Please don’t take away my critic card, but the US version of Godzilla from 1998 was my first foray into the atomic lizard’s world. Clearly, it didn’t make me want to visit the old Japanese Toho films, so I didn’t bother with them until the next US iteration of Godzilla 2014. Since then, I’ve educated myself into a handful of the classics and semi-recent Shin Godzilla. But my love and appreciation for the God of all kaijus really took effect with 2023’s Godzilla Minus One.
It was the first time while watching a giant monster movie that I’ve thought, “wait a minute… I want to know what’s going on with the human element of the story.” It was such a rich narrative with complex themes and yes, occasionally Godzilla showed up and was terrifying.
Now, we have the sequel in Godzilla Minus Zero. This story takes place just two years after Minus One. Koichi (Ryûnosuke Kamiki) and Noriko (Minami Hamabe) have been raising their daughter in a very unstable post war and post-Godzilla Japan. Just as that chaos starts to feel like a distant memory, there is a new creature that has sporadically starting to attack the countryside. The government and scientists, in all their wisdom, do their best to deal with the new threat, but if you’ve ever seen a Godzilla movie, you know how that goes.
Director Takashi Yamazaki returns to write, direct, and lead the special effects again and it makes these two movies flow so well together. He has a certain kind of direction for his actors that nails the stoicism of the culture, but also the trauma that past events have crafted within each person. At first, many of the actors look like archetypes of characters we’ve seen before. However, each of them has their own story of failures, pride, and loyalty that drives each of their actions.
My apologies for focusing on the human characters first. Normally, for this scale of movie, I’d happily accept how pointless they usually feel, but given the fact that they are the focus of the narrative and that they are written so well, I can’t help but highlight them. The movie could be faulted for the majority of this sandwich being filled with the smaller drama of these people, whereas the monster sections are the bookends, but once again, it’s all just so well done, that I couldn’t be mad or be bored with it.
This movie follows the format of Godzilla sequels by introducing an epic monster that signals far more destruction than Godzilla brings. And thus, we get another deathmatch. I am not complaining. King Ghidorah is one of the most fearsome kaiju in the Godzilla universe and it gets to prove itself even further here. Much like the first movie, it’s insane what this filmmaker has pulled off with a budget of under $20 million.
There were scenes of city-wide destruction and carnage between the two monsters, that made me gasp and smile at the same time. Typically, when special effects take over, big budget movies get a bit hollow feeling and become focused on spectacle alone. This movie shows the destruction, but also the people screaming for help in these tragic circumstances. It makes every moment of destruction feel grounded and horrifying.
The previous movie is a tough act to follow. It was such a succinct story that did not need a sequel. The story in this sequel is not quite as tight. There’s more expansion for the characters’ relationships, but not quite the stakes I felt previously. That said, there’s a scene where the farewell of “Have a safe trip” hit me like a ton of bricks. That’s now two Godzilla movies that have nearly made me cry.
Godzilla Minus Zero isn’t quite the surprise phenomenon that the first movie was for me, but it’s exactly what I wanted and expected from a sequel from the same filmmaking team. It’s so loud and terrifying where it needs to be, while also being so personal and subtle with its characters. This does require that you see Minus One first, but if you get the chance, this is a theatrical experience. And please, have a safe trip. B+
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