'Godzilla Minus Zero' Does It Again, Delivering Another Fantastic Godzilla Movie Featuring An Incredible Villain, Unbelievable Sound, And Genuine Horror
Let me first say that it's an amazing time to be a Godzilla fan. There was a large part of my life where the franchise was dormant, whether that be from the American studios or Toho in Japan. Nothing with quality or significant investment came about the big guy and that was sad. Now? I mean we can't go a year or two without a major Godzilla project coming to the forefront. I can show up to the office on a random Thursday dressed like this and no one would bat an eye.
For me, the Legendary Pictures Gareth Edwards reboot in 2014 was plenty good enough. Now was the entire movie filmed in the dark with Godzilla was more or less teased throughout the movie? Yeah, but that was plenty. King of the Monsters rocked. I know people love to knock it, but it was exactly what I wanted. The Godzilla vs. Kong movies begin to enter the Marvel world where we totally go away from a story and just show these titans smash each other against buildings. You're going to those movies looking to unplug and just watch some good ol' fashioned American blockbuster monster fighting, and that's totally okay! More Godzilla movies the better.
Then came a man named Takashi Yamazaki. Hired by Toho to lead a new wave of Japanese Godzilla movies, Yamazaki birthed a version of this franchise really never seen before. Not only would he nail the visual and action of Godzilla despite a low budget, but he created a storyline that made you actually care about the humans involved. Don't get me wrong, you're waiting the whole time for the big guy to grace the screen and destroy everything in his way, but when he's not you actually care about the others. 'Godzilla Minus One' was the best Godzilla movie ever made. It's a masterpiece. That's why when the sequel was set to come out this November there was a ton of excitement and momentum. How would they pivot the plot and introduce new villains? What would this look like with an increased budget? Was it better left as a standalone?
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Early reviews of 'Godzilla Minus Zero' had people suggesting this was in the ballpark of 'Terminator 2' and 'The Dark Knight' as one of the greatest sequels ever made. Incredible company and thus setting the bar sky high here. After seeing it yesterday with Klemmer I came away very happy, thoroughly entertained, but I'm going to pump the breaks in terms of one of the best sequels of all time.
I thought Godzilla himself was awesome once again (obviously), his villain counter part was knocked out of the park, and the human element was top notch. This movie is dark as shit, and I'll get into that more in the spoiler filled part of this blog, but they really aimed to make the visuals in this movie brutal as can be. The sound/score is incredible and seeing this in IMAX is very much worth it. I'd probably put the original just a nose better than this one, but that's not saying this was disappointing in any way, more just a testament to how good 'Minus One' was. I definitely see the complaint about it being more focused on the villain more than Godzilla, but when he's on the screen he steals the show as always. Again, you have to realize this movie was made with like a $20M budget, and for that it's another work of art. I loved it and am excited to see what comes next. Everything after this point is going to be HEAVY SPOILER so if you haven't gone to see it yet and want to, please exit the blog.
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Alright so I think the best way to start talking about this movie is King Ghidorah. You kinda knew based on the lightning in the trailers and posters that he was going to be the main big bad here. Godzilla's 1.1 opponent is Ghidorah. You could say Kong I suppose, but to me Ghidorah is like Batman's Joker. Is he used a lot throughout the history of these movies? Sure, but he's so fucking sick that he's gotta be. Oh you're really going to pass on the three headed flying dragon that spews lightning out of his mouth and is a living, walking, breathing global calamity. Yeah, I thought so.
The way they debut Ghidorah in the movie is similar to the opening scene in 'Minus One' where we meet Godzilla in a much smaller stage of his life, more the likes to a dinosaur in height. If you saw this movie in theaters, the initial Godzilla roar blew out your eardrums.
Ghidorah is introduced in a similar way, seen with just one head. He appears like your typical medieval dragon and he's fucking up everyone's shit. These sad sacks of shit in Japan survived Hiroshima, Godzilla's destruction, and now have to deal with a goddamn dragon that shoots lightning out of his mouth. Just a bad time to be Japanese.
The defense team against these monsters come up with a plan to to electrocute Ghidorah, and it's pretty creative. I do appreciate that in these movies they are coming up with realistic ways to try and combat the monsters, despite them being giant and virtually unstoppable.
The initial aerial scene is out of this world. You don't want to take a breath or blink it's so good. The scene concludes with Ghidorah momentarily being taken down before it evolves and grows it's traditional three heads, thus becoming King Ghidorah. It's at this moment we finally see Godzilla emerge from the sea as his OG theme song roars throughout the theater. Pure cinema at its best. Kinda like waiting for your first date to arrive and she strolls up in the hottest outfit, prettier than you ever imagined. Whatever she said after that moment didn't matter, she had you the moment she walked in. That was this scene. There was no way after this I was going to walk away from the movie disappointed.
And I mean holy hell how awesome does King Ghidorah look here? Again, this is being done on like a $20M budget.
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A real takeaway from the movie is how dark it is. They decide to provide an area of focus to the post-war/Godzilla attack victims. Throughout the movie you see charred bodies, people dying in makeshift hospitals, the impact of someone who came in contact with Godzilla's radiation, and so much more. This is not a movie for kids. In virtually every other Godzilla movie you have death and grief of course, but it's not zeroed in like they do here.
There's also the heavy theme of orphans in this movie. Even the scene where Akiko is so happy for her parents to pick her up from "daycare" and is reminded to not be overly happy to see them because all of the kids there have no parents to go home to. Brutal. Obviously they tease you with the idea she's going to be rendered an orphan herself, but in the end they do decide to bring her with them. It's that kind of human element you actually care about while the monsters are off screen.
Also, the New York City scene is bonkers. You saw it teased in a trailer, but obviously had no clue what that entailed. Was the fight being taken to the US? Nope, turns out this is a vision by this guy Professor Murakami who wants to use this "Godzilla luring technology" to eventually destroy NYC as revenge for Hiroshima.
Like I said, this movie is DARK.
If there's a complaint to be had, as I mentioned, it's that Godzilla is barely in the movie. He probably has what? 9-10 minutes of screen time? People are saying it shoulda been called King Ghidorah: Minus Zero. Completely fair statement. I would have been more upset if they botched Ghidorah, but he was so sick that it didn't really matter. Still, when Godzilla is on the screen accompanied by his music it's as good as it gets.
The final Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah battle sets up the "let them fight" plan, but it sorta felt like Godzilla took out Ghidorah fairly easy after initially being knocked on his ass. You don't even see what happens to Ghidorah. Again, we're working with a small budget so you have to be reasonable. King of the Monsters was operating with a $200M budget so obviously you had bigger scenes like this.
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With that being said, the moment Godzilla is lured to King Ghidorah at the end is fantastic. The plane clears the screen and all you see is Godzilla in a solo shot as his music blasts once again.
I really had a blast watching this in IMAX. The sound quality is beyond elite. King of the Monsters does a better job of aura farming as the kids say these days, but 'Minus Zero' matches that with the audio. It's a blast of a film and another work of art from Yamazaki. Initially he said this was made to be the final movie of his run here, but recently added if it does well and they'll have him back he'll go for another. I think the way it leads off there needs to be another film. Switch up the main characters as their arc closed riding away on the motorcycle, but there's an American aspect there that's clearly formed. Feels like an easy way to introduce a Mecha Godzilla enemy, possibly pitting USA vs. Japan? I'd happily be there opening night to see another this director has up his sleeve.