If anyone thinks Godzilla can’t be fresh and compelling as it stomps towards the 40-film mark, they have an emphatic answer in Godzilla Minus Zero. It’s an emotive, epic continuation of the Minus era; a bold and raw TOHO Godzilla film made for the biggest screens.
In 2023, Godzilla Minus One did more than take the kaiju back to the beginning. It explicitly tied the monster back into Japan’s immediate post-war trauma. The hanging question was whether the brilliant concept of a kamikaze pilot finding redemption against atomic breath could support another film. Unsurprisingly, deeper exploration of that trauma and respectful drawing on the kaiju’s impressive back catalogue helps it do that in spades.
Tick forward from One to Zero, and we’re two years after Godzilla’s devastating attack on Japan, with the country still reeling from the twin effects of the war and the kaiju making landfall. Dr Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) now fronts a defence department tasked with protecting Japan, while his old shipmate, former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), has made a life with his wife Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe), who still carries the scars from Godzilla’s rampage. Along with their adorable adopted daughter Akiko (Sae Nagatani), there’s a chance that they and their country could emerge from a dark period, until a new, unpredictable kaiju arrives on a meteorite. As the airborne creature awakens a regenerated Godzilla, American military reticence forces the old friends into the path of the new kaiju, which, inspired by its chimera-like ability to absorb animal traits, scientists name Ghidorah.
Its tagline promises ‘everything ends here’, but if this were a trilogy, Minus Zero feels a lot like its Dark Knight. Ghidorah, who opens the show and barely stops flapping its wings, is pure anarchy—an enemy that leaves a compelling new status quo for every protagonist come the end. Yes, even big G.
Following Minus One’s famous Oscar win, the VFX, supervised by returning writer and director Takashi Yamazaki, was never going to fall short on multiple monsters. One of many triumphs is an early aerial attack on Ghidorah that becomes a riveting, adrenaline-fuelled dogfight. Crucially, the music hangs back during that assault, but when famous themes kick in, they carry serious weight to match the tail swipes, heat rays and rippling spines.
Yamazaki lets a gloriously fluid style fuse the stories of human and kaiju, ably helped by cinematographer Kōzō Shibasaki and editor Ryūji Miyajima. While they juggle a large cast and even larger themes, there’s still room for surprise and experimentation—a notable all-out attack on Godzilla is caught in the reactions from onlooking characters as sympathies subtly shift amid the huge explosions. While destruction matters, the emphasis remains on the humans caught in an uncertain world.
Loss and choice are central to the melodrama, and Yamazaki isn’t afraid to take a disarmingly raw approach. At one point, Akiko’s hopeful cry heard throughout the film becomes a heart-wrenching accusation, and her anguish isn’t alone. No character in Minus Zero is immune to trauma. Just as Noda is spurred on by wartime regret, many on his team contend with their past, including Min Tanaka’s Professor Murakami and a bright meteorologist who joins his team (Masami Nagasawa), whose career is overshadowed by a costly error. She’s vital to uncovering and battling the space invader, neatly soaking up Ghidorah’s cinematic past. But it’s in confronting its era that Minus Zero is fearless to the point of harrowing.
Minus Zero is another triumph for the lizard, even if the new kaiju crushing the block squeezes Godzilla’s appearances more than you might expect. On the ground level, the stakes in Shikishima and Noriko’s relationship also suffer a bit; they don’t land as powerfully as they did the first time around, but it’s clear Minus Zero’s sights are on broader cultural scars and wounds.
TOHO’s confidence in continuing the story is totally justified. While a refrain linked to another kaiju working its way into the score shows where the franchise might go, one thing is for sure: it won’t leave the humans behind. Above them, this Gojira stands tall as the king of movie metaphors. Built for IMAX in a Japanese first, Godzilla Minus Zero is a huge, uncompromising statement.
Godzilla Minus Zero is released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 6 November.
