Godzilla Minus Zero: The Awaited Sequel

“Godzilla Minus Zero is a masterful piece of cinema, with great effects, great performances, and a terrific follow-up to the original movie. The Zilla is back!”

Godzilla Minus Zero is the long-awaited follow-up to Godzilla Minus One. It is the 39th film in the Godzilla franchise, the 34th film thereof produced by Toho, and the sixth installment in the franchise’s Reiwa era. Takashi Yamazaki once again wrote, directed, and handled the visual effects. In the film, a new threat appears, causing Godzilla to emerge from the depths and to take it on. But can the film match or even surpass its predecessor, or should Godzilla have remained in the depths?

THE PREMISE

War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus. Two years have passed since then, and the country has struggled to recover and finally reclaim daily life. Just as humanity clings to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here.

REVIEW

Godzilla fans and fans of the original movie, fear not. The film is a triumph from start to finish. Although slightly inferior to the first film, it effortlessly continues the themes, threads, and the high emotion established. With the return of Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Yuki Yamada, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Sakura Ando, and Miou Tanaka, the new Kaiju smackdown again smashes Japan and the audience’s expectations. The reemergence of Godzilla, seen in the trailers, is magnificent, sending a genuine thrill and chill down the spine. With his classic roar and familiar theme tune blasting from the cinema’s speakers, fans and the audience in general will experience thrills, emotion, and a general feeling of euphoria when the king of the monsters makes his first appearance. With some grisly and disturbing scenes thrown in, the film earns its R-rating (UK:15), a first for the franchise.

A NEW THREAT

The opening introduces a new threat to Japan’s citizens. The trailer hints at the character, then reveals it. If you want to see the film clean, stop reading now. For everyone else, yeah, he’s reared his three heads once again. And he’s taking no prisoners, or allowing anyone to walk away. Of course, it’s King Ghidorah, possibly the biggest threat Godzilla has ever faced during his 72-year history. Seeing Ghidorah return to take on Godzilla again is thrilling, exciting, and highly entertaining. As the film opens, we get to see his raw power unleashed to the full.

People die horribly, their bodies lying smoking and charred in the streets, showing (possibly) for the first time the true effects of his power and the aftermath of his attacks. This isn’t the Hollywood version from Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. That version was a pussycat compared to what we see here. This version is the ultimate nightmare, the truly mighty villain that has no compassion or fear when taking on Godzilla. He is truly fearsome, making him the ideal adversary for Godzilla.

RETURN OF THE KING

With the emergence of Ghidorah, the world needs something to take him on. But how do you do that when you destroyed the perfect weapon in the climax of the first film? We all know Godzilla isn’t really dead; he is seen regenerating at the end of the original film. But the main human characters don’t know that. Or do they? And if they do, how do they go about getting him to rise from the depths and become an ally to them, getting him to be the defense they so desperately need? To be honest, who really cares? All we want is for him to be back, and he is, in a superb way. From the minute he rises from the depths, breaking the surface of the sea and roaring, the king has returned to take on the pretender to his throne. And he doesn’t disappoint.

Following on from his epic first appearance in the original film, Godzilla is who and what we’ve come to see. In a reversal of the first film, Godzilla isn’t a threat to humanity this time; he is its savior. That isn’t to say he doesn’t resent his treatment, but that hardly matters. All we know is he’s back, larger than life, still scary (in a good way), and has us cheering. With a shot of him walking past the Statue Of Liberty causing us to gasp, we cling to the arms of our seats, just waiting for his spinal plates to burst from his back, turn blue, and prepare for him to blast us with his atomic breath.

FAMILY MATTERS

The main crux of the story, and the film in general, is the family dynamic between Ryunosuke Kamiki as Kōichi Shikishima, Minami Hamabe as Noriko Shikishima, and Sae Nagatani as Akiko, Noriko and Kōichi’s adopted daughter. The story and bond between the three of them have grown much stronger than in the last film, making the non-Kaiju scenes an emotional rollercoaster. Noriko has an eyepatch over her damaged eye, sustained during Godzilla’s first atomic breath blast in the first film. With Noriko and Kōichi doing their utmost best for their adopted daughter, the last thing they want or need is to be dragged back into another Kaiju emergence and problem.

But Kōichi must return to the fight, to offer advice at first, before becoming a part of the team tasked with bringing Godzilla back from his watery resting place and into the fight against Ghidorah. But more is at stake than we realize. The survivors of Godzilla’s first atomic blast are dying, and Noriko is one of them. Already thinking she’s on borrowed time, Noriko’s well-being and life drive Kōichi’s reluctance to hang around. All he wants to do is to offer his advice and then return home to Noriko and Akiko.

AN EMOTIONAL EDGE

This plot thread drives the film forward with an emotional edge that we wouldn’t expect. The family dynamic is the heart of the story here, giving the film a heartwarming tone at times that perfectly offsets the monster drama. However, a mid-movie plot twist involving Noriko becomes vital as the story moves toward the inevitable final showdown between the Kaiju. With Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda once again inserting himself into the family situation, bringing a calming and almost fatherly presence to the trio, the emotion ramps up. We watch in fear and anticipation as the story plays out.

Will Noriko also die, like almost all of the survivors before her? If so, how will Kōichi react? How will Akiko react if her adopted mother passes away? With both her and Kōichi having to leave her at the orphanage while they head into the fight, Akiko is too young to understand what is going on. This human story again is the perfect foil, driving the narrative forward while holding an emotional sword over our heads, ready to fall at any time.

MONSTER WEATHER

With Ghidorah moving through Japan and destroying everything in his wake, the weather is displayed as prominently as in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. While that isn’t a bad thing, it unfortunately feels like we’ve seen this all before. While Godzilla Minus Zero tells the story much better, giving us an almost perfect and proper version of the material, it still feels like we are watching a recreation. But when Ghidorah hides behind the weather, seen only in silhouette against flashes of lightning, it sends a genuine shiver of fear down our spines. We know he’s creating the problem, bringing fear and panic to the humans he is terrorizing and killing indiscriminately.

The image lingers long after the film ends and we make our way home. It is the perfect way to mask the creature: a shadowy presence, waiting to emerge and create destruction and carnage. This adds yet another layer of fear to a film that has us biting our nails down to the quick for almost the entire runtime. It also serves to hide Godzilla near the climax; his emergence is not only thrilling, but shows us he has been waiting for his opponent, stalking him with his own weapon.

VERDICT

Overall, Takashi Yamazaki’s GODZILLA MINUS ZERO is another masterful triumph of cinema. With another powerful, resonant, gripping story and jaw-dropping special effects, it’s an absolute joy from start to finish. A step down from Minus One, but still INCREDIBLE! It is similar to Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, but in a different way. While the Hollywood version lets the monsters take over the film, relegating the humans and their story to supporting the monster smackdowns, this film does the opposite. It focuses mostly on the human side, showing the creatures at various times but never letting them dictate or overwhelm the film. It is a delicate balancing act, one the film manages to achieve at every turn. And it is all the more rich and enjoyable for it.

The film has the tagline “There is no third time. Everything ends here.” So, does it? What do you think? Of course it doesn’t. The way the film ends, and the sound effect heard after the end credits, suggests we may get Godzilla Plus One in the future. Whether we do or not depends on Takashi Yamazaki and his desire to complete a Godzilla trilogy. We are all for it if he does decide to make a third film after what we see and experience here.

The film deserves to be seen on the biggest screen you can find. It was made for IMAX; its sheer scale and epicness threaten to burst from a regular screen, meaning only the biggest screens can truly accommodate and present Yamazaki’s vision to the fullest. Despite being slightly inferior to its predecessor, Godzilla Minus Zero is again one of the best creature features/monster movies ever made. The king of the monsters is back. It is we who must bow down to him. A cinematic triumph in every sense.