Takashi Yamazaki’s 2023 Godzilla Minus One was a chilling, emotionally charged new beginning for cinema’s iconic King of the Monsters – arguably the character’s best cinematic outing to date. So, the director’s follow-up came with some massive footprints to fill, both in terms of continuing the stirring post-World War II story of the first film and also with giving ol’ Godzilla more to smash, demolish and blow up. The also excellent and surprisingly touching Godzilla Minus Zero ably balances spectacle and heartache as the characters from the first film continue sorting through the figurative and literal wreckage of their lives, though I sometimes felt like this movie should have been called Godzilla Minus Godzilla.
Picking up in 1949, two years after the first film, Godzilla Minus Zero introduces a new threat in the form of Ghidorah, a flying, golden dragon-like creature that spews electricity and can level entire city blocks in seconds. Initially single-headed, he evolves into the three-headed King Ghidorah. As this creature ravages Japan, a regenerated Godzilla re-emerges, and it’s up to the humans to figure out how to orchestrate a death match between these monsters so they can destroy whoever is left standing.
What’s most remarkable about this film is how it creates a level of scale and destruction that, to my eye, rivals much more expensive Hollywood blockbusters. The Associated Press reports that its budget was less than $20 million. Yamazaki’s creatures look and sound terrifying in ways that American Godzilla films like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire can’t match. Speaking of sound, this might be one of the loudest movies I have ever seen, so if you’re sensitive to loud noises, you might want to bring earplugs if you’re planning on seeing this in IMAX or other premium formats.
I mentioned earlier that Godzilla is missing throughout most of the film. Make no mistake, this is King Ghidora’s movie, with Godzilla serving as the de facto hero of the piece in the third act as humanity’s last hope in defeating him. I think I was ultimately happy with the big guy’s screen time in this film, but I did find myself wondering where he was during much of the second act.
Then again, most of the film’s most gripping scenes didn’t involve giant monsters at all. The continuing story of Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe) and their adopted daughter Akiko (Sae Nagatani) got me misty several times during the film, as Noriko’s encounter with Godzilla in the last film leaves her with some unusual side effects that force her and Kōichi back into harm’s way. I will never hear or say “have a safe trip” the same way again. Powerful stuff.
Although I would have liked to see a bit more of the title character, Godzilla Minus Zero is an incredible cinematic achievement that lives up to the first film. Yamazaki isn’t quite sure that he’ll be back for a third film, but I’ll gladly take five more of these, if that’s not too much to ask.
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