If there’s one thing we know about Godzilla, it’s that he’s a force of nature. Commonly likened to acts of god such as hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters, the kaiju also shares something else in common with these examples: nothing built by mankind can hope to survive his onslaught for very long. When Godzilla makes landfall on Tokyo later in “Minus One,” fans were likely thrilled and delighted by the fact that director Takashi Yamazaki made his most overt reference yet to the 1954 movie.
In the original, Godzilla similarly attacks Shinagawa and all but levels the entire city. During the sequence, he makes mincemeat of a nearby trainyard, demolishes entire skyscrapers, and even finds the time to terrorize a small contingent of newscasters breathlessly reporting on the unprecedented destruction. Wouldn’t you know it, but the kaiju follows a very similar path in “Minus One” — from setting his sights on a passing train (with main character Noriko on board, played by Minami Hamabe) to the conspicuous inclusion of another group of reporters caught directly in harm’s way (and who meet an equally tragic end). It’s safe to say that nothing about this nearly shot-by-shot recreation was coincidental.
Of course, this is also accompanied by the same use of the main theme from the original “Godzilla” — yet another loving callback, even in the midst of rampant collateral damage.