Godzilla Minus Zero: the first reviews are in, and things look promising

The sequel to Godzilla Minus One brings bigger monster action and King Ghidorah. But can it make us care about the puny screaming humans?

Following the awesome Godzilla Minus One was always going to be a difficult job. The film won an Oscar for its visual effects and managed to actually get people genuinely invested in the human characters in a Godzilla movie.

Usually, there’s a temptation to treat the people as an unfortunate interruption between scenes of an enormous radioactive lizard demolishing things. 

To be fair, the Monarch stuff in the US Monsterverse is enjoyable. But the big screen outings are generally a few good-looking people running away in crowds or making half-hearted romantic plot threads.

I don’t want to sound mean. I’ll still watch them as they’re really fun.

But Minus One gave its characters enough substance that their survival actually mattered. It was a genuinely good movie. In my opinion, anyway.

Now director, writer and visual-effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki is back with Godzilla Minus Zero. Following its premiere at the New York Film Festival, the first reviews suggest he has delivered another impressive monster movie. Whether it matches its predecessor is a more complicated question.

Minus Zero – bigger monsters, bigger expectations

Set in 1949, two years after the previous film, Minus Zero returns to Koichi Shikishima and his family as Japan faces another massive monster catastrophe. This time, King Ghidorah joins the destruction. Apparently, one giant monster wasn’t making post-war recovery difficult enough.

The spectacle at least seems to have impressed reviewers. The Guardian’s Jesse Hassenger praises “some of the most majestic CG monster action put to film”, while Katie Rife at Inverse writes that “Godzilla Minus Zero is a triumph of special effects.”

That sounds encouraging, particularly given the ludicrously high standard Yamazaki and his team set last time.

The human drama gets a more qualified response this time, though. Rife finds those elements less cohesive than in Minus One, while TheWrap’s William Bibbiani neatly identifies the potential problem: “Unlike ‘Minus One,’ the substance and the spectacle are at odds.”

Which is a bit vague. But it seems the concern isn’t that everyone’s story disappears beneath explosions and a giant scaly feet. It’s whether the emotional material works as well alongside the increased monster mayhem.

That balance also crops up in fan discussions. Some are excited about Godzilla facing Ghidorah, while others worry about losing the serious tone that made Minus One stand out. Bigger fights are welcome (I love them) but preferably with people worth worrying about underneath them. People you don’t want squashed.

For now, the early reaction gives reason to be hopeful. I’m 99% certain I will like it.

If you haven’t seen Godzilla Minus One yet, there are some awesome Ultra HD and 4K versions out there. (Affiliate.)

Godzilla Minus Zero opens in Japan on 3 November and North America on 6 November. The latest official trailer is below. It looks, predictably, great.