Summary
With all the variations of Godzilla that exist in the franchise,Godzilla Minus Onehad a lot of options to choose from when it came to the inspiration for its monster design. Godzilla’s 70 years of cinematic history received a brand-new chapter with the release ofGodzilla Minus One, Toho’s first installment in the series since 2016’sShin Godzilla. Like the film before it, it offers a few new ideas to the franchise, such as the upgrade it made toGodzilla’s atomic breath, but it also draws a great deal from the King of the Monsters' past.
Godzilla Minus Oneis rightfully packed with tributes toclassic Godzilla movies. Scenes in the movie pay homage to the 1954 original,Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah,Return of Godzilla,Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, and more. As for Godzilla himself, the movie’s interpretation of the creature honors two specific incarnations of the Japanese pop culture icon.
Godzilla Minus One’s Title Explained: Why The Godzilla Movie Is Called That
The newest movie including the iconic Kaiju - Godzilla Minus One - has an interesting title that holds a deeper meaning within the film’s story.
The Primary Inspiration For Minus One’s Godzilla Is The 1954 Version
Minus One’s Godzilla Has A Lot In Common With The Original
Out of all theversions of Godzillain the franchise,none had a greater influence onGodzilla Minus Onethan the 1954 classic.That’s not surprising, considering that it’s the film that created the underlying concept in the first place. Since 1954, Godzilla has evolved considerably, becoming the defender of Japan and also an anti-hero seen as the lesser of two evils when another monster is around. Ignoring all of these changes,Godzilla Minus Onegoes back to basics with the character, reverting him back to the straightforward villain he was in 1954.
Not only that, butGodzilla Minus Onealso restored the King of the Monsters to his original size. After introducing Godzilla as a 164-foot-tall monster, Toho maintained that size for years, but doubled it in the 1990s. Most versions have been similarly massive, includingShin Godzilla’s, which was the tallest live-action version to date.Godzilla Minus One, on the other hand, turned back the page, making his 164-foot-tall stature one of the biggest callbacks to the 1954 movie.
Admittedly, multiple elements of his design inGodzilla Minus Oneare shared by other versions of Godzilla, but several can be credited first to the 1954 movie. WhereasShin Godzillareimagined the kaiju,Godzilla Minus Oneprovided a more familiar take on the creature that’s not that different aesthetically from the 1954 monster. Their dorsal fins, body structures, and halting way of walking are all very similar.
Godzilla Minus One Also Borrows Heavily From The 1990s Movies
Godzilla Has Two Major Similarities To The Heisei Version
A few characteristics boasted by Godzilla in the 2023 film can’t be attributed to the original. Among these is the way his dorsal fins light up blue when he’s charging up his atomic breath. This aspect of his design, which has since been borrowed by other iterations of Godzilla (including the Monsterverse’s), originated with the Heisei era Godzilla. Presumably due to the gradual improvement of visual effects, Toho made this aesthetic upgrade toGodzilla’s powersin the 1990s.
Though not as significant as some of the other details in Godzilla’s design, Minus One’s Godzilla has extremely large thighs, one of the distinguishing physical traits of the 1990s Godzilla.
Arguablythe biggest connection betweenGodzilla Minus Oneand the Heisei era Godzilla is the kaiju’s healing abilities. This too wasn’t an ability Godzilla was explicitly stated to have in the 1954 movie or the Showa years; this concept stems from 1989’sGodzilla vs. Biollante, which established key details about Godzilla’s anatomy. Apparently, Godzilla possesses “G-Cells,” which allow him to regenerate rapidly. The G-Cell idea wound up becoming a key plot point in the series, and was carried over to the Millennium series, as evidenced by the story of 2001’sGodzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.
Not unlike the 2001 film and the Heisei series,Godzilla Minus Onemakes the kaiju’s regenerative abilities one of the human characters' biggest hurdles. Sincethis Godzilla is physically weaker than most versionsof the monster, there’s a sense that they’d have been able to beat him much more easily if it wasn’t for his healing powers. They hurt him repeatedly, but the speed in which he recovered made most of their efforts to defeat him ineffective.
