My quick rating – 7.8/10. Finally, a trip to the cinema to check out Godzilla Minus Zero! I used to do this all the time, but somewhere along the way, I developed a rather ridiculous reason for avoiding theaters. I can’t multitask while watching a movie. No pausing, no checking things, no wandering off to do something else. Just sitting there watching a movie like some sort of normal person. Lame, huh? Anyway, a nice change of pace, and this time I had my bro-in-law and his son Dom along for the ride.
Picking up two years after the events of Godzilla Minus One, Japan is still struggling to recover. War brought the country to zero, and Godzilla took it into the negatives. Just as humanity begins to reclaim some semblance of normality, another enormous problem decides to ruin everyone’s day. Apparently, rebuilding a country wasn’t difficult enough. There is no third time. Everything ends here.
That opening scene with Ghidorah was absolutely fantastic. Loud, spectacular, and exactly the sort of introduction you want when two giant monsters are about to make everyone’s insurance premiums irrelevant. The monster effects are exceptional, and the transformation throughout the film is particularly impressive. Takashi Yamazaki clearly hasn’t lost his touch.
The action is where this movie really earns its keep. There aren’t a huge number of fight sequences, but the ones we get are phenomenal. The aerial battle around the halfway point is a particular highlight, and the final confrontation delivers some wonderfully destructive entertainment. Visually, this is another impressive achievement, and the sound design deserves just as much credit. This is absolutely one to experience in a theater. Your speakers at home might forgive you, but your neighbors probably won’t.
Unfortunately, the human drama doesn’t fare quite as well. I understand the emotional weight of what these characters have experienced, and there’s certainly a place for the melodrama. However, some scenes drag on considerably longer than necessary. That adorable little girl spends so much time crying that I genuinely started wondering whether she had more screen time roaring than Godzilla and Ghidorah combined. I swear, I heard her more often than either monster. Thankfully, her final scene is genuinely touching, so I’ll give her a pass.
The R rating might also scare off a few potential viewers, but honestly, it’s a fairly soft R. There’s some brutal fantasy violence, particularly during the final battle, but nothing that should put off most monster-movie fans.
Oscar nominations wouldn’t surprise me at all. The technical work is outstanding, and Yamazaki delivers another exceptional Godzilla outing. That said, I still maintain that Godzilla Minus One is the best overall Godzilla movie made. Minus Zero is a slight step down, mainly thanks to the overextended human drama, but it’s still bloody good monster entertainment.
A spectacular big-screen experience, even if I could have done with about twenty minutes less crying and twenty minutes more monster mayhem.
