Spoiler Alert
After watching Godzilla Minus Zero, I believe it is time TOHO should consider reorganizing the Reiwa era to give the Gojira films a sense of where they belong, and if they are continuous (somehow). The latest title sounds like a countdown to something, suggesting the studio is ready to relaunch this franchise in a grande way. Hideaki Anno’s Shin Godzilla could be a beginning. Compare its scene of corpses on the reptile’s tail with the latest film’s revelation about victims splashed with Godzilla’s blood, and there’s a creepy idea brewing!
What I enjoyed about this latest film is how writer-director Takashi Yamazaki fuses everything together. He knows the material and most likely loves the Shōwa era more. From invaders from space, mad scientists, and crazy inventions, what’s offered in his take gets a lot of clever updates and although we no longer have men in rubber suits performing, what’s presented is still huge!
The story picks up two years later following the end of World War II and Gojira’s appearance afterwards. It looks at the new life of ex-kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), Noriko (Minami Hamabe), and Akiko (Sae Nagatani). They came together in the last film and now live with PTSD. That’s especially true for the woman of the house, who bears the scars of the rampage. She’s apparently a survivor in more ways than one! The trauma is real, and when the radio reports that a new monster is on the loose in Japan, this family is worried.
This time, the government is prepared! They’ve formed a Disaster Response Bureau led by Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) and soon discover a prodigy in their ranks. Makoto Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa) is a meteorologist who can connect the dots. Her ideas aren’t too different from those explored in the animated trilogy, where the creatures represent true elemental forces. Ghidorah is the newest threat from space, and she surmises that it follows the storms!
And without revealing too much, it seems this dragon is getting an origin story told on screen rather than off. We learn more about how it came to be, with some cool connective tissue explaining why the protoplasm from a meteorite took on this particular form. That detail shows how much thought the filmmaker put into grounding the franchise to make it believable.
By keeping the story focussed on the Shikishimas, the tale unfolds tearfully through three pairs of eyes rather than one. The wartime trauma is everywhere. With Kanji Murakami (Min Tanaka), a biologist and survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, in the mix, some of those sentiments towards the United States aren’t entirely gone. He’s the standout character in this film, and Tanaka’s performance gives the film the emotional weight it needs to mirror the classic 1954 film. Murakami invents a machine that allows anyone with some of Godzilla’s DNA in them to be “telepathically” linked.
If the Yanks get their hands on it, the world is doomed, and yes, that was in the subtitles! This foreign military presence has its own agenda, cleverly woven into the story. The Americans remain a fly on the wall, ready to become a nuisance when needed.
I appreciated those details more after the screening, once I’d had a good rest and shaken off the headache the film gave me. I’m sure the sound levels were cranked up rather than balanced. That’s the problem with IMAX. They can claim immersive sound and a terrific theatre experience, but unless those dials are fine-tuned to avoid health scares, viewers sitting too close will feel their hearts thump to every stomp Big G makes.
For me, that mix of Shōwa-style invention and lingering human trauma gives Godzilla Minus Zero its appeal. With the Shikishima family at the centre of it all, I doubt this film will be truly final. But what will the next instalment be titled, if there is one? Godzilla Plus One? Heaven help us if we meet a new take on Minya, but I’ll be open to it.
4½ Stars out of 5
Godzilla Minus Zero Final Trailer
