Godzilla Minus Zero

 Godzilla Minus One not only brought its franchise some of its best reviews, but its first ever Academy Award. Naturally, everybody expected a sequel, and it’s finally here with Godzilla Minus Zero. Do you want to know more?

Of course, you do!

Anyway, it opens with Japan already under attack, not from Godzilla, but by Ghidorah, a giant dragon that shoots lightning. Professor Murakami (Min Tanaka) and his assistant, Akira Hagiwara (Kou Maehara), narrowly survive the attack. They join up with Dr. Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) and his Kaiju Response Team to help deal with the thing.

Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), the hero of the last Godzilla War, is called back to action against Ghidorah. Unfortunately, their first strike mutates it into the three-headed King Ghidorah, who can also bend gravity to its will. If that wasn’t bad enough, Godzilla resurfaces. 

Fortunately, Murakami plans to make them fight, so they’d have one less Kaiju to deal with. A key part of his plan is Noriko (Minami Hamabe), Koichi’s now-wife, who narrowly survived Godzilla’s attack on Ginza. Since she’s now partially mutated with Godzilla’s DNA, Murakami plans to hook her up to a sonar machine to call him out. Unfortunately, Murakami has ulterior motives for his strategy.

Takashi Yamazaki, who once again directs, writes and supervises the visual effects, keeps Godzilla out of the action until more than fifty minutes in. In the meantime, we get plenty of human drama and Ghidorah action. The drama might not appeal to everyone, but the human ensemble, both new and returning characters, are so compelling that I didn’t mind. The action is just as intense as Minus One, particularly a dogfight where Koichi and his fellow airmen try to spear Ghidorah with lightning rods. It doesn’t work, but at least they damaged him.

It’s nice to watch Koichi and Noriko bond with their adopted daughter, Akiko (Sae Nagatani). They feel like an actual family, and it’s made more compelling by what they faced last time. Indeed, the threat of Akiko losing her new parents to Godzilla, directly or not, hangs over her every time they leave her with Sumiko (Sakura Ando), who now runs a war orphanage. Her seemingly being left behind one final time is simply the most agonizing scene in the whole movie. While Koichi’s reluctance to fight Ghidorah initially struck me as stubborn, we see that he does have valid concerns. His family’s safety, meanwhile, is sufficient reason for him to fight.

Amongst the returning cast, there’s the delightfully quirky Noda, whose contentious relationship with Koichi provides some more drama. It’s hard to feel nothing when he gives his life at the end. His former crewmates, Shiro Mizushima (Yuki Yamada) and Seiji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), don’t get much to do, but they’re fine. 

Makoto Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa), a forecaster on Noda’s team, is one of the more significant new characters. She has some lingering trauma over a failed weather prediction, but she still proves her mettle here. The thematic overlap between her subplot and this year’s Pressure would make them an interesting double feature. We also have two compelling characters, Shoichi Honda (Kai Inowaki) & Heikichi Tokiwa (Eita Okuno), who turn out to be Red Shirts, which is disappointing.

The real supporting MVP is Tanaka as Murakami. He’s introduced as Dr. Exposition, the cool old man not unlike the 1954 film’s Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura). Once we discover his backstory as not only a survivor of Hiroshima, but Ginza, his mental fortitude starts to crack. He lapses into mad scientist territory when he envisions siccing Godzilla on New York, but snaps back with horror within seconds. That is perhaps the best acting in the entire franchise on either side of the Pacific. 

Yamazaki and his Shirogumi colleagues were allowed to aim higher for this sequel. I already mentioned the Ghidorah dogfight, but then we have the follow-up, where Koichi flies through much of Matsumoto as the newly crowned King has it floating. Ghidorah’s evolution from a space blob to Westeros transplant, to three-headed monster, is an interesting one. While he and Godzilla don’t meet until the finale, their big battle is well worth the wait. That fight gets really gruesome, and along with Murakami’s flashbacks and daydream, it cements its franchise first R-Rating. The gruesome makeup work ought to earn it consideration this year, even if it’s just at the bake-off. 

What else do we have? It’s a nice and loud film, with thundering sound effects, Naoki Sato’s returning score and his re-orchestrations of Akira Ifukube’s trademark theme, emanating from the speakers. While they drown out the dialogue at times, it’s fortunately still subtitled. While there’s some obvious CGI here, like with King Ghidorah’s coronation, they don’t detract from the greater whole. Having the final battle be in the ruins of Ginza gives production designer Anri Jojo his greatest canvas.

Overall, if you're going to watch Godzilla Minus Zero, do it now on the biggest screen you can find. It's a spectacular showcase for not just Godzilla, but the most compelling human ensemble he's ever been with. This and Minus One are proof that lightning can strike twice cinematically. The only thing that could stop it from winning another Oscar is its admittedly bountiful competition. In any case, I'll be waiting for a sequel when Yamazaki or Toho is ready for it. I've said enough about this one.