[7]
Director Takashi Yamazaki returns for the sequel to 2023’s sensational Godzilla Minus One. Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, and young Sae Nagatani also return as the surrogate family that became the heart of that first film. Two years later, a new monster is born with frightening regenerative and anti-gravity powers. The United States military comes to Japan’s aid — despite having dropped two atomic bombs on the country just a few years prior. The uneasy alliance is reflected on a more intimate level, with Kamiki and Hamabe’s characters pressured by Dr. Noda (returning Hidetaka Yoshioka) to risk sacrificing themselves for the good of mankind — even though it could mean orphaning their daughter (Nagatani). The good news, ironically, is that Godzilla is back from the depths and ready to fight. But can he be manipulated into a fight with the new enemy monster, and will Japan and the U.S. be able to vanquish whichever beast is left standing?
Godzilla Minus Zero is slow to get started and may frustrate viewers anxious to cut to the monster mayhem. Apart from one fantastic mid-movie sequence, nearly all the action is reserved for the final half-hour. The film benefits tremendously from Yamazaki’s deft handling of action choreography and dramatic tension. He has a powerful way of putting the audience smack-dab in the middle of the events unfolding before our eyes. Even though it’s a more lopsided movie than Minus One, I greatly appreciate that Yamazaki is interested in making more than just another monster movie. The human characters are important here, in a film with something to say about wartime morality. The film addresses the double-edged consequences of the technology of mass destruction, and asks us to consider at what point it’s necessary — if ever — to permit ourselves to become weapons of war.
Kamiki and Hamabe are just as good as they were in the first film. Their central conflict is remaining a unified family and protecting their newfound daughter while destiny seems determined to drive them apart. After the balls-to-the-wall, climactic monster throwdown, be prepared for a highly emotional ending with these characters — one I doubt many viewers will see coming. A new, interesting character is a scientist named Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa) who works with Dr. Noda. She wrestles with the tremendous responsibility of strategizing counter-attacks that often lead to unpredictable casualties. Min Tanaka gives the film’s most memorable performance as a professor who lost his entire family in the bombing of Hiroshima. He has a vendetta against the United States, which plays out in a brief, violent daydream where Godzilla attacks New York City. (This Japan/U.S. rivalry never fully takes center stage, but it’s always in the background, giving a layer of thoughtfulness and uncertainty to the proceedings.)
Minus Zero is not, unfortunately, as consistently amazing as Minus One, but let’s be honest: films like that don’t come along very often. The script has some hiccups during the first half, but the story and its characters are strong, and the mayhem — when it finally comes — equals or surpasses the spectacle of the first film. For anyone who ever wanted a sequel, it delivers noticeably better than most American films at the movie plex this year.