Godzilla Minus Zero opens in local theaters this week

The film Godzilla Minus Zero opens on IMAX screens in Clark County on Tuesday, November 3, and in standard theaters on Friday, November 5. It is a GKIDS release rated R by the Motion Picture Association for some violent content and bloody images. The movie is in Japanese with English subtitles and has a running time of 135 minutes.

The film picks up two years after the events of Godzilla Minus One, setting the story in 1949. It continues the work of director Takashi Yamazaki, who also serves as the writer and visual effects supervisor. Yamazaki’s previous film in the series is credited with resetting the franchise and returning it to its postwar Japan roots. That earlier film won an Oscar and is described by reviewers as quite excellent.

The narrative focuses on Kōichi Shikishima, played by Ryunosuke Kamiki, who is a former kamikaze pilot. He is joined by his wife Noriko, played by Minami Hamabe, and their young daughter Akiko, played by Sae Nagatani. The family lives in the aftermath of World War II, a period defined by trauma and loss. The parents caution Akiko not to be overly joyful when they pick her up from school, a reflection of the many orphaned children at her school.

A new monster, a lightning-spewing dragon named Ghidorah, arrives to haunt the characters. Its path of destruction triggers memories of previous traumas. Professor Kanji Murakami, played by Min Tanaka, experiences the smashing of the city of Matsumoto like a PTSD episode. Murakami lost his family in the bombing of Hiroshima and watched the Ginza district of Tokyo leveled in the first film. His vengeful fury toward the occupying Americans adds a political dimension to the story. The U.S. Army is present in this film, unlike in the predecessor, and is depicted as a self-serving presence that wants no part of Japan's new crisis.

The effort to stop Ghidorah is led by Kenji Noda, a naval engineer played by Hidetaka Yoshioka. His team includes meteorologist Makoto Aoyama, played by Masami Nagasawa, who can predict kaiju movements based on weather patterns. Kōichi and Noriko reluctantly join this group, a difficult decision given that it means leaving their daughter behind, likely for good.

Reviewers note that the human-scaled drama in Godzilla Minus Zero overtakes the monster spectacle. The story is described as bloated, leaving viewers waiting for Godzilla to appear. When the creature does arrive, the film delivers the expected roaring thunder. However, the lengthy runtime is cited as a familiar overreach of a too-ambitious sequel. The characters are seen as lacking enough depth to carry the emphasis placed on them, with their deliberations often feeling artificial and overwrought.

The film features two massive monster set pieces. One is an exhilarating mid-movie aerial sequence that utilizes a seaplane in the foreground and an emergent Godzilla in the background. This sequence is highlighted as a key moment, particularly on IMAX screens, aided by the pulsating score from Naoki Satō. The final confrontation between Ghidorah and Godzilla is described as labored and awkwardly staged. The melee fizzles due to the on-the-ground movements of the human characters around the monsters.

The movie is structured with a somber tone, focusing on the Japanese characters reconciling themselves to the continued presence of ecological disaster. It is compared to an Act 2 of a larger story, keeping the star attraction waiting in the wings. The film does enough to whet the appetite for a third movie, though it will need to solve the numerical logic of a potential title like Godzilla Minus Minus-One. It currently holds a rating of two stars out of four from the Las Vegas Sun.