Just to let you know Godzilla and I are the same age. My premier in September of 1954 was just a month before the release of the original Japanese film Gojira. The first Godzilla movie I saw was ‘King Kong versus Godzilla’ back in 1962 and I’ve been a fan ever since. So it’s no surprise that I went to the new film ‘Godzilla minus Zero’ on the first day it was available here in Philadelphia.
‘Godzilla minus Zero’ (G-0) is a sequel to 2023’s ‘Godzilla minus One’ (G-1), which rebooted the Godzilla franchise for it’s original production company Toho Studios. As a sequel ‘Godzilla minus Zero’ contains many of the same human characters as the 2023 film but for Godzilla minus Zero Toho decided to go ahead and produce the first ever Japanese movie in the IMAX format, which is the version I saw.
Godzilla minus Zero picks up about four years after the events of Godzilla minus One. The heroes who defeated Godzilla, at least temporarily as it turns out, are now an official agency that works to mitigate disasters like earthquakes, typhoons and etc. At the same time however they are keeping an eye out for other monsters like Godzilla, whom the Japanese call Kaiju. This agency is run by the leader of the earlier mission to defeat Godzilla, Dr. Noda, played by Hidetaka Yoshioka and includes the pilot who actually flew the mission Koishi Shikishima, played by Ryunosuke Kamiki.
The movie begins with an attack by one such creature, a dragon like monster with wings that is given the name Ghidorah, in the movie the name is described as being a combination of Chimera and Hydra but that doesn’t make sense to me. Anyway, the team is soon developing plans to defeat Ghidorah, one of which involves a new American bomb that sprays an aerosol mist of flammable gas that is ignited and burns a large area. In fact such a bomb was developed by the US in the 1980s.
The second attack involves getting Ghidorah struck by lightning. So we have the first big battle scene in Godzilla minus Zero with a Japanese bomber, escorted by three fighter planes, one piloted by Koishi, attacking Ghidorah. Both attacks actually succeed but even combined they fail to kill Ghidorah, in fact the lightning strikes only strengthen him, causing him to sprout two more heads so that he is now the Ghidorah kaiju that was introduced way back in 1964.
It’s at this very moment that Godzilla shows up. The damage he sustained at the end of Godzilla minus One did not kill him and with his regenerative powers he is now fully recovered. Faced with these two powerful creatures to contend with the solution the team comes up with is to somehow lure them together and hope that they fight each other to the death. Then, hope that whichever monster wins is so weakened that humans can defeat it. I’m going to leave the plot at this point so as not to give too much away.
The action and special effects in Godzilla minus one are first rate, after all this is the same team that won an Oscar for special effects for Godzilla minus One. In any Godzilla movie however it’s always the human story that drags it down. That’s not to say that the humans are more important than the Kaiju, it’s just that if the human story is bad it can ruin the whole movie, and has in some of the weaker Godzilla movies. Not to worry however, the human story in Godzilla minus Zero makes sense even though it is fairly complex and multi-level.
The acting in Godzilla minus Zero is also quite good although there are just a couple of scenes that could have used a bit more editing. At one point in an overlong scene my brother asked “What’s Japanese for ‘Chewing the scenery’.” So, with top rate action, special effects, good story and good acting I can honestly recommend ‘Godzilla minus Zero’. There are now 39 Godzilla movies that have been released and this is one of the best.
By the way, at the end things are set up for the next installment and unless I’m mistaken this one will involve the Americans trying to gain control over Godzilla in order to use him as a weapon! Can’t wait for that!!!