Film Review: Godzilla Minus Zero
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We’re in unprecedented times Godzilla fans. For as iconic and legendary as this franchise is, there has perhaps never been as much attention on the King of the Monsters. With the Legendary films supplying the world with the sillier side of the franchise and Toho stunning audiences with the terror of dramatic Godzilla (and winning an Oscar no less), there’s a new world order for Big G. It’s in this fertile ground that Godzilla Minus Zero is planting its seed, hoping that this movie and its bigger ambitions will be met with cheers. If the audience in my screening was any indication, there will be cheers aplenty when general audiences get a chance to see this film.
Godzilla Minus Zero takes place two years in the aftermath Godzilla’s rampage through Japan. The country is still smarting from that and World War II, when a new monsters threatens the country. Kenji Noda, now head of the governments response bureau, works with colleagues old and new to assess and destroy the threat, inadvertently making the kaiju that much more powerful. This situation draws in Kōichi and Noriko, who have been trying to be good parents, but realize that the part they have to play in the battle is more than they can bear. But all is not lost, Godzilla has regenerated and doesn’t take a new monster rampaging on his turf lightly.
As I frequently mention on 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla, the human plots of Godzilla movies are what truly makes or breaks them as film. Minus One was aces in that department, and Godzilla Minus Zero more than holds its own. I appeciated the film’s balance between the more serious subject matter (PTSD, the American imperial machine, government buracracy, to name a few) and Kaiju hijinks. It’s also a large ensemble picture – weaving in nearly every character from the previous film, plus newbies like Makoto Aoyama, into a tapestry of angst and drama. Set in the years following the previous, we get to watch characters who have made a semblance of a life wrestle with the fact that it can be taken away. The kaiju of this movie represent not only obstacles, but become the physical manifestations of our character’s problems, in more ways than one.
In this respect, Godzilla Minus Zero feels like a spiritual sequel to the Heisei era films, working in the heavy emotional themes, with some more outlandish concepts. The movie does well to comport itself as a grounded film, even as it takes some big swings with characters and story beats as the movie covers ground that many Godzilla fans are familiar with, but those expecting a super-grounded affair may bristle at.
While the human plot of this movie definitely sits well alongside many of the others I did find myself feeling a bit knocked over the head when it comes to the emotions in this movie. Every single character in this movie has a big emotional arc, but how Yamazaki chooses to showcase that vary in effectiveness. Wading through so much trauma means that the lengths of the emotional beats can make moments feel overwrought at times.
It’s hard not to get swept up in the emotions when you’ve got a canvas this expansive. Yamazaki gets an expanded scope for his film this time, shooting a majority of it with IMAX cameras. Whereas the first film did a lot with a good amount, this movie does even more with even more. Getting to see Godzilla fight in IMAX is always a treat but here we also get treated to some amazing sequences with the second kaiju and aerial and sea based sequences that more than justify the expanded frame.
Godzilla Minus One made history as a first Godzilla film to win an Oscar in this movie and it might not be the only as the VFX, sound, and score of this movie are all top notch. Godzilla has never looked better and his adversary (not gonna spoil it for you!) looks incredible. It’s a heavy weight fight and the cast and crew were more than up to the challenge to bring this entry to the big screen.
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