The Godzilla franchise never creates “copy and paste” movies. Plenty of Godzilla fans will have both artsy films like “Shin Godzilla” and over-the-top action movies like “Godzilla: Final Wars” in their top ten Godzilla films. “Godzilla Minus Zero” shifts genres to lean more into action than its predecessor but keeps the core root of its characters. 

“Godzilla Minus Zero” is the 39th Godzilla movie since the franchise started in 1954. It is the sequel to “Godzilla Minus One,” the highest rated Godzilla movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. With this, “Godzilla Minus Zero” had kaiju-sized shoes to fill. 

In a way, the movie feels designed to be a lower stakes version of “Godzilla Minus One.” Whereas the first movie largely just has Godzilla as a set piece to inflict misery and trauma that progresses the human characters, the second movie reverses this. 

Kaiju, a giant and destructive monster, runs rampant and destroys everything in big spectacles, which happens to also drive some character arcs forward on occasion.

The predecessor “Godzilla Minus One” follows Koichi Shikishima, a Japanese kamikaze pilot who abandoned his mission in WWII because he wanted to survive. He persists even in the darkest of moments, conveying a message of hope, which is the main reason the film is so critically acclaimed. 

“Godzilla Minus Zero” instead focuses on kaiju chaos. King Ghidorah, a golden three-headed alien dragon, crashlands from space and causes destruction in Japan. The spectacle takes a higher focus this time around, with a lot of the movie spent focusing on King Ghidorah and people trying to stop him.

It’s some of the best action in the franchise, especially in Imax. Being able to feel every roar reverberate throughout your chest helps to create a strong sense of immersion. It keeps viewers on the edge of their seat, waiting to see who and what’s going to be destroyed next. 

Similarly to “Godzilla Minus One,” the choreography and set design greatly succeed in emphasizing the sheer scale of the giant kaijus. This lets the viewer immerse themselves in a more believable universe and understand how small they are in comparison.

While “Godzilla Minus One” was more focused on character arcs than action, “Godzilla Minus Zero” combines these elements and has some of the best human characters in the franchise.

Shikishima makes a return, as does his love interest, Noriko Ōishi, and their adoptive child, Akiko. Ōishi is also given some more active involvement in the film because of a mysterious condition she has. She’s more important in the plans to stop the kaiju than she was in “Godzilla Minus One.” 

This movie’s themes are stronger on the importance of family, despite it only being a minor focus in the first film. It’s a natural progression for the characters.

The film also has themes of survivor’s guilt and accountability.

Returning character Dr. Kenji Noda, who helped stop Godzilla the first time, and new character Makoto Aoyama, a gifted young meteorologist, feel guilty over their past plans going haywire. So, Dr. Noda and Aoyama work together to create a plan to take out King Ghidorah and cure their guilty consciousnesses, only to fail. But this doesn’t stop them from trying again.

They have a strong dynamic throughout the film, and despite being supporting characters, their bond is as strong as the central dynamic between Shikishima, Ōishi and Akiko.

A weaker character, however, is Kanji Murakami, an elderly scientist who survived the bombing of Hiroshima and seeks to get revenge on the U.S. by blowing up New York City with Godzilla’s atomic breath.

On its own, it’s a strong idea for a character—seeking revenge out of grief. But the film portrays him as over the top and insane, and the resolution to his character arc feels rushed. It’s an element of the movie that feels like an afterthought to give the film more stakes.

While plenty of the character arcs and conflicts are still enjoyable, none of them have the same punch that Shikishima’s had in the first film. No moment had quite the same gut punch effect that was felt when Shikishima was at his lowest in the previous film. While the first film was tear jerking for both its lowest moments and high hopes, “Godzilla Minus Zero” doesn’t stir the same raw, gripping emotion, but it still proves to be a higher-end Godzilla movie, with many reasons to be in fan’s top tens.

Copy edited by Camila Verzino