In the final seconds of the latest trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero, the humans look on in horror. Not surprisingly before them stands a returned Godzilla, the beast who they thought they destroyed in the previous movie, Godzilla Minus One. In fact, they are witnessing Godzilla fall to the ground, as if dead, despite the fact that they spend the trailer preparing for his reemergence. But instead of relief at the sight of the fallen kaiju, one of the onlookers admits with dread in his voice, “This isn’t Godzilla we are talking about.”
So what is the true threat of Godzilla Minus Zero? The trailer doesn’t actually state it outright, nor does it reveal another kaiju. But anyone who noticed that golden lightning and that hideous shriek we hear at the end can take a hint: Monster Zero, aka King Ghidorah, is about to make landfall in Godzilla Minus Zero.
Written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who also provides the special effects, Godzilla Minus Zero picks up in 1949, two years after the events of its predecessor. Former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and his wife Noriko (Minami Hamabe) seem to have put those grim postwar days behind them, and devote themselves to raising their adoptive daughter Akiko (Sae Nagatani), a survivor of Godzilla’s previous attack. However, when mysterious analyst Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa) predicts Godzilla’s return, Disaster Response Berau chief Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) considers taking drastic measures, despite the warnings of biologist Kanji Murakami (Min Tanaka), who helped defeat Godzilla last time.
Based on the trailer and the thematic concerns of Godzilla Minus One, those measures will likely involve atomic weapons once again, forcing the country to weigh how much destruction it’s willing to wrought in the name of safety. That question will be underscored by the reveal that it’s not just Godzilla this time around. Another monster has arrived to further threaten Japan.
