Godzilla: Minus Zero: Movie Review

Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Yuki Yamada, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Sakura Ando, Miou Tanaka, Min Tanaka, Masami Nagasawa, Jun Kunimura
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki

It was perhaps no surprise that Godzilla Minus One proved to be such a success, earning an Oscar for FX and a feeling that the monster world of Godzilla was more suited to a human element than just kaiju clashes. (Something the Western versions of the franchise have yet to match.)

But perhaps a sequel was more of a difficult ask this time around, given the tragedy of the impact of the Second World War had already been mined for dramatic effect. So it's not a surprise that large swathes of Godzilla: Minus Zero feel like a rehash of the themes gone before, but just upgraded a little to take in more PTSD from the war.

It's 1949 and Japan is still recovering from both the end of the conflict and the last appearance of Godzilla. Former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima has married Noriko, who survived Godzilla's attack and is trying to rebuild their lives. Equally, Kenji Noda, now director of the government's Large-Scale Disaster Response Bureau, is trying to rebuild and protect Japan from another monstrous incursion. But when a new kaiju appears and destroys Matsumoto City, the race is on for survival, something that's more complicated when Godzilla, previously thought dead, returns.

There's no denying that in the 2hour and 15-minute onslaught of the return of Godzilla, Godzilla: Minus Zero offers a reasonable amount of spectacle, even if the big fella doesn't appear until nearly an hour in.

Whereas the last film was set more at sea, this is a more land-based affair, showing the impact of both the creature's attacks and the problems faced by Japan as they try and rebuild in the aftermath of the conflict. But plenty of the human drama feels a little overwrought this time, and while it's well-paced, there are moments that make you wish for the action to really kick in.

When it does though, the scale of what Takashi Yamakazi and his team have created is visually stunning and worth enjoying on the biggest screen possible. Sequences show houses being lifted off the ground and cast into the air, their inhabitants twisting within like some poor relatives of The Wizard of Oz; others once again add to the mythos of Godzilla, boosted by a soundtrack of kaiju proportions - this is a film that delivers pomp and bluster without ever overdoing it.

It may be a surprise that the human side of the story is a little more rambling and chaotic in parts - it's certainly less affecting than the Godzilla Minus One was and perhaps that's not a surprise, but it is a minor disappointment.

However, when Godzilla: Minus Zero turns it up, the power and prowess of this franchise is extremely - and rightfully - hard to deny.