★★★½ (3½ out of 4)
If you’re writer and director and VFX visionary Takashi Yamazaki, what do you do for an encore after your “Godzilla Minus One,” released in 2023 on a chump change budget of $15 million, managed to bag the Oscar for Best Visual Effects right out from under the gargantuan sequels to “Mission Impossible” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” that cost 20 times as much? Instead of gloating, Yamazaki gives us a follow-up called “Godzilla Minus Zero” that’s even mightier in the pow department. It’s the first Japanese movie ever to be shot in Imax. This thing will knock your eyes out. Guaranteed.
Godzilla, you’re looking damn good for 72. You’ve come a long way from when a guy in a cheap rubber suit played you in the 1954 "Godzilla" original, rampaging through the cheesy miniature sets representing Tokyo. Now, in "Godzilla Minus Zero”—the 39th film in the franchise—you're a monument to the wonders of digital. And with Yamazaki back in the driver’s seat, you can see everything. The upcoming “Avengers Doomsday” and “Dune 3” better watch their backs. The Big Fella wants a second Oscar and he’s gunning for it.
Set in 1949, “Godzilla Minus Zero” refers to Japan rebuilding from the absolute bottom. Story wise, “Minus Zero” is the sequel, set two years after the previous film’s main events. It continues the Shikishima family’s story and introduces a new threat in the form of a three-headed dragon you might know from Godzilla lore as King Ghidorah.
This thing will knock your eyes out. Guaranteed.
Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and his wife, Noriko (Minami Hamabe), are raising their adopted daughter, Akiko (Sae Nagatani), as Japan rebuilds from the trauma of defeat. Kōichi hopes to protect their newfound peace, but not with Ghidorah around wreaking havoc with weather that meteorologist Makoto Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa) has picked up on. Professor Kanji Murakami (Min Tanaka), a biologist who survived Hiroshima, brings evidence of the creature to Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), now directing Japan’s disaster-response effort.
Things are looking grim until someone has the bright idea to bring back Godzilla from his deep sleep. You thought he was dead? Wrong! The plot feels clunky this time, lacking the emotional punch of “Minus One,” which really made you care about the human characters. You still do, sort of, but nowhere near as much.
No matter. The special effects are even more wowzah than before. And make no mistake, the new eyepoppers have pushed the thrill factor beyond your wildest imaginings. The kaiju carnage is off the charts. There’s a memorable sequence of Godzilla approaching the Statue of Liberty (don’t ask) that is a miracle of scale. And you ain’t seen nothing till your eyes behold the sight of an aerial battle with Kōichi and his fellow pilots trying to the engage the flying Ghidorah whose girth no skyscraper can match. Of course, the ultimate battle between the dragon and Zilla is worth twice the price of admission.
You don’t have to believe me. Yamazaki and his team of miracle workers will make your eyeballs go boing in ways you can’t imagine. Look, I don’t like that “Minus Zero” lacks the “feels” of “Minus One. And all the focus on Ghidorah kind of sidelines Zilla for longer than a star of his caliber deserves. And, yeah, I miss the intimacy that the family story had last time out. No worries. “Godzilla Minus Zero” is still the stuff that dreams are made of.
At 135 minutes, it’s 10 minutes longer than its predecessor but about 10 percent shorter on emotional impact. But that’s not much compared to the visual splendor you won’t be able to stop telling your friends about. You can feel Yamazaki’s pride in what his team has accomplished. And that pride is fully justified.