Godzilla Minus Zero

by Mike McGranaghan

My dad took me to see Godzilla vs. Megalon when I was eight years old. I distinctly remember sitting in the theater, bored out of my mind until the final half-hour, when the kaiju finally started fighting. That’s pretty much been the problem with a lot of Godzilla flicks – plenty of dull buildup to the stuff we really want to see. (Does not apply to the original, obviously.) Takashi Yamazaki’s 2023 Godzilla Minus One bucked that trend, going back to basics with a story that used the giant lizard to explore Japan’s role in WWII. The director’s sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero, follows suit, creating thrills by crafting a human story that’s every bit as compelling as the monster story.

Former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who previously felled Godzilla, is called in to advise when a new dragon-like creature pops up to threaten Japan. An initial attempt at destroying the beast, dubbed Ghidorah, proves unsuccessful, leading biologist Kanji Murakami (Min Tanaka) to determine that the only solution is to lure the recently regenerated Godzilla into battle with it. Kōichi’s wife Noriko (Minami Hamabe) unexpectedly proves to be critical in that plan, making him realize he’s going to have to get back in the cockpit once again to ensure her safety.

Godzilla himself doesn’t appear onscreen until fifty minutes into the movie, and his delayed entrance doesn’t matter. Early scenes set up multiple character arcs that are satisfyingly paid off once the big guy does show up. Chief among them is the idea that Kōichi and Noriko are going to have to leave their adopted daughter Akiko (Sae Nagatani) behind while they go on what could amount to a suicide mission. The situation is a catch-22. If they don’t fight the kaiju, it could spell disaster for Akiko and countless other Japanese children; if they do, they could die in the process, leaving her orphaned. Another subplot involves Murakami’s desire to get revenge for the American bombing of Hiroshima, and a third revolves around a meteorologist, Makoto Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa), carrying guilt over a forecast she got fatally wrong.

Godzilla and Ghidorah tie in directly to all these threads, meaning the action scenes carry significant weight. They aren’t just random brawls and city destruction. The effect is that you get pulled into the personal drama, and then the monster action arrives to help resolve everything. Outcomes for the characters are different, with some getting happy endings and others not. The Kōichi/Noriko/Akiko arc, in particular, hits an emotional spot.

As for the monster mayhem, Godzilla Minus Zero delivers just as well as its predecessor, and maybe even better. Early on, there’s a pulse-pounding aerial assault on Ghidorah that features dizzying shots of the flying creature chasing after the airplanes. The climactic melee between monsters is similarly suspenseful, with both using their individual powers to create massive destruction. Too often in big-budget films, CGI effects look like CGI. In other words, they don’t blend in realistically with everything else. Yamakazi’s FX team has done a marvelous job of blending the real with the imaginary, so that you’re never distracted by a shot that looks anything less than convincing.

The action is accentuated by Naoki Sato’s score. When Godzilla and Ghidorah attack, the music consists of a repeated violin-based shrieking noise that’s reminiscent of an emergency alert siren. It’s incredibly effective. I felt a sense of anxiety every time that theme was repeated.

Godzilla Minus Zero presents the classic Japanese monster at his absolute best. Watching the kaiju action is enormously fun, while the strong plotting and thematic depth ensure there’s not a boring moment in the whole movie, even when the creatures aren’t onscreen.