There may have never been a better time to be a Godzilla fan. I remember the days of scouring Hollywood Video as a little kid trying to find Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla because I watched Terror of MechaGodzilla and didn’t realize that one was technically a sequel. Now, nearly all of the kaiju’s catalogue is at our finger tips, and what’s more, we’re not having to wait a full decade for new movies. We’ve got the Legendary series, and while I’m not the biggest fan of some of those films, it’s hard to deny the allure of giant monster slapfights. But we were even more blessed to receive what I believe to be the greatest Godzilla movie ever made just a few years ago.
Godzilla Minus One somehow managed to take 70 years of iconography and legacy and turn it into the purest distillation of the idea I’ve ever seen. It had Oscar winning, giant monster pandemonium and destruction, but it also managed to be compelling with a moving and emotional human genre at the core. It’s a damn near perfect film in my eyes and not really one that needed a sequel. But we’ve got nearly 40 movies that prove Godzilla doesn’t stay dormant for long. But now was the real challenge; how the hell do you follow up a film like Minus One? Well, you go bigger, you go crazier, and you give the people more of what they love. But does that equal better?
Godzilla Minus Zero is yet another phenomenal giant monster flick from Japanese director Takashi Yamazaki that takes the continuity sensibly forward without losing sight of what made that prior film so great. In true Godzilla tradition, the King of the Monsters is given someone his own size to pick on for a change, and while that’s an undeniably good time, the real meat of this movie still comes from its human characters and the challenge of continuing life in this new man-made hell. This is the first Japanese film filmed for IMAX, and it certainly shows. It’s a gargantuan of a film that decimates eyes and eardrums with its all encompassing sound design and stellar effects. And like the many, many movies before it, the film adopts some of the sillier sides of the series, from contrived plot devices to breezily moving through the story to get to the monsters. Some of these new elements work, while some aren’t very strong in my opinion. Regardless, let’s dive into this beast to figure out if Minus Zero is just one step higher than its predecessor.
To catch you up to speed, it’s been two years since the titular kaiju was turned into kai-goo, but Japan has a new problem when a brand new monster starts to wreak havoc on the country. This brings pilot Koichi, Godzilla survivor Noriko and giant monster defense specialist Noda back together as they try to formulate a plan to take down this bigger, badder threat, only to realize their greatest hope might just be the thing that brought them to the brink of ruin. From there, it’s a tale of family, civic duty and going all in on the thing that nearly destroyed the world. A big part of the last film was community and comradery in the absence of government assistance, which I found to be an incredibly strong thematic element that was also reflective of real, post World War II sentiments. Now the world wants to move forward, but the genie is already out of the bottle. The world has to reckon with the idea that monsters (the ever eternal stand-in for nuclear weapons) are here now, and we’ve been launched into an uneasy cycle of never really knowing whether or not we’re truly safe. This theme is a bit more complex than the straightforward but still layered ideas of the first, and while that’s certainly welcome, I do think it makes things a bit more messy this time around. It gave me less to grasp onto emotionally, as the theme is really only connected to one character in particular. It manages to be both insightful and campy at the same time, but it did make the human melodrama a lot less interesting this go around.
What’s not uninteresting is all the giant monster stuff we get, although Godzilla is kinda not in a lot of this. That’s not super uncommon for this franchise, but it was kinda shocking how little we see of the titular big guy. But that doesn’t mean this film is sparse with kaiju, because there is another monster the humans spend fighting the whole movie. A lot of people have been treating it like it’s a spoiler, but it’s on the Wikipedia page, it’s in the trailer… hell, you saw the cocktail. It’s Ghidorah, perhaps Godzilla’s most iconic adversary. He becomes the new, unbeatable big bad the humans try to take down through ingenious ways, but we know the only thing that can beat a big monster is another big monster. Godzilla returns, because of course he does, and the showdown between him and Ghidorah is truly worth the wait. They have a brutal battle that absolutely warrants that R-rating. But the humans aren’t completely thrown to the side; they actually play a role in the progression and the outcome of the fight, which I think was the right call.
And when those monsters are onscreen, this shit gets loud. I only saw this in 2DX, so I can’t imagine how eardrum bursting IMAX must have been. But while it’s loud, those technicals are still tremendous. I won’t say a lot of the green screen and stuff is seamless, but it’s the way everything is framed that does a fantastic job at blending it with the real world. There are sequences in this that are just staggering, absolutely nailing that sense of scale a film like this needs to have. I was also a lot more aware of the score this time around. The classic Godzilla theme is once again used emphatically; it just might be the best piece of movie music ever assembled. But there’s also a Ghidorah theme that’s fluttering, yet haunting, almost kind of sounding like the intro to Ride of the Valkyries. The song becomes a bit of a motif throughout the whole film, and it hits hard every time it’s implemented.
So let’s cut to the chase; is this a better film than Minus One? Personally, I’m gonna say no, for a few reasons. I do appreciate the story getting weirder and more complex, but at times it just becomes muddled, especially near the end. Everything moves so fast, which isn’t always a bad thing, but I think it keeps you from really latching onto these characters’ emotions and motivations. The plans to fight the monsters sort of just suddenly materialize, which downplays a lot of the clawing urgency the last film had, although I will say this film does manage to hit the same level of hopelessness. But with that muddled story comes muddled messages. The film is about rebuilding, but it lacks a lot of the comradery that made the first film so resonating for me. It does tap into the idea of revenge and continuing the cycle of hurt that I’m sure a lot of people were feeling post atomic bomb, but dare I say that the severity of that idea is undercut by a bit of a silly performance. Still, there are some flashback and daydream sequences that are tied to this idea that are absolutely visceral, so overall the themes come out to be a mixed bag. Especially with the ending, which seems to just kind of move along pretty quickly, not exactly tying everything together in the neatest package. There was definitely room to do that, as it seemed ready to tee up a reflection on how the world just has to live with nuclear weapons now, but it just didn’t follow through for me. So, yeah, it may not be as good as the first film, but this is still a hell of a watch.
Godzilla Minus Zero is a blast that flies by with a resounding boom; yet another impressive showing from Toho. This thing cost pennies to make and still manages to look incredible in scope and scale. I want to say that’s because of the artisans crafting the film, and it mostly is, but it also makes me realize what a money laundering scheme Hollywood filmmaking is. With a fraction of a fraction of their budget, this thing electrifies like a true blockbuster, and while its shortcomings set this back for me, it in no way makes this a bad movie. It’s still an engaging human story with a kaiju backdrop, and when it’s pulled off like this, it’s movie magic, baby.
RATING
GHIDORAH
Perhaps the most well known and fearsome monster in Godzilla’s rogues gallery has returned, and it’s about time a guy with “King” in his name got a cocktail to call his own. This is a shochu highball riff that throws in tart lemon and spicy ginger to replicate the rippling electric power King Ghidorah emanates. A little banana is thrown in there as well, making for a delicious low-ABV cocktail that will keep you coming back just like Godzilla… if you can stand the heat.
INGREDIENTS
- 2oz shochu
- 3/4oz banana liqueur
- 1/2oz orange liqueur
- 1oz ginger juice
- 3/4oz lemon juice
- 1/2oz simple syrup
- 1 dash of edible golden luster dust (optional)
- TOP: Soda water
- GARNISH: Lemon peel garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice.
- Strain into tall glass filled with ice.
- Top with soda water.
- Garnish with three headed lemon peel garnish (instructions on how to make it in the video at top of page!)
