Godzilla Minus One: Imperial Japan’s War Crimes

Many intelligent critics have hailed the Japanese film Godzilla Minus One for offering more than the campy fun you would expect from a movie featuring the giant lizard. They have found in it a humanity and depth of characterization lacking in earlier outings of the long-running franchise.

I do not entirely agree with writers, including some for this publication, who have praised the film as one of the best of the year. In the end, I found it to be competent but largely forgettable. The climax of the movie, during which a fishing fleet goes out to trap the giant creature so that a bold kamikaze pilot can fly straight into its mouth, plays like a remake of Jaws that fulfills one of the most famous lines in movie history — “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” — and the good guys finally get that bigger vessel, a plethora of them, in fact, and put them to deadly use.

About the Author

Michael Washburn

Michael Washburn is a New York-based novelist and short story writer. His most recent book is Infinite Desert.

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Many intelligent critics have hailed the Japanese film Godzilla Minus One for offering more than the campy fun you would expect from a movie featuring the giant lizard. They have found in it a humanity and depth of characterization lacking in earlier outings of the long-running franchise.

I do not entirely agree with writers, including some for this publication, who have praised the film as one of the best of the year. In the end, I found it to be competent but largely forgettable. The climax of the movie, during which a fishing fleet goes out to trap the giant creature so that a bold kamikaze pilot can fly straight into its mouth, plays like a remake of Jaws that fulfills one of the most famous lines in movie history — “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” — and the good guys finally get that bigger vessel, a plethora of them, in fact, and put them to deadly use.