Three years ago, just shy of the King of the Monsters’ 70th anniversary, Toho gave Godzilla the ultimate present, the best Godzilla film in decades courtesy of writer-director-VFX supervisor auteur Takahashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla: Minus One. Garnering unexpected critical acclaim, shocking box office receipts on a small budget, and even an Academy Award win for Yamazki’s stunning visual effects, accomplished on a minuscule fraction of what Hollywood does, anticipation for a sequel has been sky-high. Turning the stuff of old UHF stations and rubber-suited silliness into a serious mediation on survivor’s guilt while still be a cracking monster flick, and for Minus Zero, Yamazaki was rumored to have something even bigger and better in store for a sequel. And he mostly did. If Minus Zero isn’t quite as coherent a vision or as emotionally satisfying as its predecessor and has a few too many ideas, it still deserves credit for its shocking level of ambition and dazzling visuals. With a rumored budget not much higher than the first , Yamazaki has doubled down on spectacle without going Hollywood’s “more is more” route, rationing his shots, making every effect count, and giving the humans their dramatic due as well. It’s a throwback to the humanity of the best 1980s blockbusters, with the director citing Steven Spielberg as his chief influence.
Our story begins two years after the devastation wrought by Godzilla in the first film. Former Kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima lives quietly with his wife Noriko and adopted daughter Akiko, having defeated Godzilla at the end of the last film and finally coming to peace with the fact that he feels that he’s earned the right to live. Elsewhere, the crew of ordinary citizens who were instrumental in the defeat have formed a sort of task force to watch for new kaiju and threats to Japan while the Land of the Rising Sun rebuilds after World War II and the destruction that Godzilla wrought. It’s mostly the returning cast from first film, all vigilant that things aren’t over yet. And they’re not. When a new monster appears (One of the key players in Toho’s repertoire of daikaiju; I won’t spoil it in case you want to go in surprised, but longtime tokusatsu fans will know him immediately.), a reluctant Kōichi is called back into action with the anti-creature squad. They’re cooperating with the duplicitous American military in an attempt to (nominally) save the world along with scientist and Hiroshima survivor Dr. Murakami, who carries his own ulterior motives. Even with their combined talents, they know that they won’t be able to stop it, but there’s something down in the sea which just might…
The first film in the franchise to carry an R-rating Stateside, primarily due to some grisly aftermath imagery, as well as the first-ever Japanese film shot in digital IMAX, Toho clearly carries a lot of confidence in Yamazaki’s abilities to deliver a superior sequel. And his ambitions have risen considerably: Godzilla: Minus Zero combines cutting edge set pieces, a bit of political commentary, stronger characterizations, dazzling effects, great performances, and even a touch of Cronenbergian body horror. This leaves the film as considerably larger in scale than the first. But the question is, is bigger really better? Minus One was a deliberately streamlined story, focusing almost as a cahracter study of Shikishima learning to live again with some sly commentary on bureaucracy and responsibility. Minus Zero has more do, but does it have more to say? A fascinating subplot of Dr. Murakami’s lingering post-Hiroshima resentment, the ulterior motives of the United States Military, the Shikishimas’ responsibilities toward their homeland and basic morality vs. what their daughter needs, and of course the monster-mash battle scenes, the film has a lot to get through. Yamazaki wisely never chooses to overstay his welcome, and at 135 minutes, the pacing rarely flags until trying tie up loose ends at the finale, but a few do feel like setups for another sequel, which is welcome if Yamazaki sticks around. There’s plenty to get through, and by and large, the screenplay ties it all together well, even introducing a few new faces and making you care about the characters.
“Yes, Yes, I’m sure that this is all very fascinating,” you’re asking, “but I want know about the monster action! Yamazaki delivered on city-smashing last time, but can he deliver on the battles this time?” Well, you needn’t worry about that. The set pieces are all thrilling and exhilarating, from an opening bravura stedicam run through the city to a nail-biting midair chase to a brutal claw-vs.-claw kaiju fight full of some blood and gore and ray blasts, and you’ve never seen the King of the Monsters go tooth-to-tooth with an opponent quite like this. Unlike Hollywood films where something has to explode every 10 minutes or so, Yamazaki’s relatively modest budget means that he gets to ration his VFX shots, making each one look as good as possible, and building actual character development and suspense in between, creating a rich and satisfying experience. The movie impresses visually as well, with Yamazaki’s award-winning longtime collaborators cinematographer Kōzō Shibasaki and editor Ryūji Miyajima giving the film a technical sheen that makes it looks, sound, and move with the production values of a movie with four times its budget. Fair warning, I saw it in IMAX, and you may want to bring earplugs! Composer Naoki Satō’s clicking, Hans Zimmer-esque score can’t measure up the classic thunder of Akira Ifukube’s marches that the film is wise enough to use in key moments, but it’s effective in its own right. When Yamazaki and company finally bring out those famous chords for the final battle, I defy any longtime Godzilla fan not to cheer at the almost Pavlovian rush.
Critics, myself included, often like to decry the age of franchises and recycled ideas, of leaning too heavily on recognizable intellectual propery and characters rather than original ideas. But as Yamazaki shows, sometimes all it takes is a new vision to resurrect something and make it feel fresh, even exhilarating, taking a franchise that’s 70 years and showing that there are still plenty of signs of life left in Godzilla’s radioactive heart. He understands the past (A couple of Easter egg references to the original series such as a pilot by the name of Honda or a certain familiar space meteor.) and the essence of the character, while still having an idea of how to keep him relevant and Like Nicholas Meyer showed decades ago when he resurrected and revitalized Star Trek: it’s not production value that counts. It’s talent. Minus Zero was rumored to be an exhausting 18 hour per day+ shoot, but if I were Toho I’d be willing to give him the keys to the kingdom right now and all that I can say is bring on the last of the trilogy. I’m already wanting more. Yamazaki has once again beaten Hollywood at its own game, creating a richly satsifying, emotional, and spectacular sequel that’s bringing audiences out to see a subtitled movie. Long live the King.