded to earlier, when he uses the atomic breath, he kind of gets this like, you can almost see the blue atomic like light poking through his skin at points. Now it's like he looks like a piece of shattered glass.
00:41:56
Speaker
Like he's ready to crumble. But he's charging up, ready to unleash that atomic breath. And they realize that they messed up. They weren't able to do this.
Koichi's Sacrifice and Victory
00:42:09
Speaker
It's over. Then you start to see everybody look to the sky as we see Koichi making a B-line with his bomber right towards Godzilla's open mouth as he's charged up with this energy.
00:42:24
Speaker
And right as he is about to crash into Godzilla's mouth, he pulls the ejector seat and the plane... That was installed purposely by... Tachibana. Tachibana to tell him, you've made it up to everyone.
00:42:43
Speaker
You're ready to do this. Yeah, you can do that. You can live. You can do this and live. And he ejects from the plane. The plane lodges itself in Godzilla's mouth. And while he is still charged with that atomic breath, the plane explodes. And Godzilla's head explodes along with it. And he crumbles into the sea. The pieces of Godzilla crumble apart. The atomic energy goes out. Game over. Godzilla has been defeated.
00:43:12
Speaker
Um, everybody comes back to land celebratory and wouldn't, you know, it waiting for him on shore with his, uh, his daughter is, uh, is his, his neighbor, Sumiko. And she's got a, uh, she's got a telegram in hand and that telegram, uh, he, uh, Koichi reads it and we cut to Koichi and Akiko running into a hospital.
00:43:36
Speaker
And Noriko has survived her ordeal, and she has been healing in a hospital bed, unable to reach anybody until kind of this moment. And the film ends with her asking Koichi, has your war ended? And weeping in her lap, he says, yes, roll credits. That's Godzilla minus one. Well, before we roll credits,
00:44:07
Speaker
At the bottom of the ocean, we see a big hunk of Godzilla starting to regenerate. As the classic like Jason Voorhees in the bottom of Crystal Lake. Yeah, so more to come from Toho. And the use of the original theme was great too. Yeah, the score for this is phenomenal.
00:44:32
Speaker
Across the board the new piece is phenomenal. You can you can listen to it on all your preferred music Services, but but both of those original themes. I think they're actually called theme one and theme two Are I believe they're the sweet or the sweet? Yeah, sweet one and sweet two are are amazing Yeah, great great use of the original music in there too. So but yeah, so that that takes us through Godzilla minus one. Um
00:45:02
Speaker
So my initial reaction, I've had some time to sleep on it after seeing it. I would go as far as to say that this is the best Godzilla film, best. Like I said, just in terms of how it handles all of these very complex themes, the animation on Godzilla, Godzilla has never been more terrifying.
00:45:26
Speaker
than in this film. When you told me that it was a $15 million budget, I thought you had forgotten a zero. It's incredible what they managed to do on this budget, both in the open ocean stuff, the stuff that's happening on land, Godzilla itself.
00:45:48
Speaker
it plays really well. They did a fantastic job with that. And the acting was just unbelievable. Like the interactions, the small interactions between the characters go ranging from, you know, the kind of like war room, you know, briefing scenes to stuff that really was more akin to, you know, jaws, you know, just like three or four guys on a boat, you know, talking about, you know, their past and, you know, dealing with this thing with their way in over their head, you know, that it's just,
00:46:18
Speaker
Nothing was super over the top. It was really, really well done in my book. What's your take, Dave? Yeah, it was so, so, so good. It was just, yeah, it's absolutely, I think, the best Godzilla film.
00:46:44
Speaker
whether you're going, combining all of them or, you know, just the Japanese ones, but it is the best Godzilla movie since the first, I feel. Yeah. And. Yeah, and so far, like, if you look at reviews of it, it is probably the best reviewed. And I know Shin Godzilla was well reviewed, too, so it's it's up there with with them, if not better. And it is it is just
00:47:14
Speaker
It's a fantastic movie. I would like to go see it again in IMAX. Yeah. So, you know, we saw it on a, I don't want to say it was still a movie theater screen, but the screening room at the Japan Society is a more intimate experience. It's a more intimate theater.
00:47:31
Speaker
Great sound in there. Smaller screen than an IMAX, of course. But yeah, this is something that, like, the largeness of it, I think, will play really well on an IMAX screen. I would be, again, I'd be curious to see it again there. Yeah, I know, like, saying you owe it to yourself to go see this in a theater has become hyperbole because of, like,
00:47:59
Speaker
you know, the fact that studios now want you to go see movies in a theater. Yeah. But this is, this is a, this is a definitely if, if you can make it, if it's safe for you to go, if you are able to go, um, well worth your time and effort to go see this on, on a screen and with a crowd. So before we get into the toys, um, I think, I think we've made it kind of obvious at this point,
Godzilla Merchandise Discussion
00:48:24
Speaker
but like, uh, Dave, do you recommend that, uh, that people should go see this movie?
00:48:30
Speaker
Yes, I I also I second that so this is getting this is getting the AIC two thumbs up from both of us. Go see this now toys toys toys toys. This this movie is not, you know,
00:48:46
Speaker
We've got one monster. The most toyetic thing about this movie is Godzilla. Godzilla is, I don't see them making action figures or anything of the people. And Bandai has already shown off.
00:49:02
Speaker
the SH Monster Arts Godzilla minus one figure. We saw it in person at New York Comic Con. We also saw it in person at Toy Fair and it's been on display at Tamashi Nations at the event that just happened in Japan. But along with the SH Monster Arts there is going to be a slightly larger format statue that's made by Bandai and Tamashi Nations and then of course
00:49:28
Speaker
the, um, the more kind of like vinyl, uh, classic minimal articulation, uh, Godzilla minus one as well. Now in, you know, in true fashion to, you know, action figure and collectibles, I would love to see. Especially like, you know, like a battle damaged Godzilla from this movie. Yeah. Or the blue. Yeah. Or one that, that has kind of the blue glow to it.
00:49:54
Speaker
I mean, those variations would work very well. They'd make very, very good toys. Um, but yeah, Godzilla minus one, uh, the, the SH monster, it's from Bondi already. And it looks as enormous as you would expect. Yeah. Um, already up for pre-order. So
00:50:13
Speaker
says due February yeah yeah it's coming soon I mean and and some of those the more simple like vinyl ones are already available I know you know they're there in in people's hands in Japan already so yeah and and don't forget to that playmates toys does have a license with Toho they are making Toho related
00:50:33
Speaker
Figures, you know again at like that lower price point And some of those are really good. Yeah detail on them are fantastic a lot I think like and you know, this is unrelated to the current movie but I think one of the coolest moments that I've seen was like a little kid just pick those up with two of them up and ask his mom if he can get both like She was like, okay, you can get both
00:50:57
Speaker
And he was like super jazzed about the Godzilla figures. And those are great because they're just like chunky, you know, again, minimal articulation, but that means less things to break. But they're also like very God, you know what I mean? Like they're not like. Weird action figure, a Godzilla like their Godzilla. Yeah, yeah, it should. They they look they look great. So, you know, there are options out there to.
00:51:23
Speaker
to get your, your Godzilla minus one fix. Um, it's, it's been a great year for honestly, for, for Godzilla fans. Um, whether it's what our friend of the pod Kyle is doing over at super seven, the steady stream of, uh, S H monster arts figures, like we mentioned playmates and then just the, the content. So the, the Monarch series on, on, uh, Apple TV plus.
00:51:51
Speaker
that just launched, we've got the, you know, obviously Godzilla minus one. It's just been, it's been a great year for, uh, for the King of Monsters. So, uh, I think, uh, I think Godzilla versus Kong two is due out this year too. We got that coming to our next year. So soon, soon. So we'll continue. It's almost 2020. We'll continue the, uh, the, the kaiju journey then. Um, yeah. So, I mean, no other closing thoughts from me on the movie. Uh, you know,
00:52:21
Speaker
I think, I think it was great. I think you should go see it comes out December 1st. Um, Dave, any, anything to kind of send everybody home with? Oh, shout outs to, um, the Japan society. Yes. For, for having us as part of it. And, uh, and if you're into Japanese cinema, you should definitely, and you're, you're on in the tri-state area, East coast.
00:52:47
Speaker
in the New York City area. Check out their programming because they have a lot of really cool screenings coming up. So yeah, I guess with that, that's all she wrote. Until next time, Dave, send us home. Bye, everyone.
00:53:08
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:53:25
Speaker
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00:53:49
Speaker
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