Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: Set in 1949, “Godzilla Minus Zero,” the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX, sees Japan rebuilding after World War II only to be left susceptible to a new extraterrestrial threat. “This isn’t Godzilla we are talking about.”

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.

REVIEW: A rare sequel that eclipses its predecessor, “Godzilla Minus Zero” is exciting and emotional.

The film picks up two years after the events of 2023s “Godzilla Minus One.” (SPOILER FROM THAT 2023 MOVIE) That movie climaxed with pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) putting an end to Godzilla’s devastation of Tokyo by flying a plane filled with explosives into the irradiated prehistoric reptile’s mouth. “I want to protect her future. I will stop Godzilla no matter what.”

Blown to pieces, it would appear Godzilla’s rampage is over, but as one of those kaiju chunks sinks to the bottom of Sagami Bay, it begins to regenerate, setting up the 2026 sequel.

Set in 1949, “Godzilla Minus Zero” sees Japan on the rebound from World War II, rebuilding and slowly recovering after turning Godzilla into fish food.

That calm is shattered with the arrival of King Ghidorah, a giant extraterrestrial dragon-like monster who unleashes devastation across the country.

Powerless to fight against Ghidorah’s existential threat, former pilot Kōichi and the scientists of the Disaster Response Bureau have only one hope, the regenerated King of the Monsters. “There is no third time. Everything ends here.”

Let’s get ready to rumble!

“Godzilla Minus Zero” avoids the camp that sometimes associated itself with some of the big guy’s lesser, more playful efforts. While many other Godzilla films focussed on the battle scenes, director (who also wrote the script) Takashi Yamazaki focusses on the human characters, most notably the Shikishima family. Their story grounds the movie in human drama while upping the emotional stakes, so when the battles begin, the spectacle feels earned with high emotional stakes.

That’s not to say “Godzilla Minus Zero” is a talky family drama. Yamazaki stages epic action scenes, like a prolonged aerial scene that climaxes with some very unusual and cool images (NO SPOILERS HERE) of the kind of galactic carnage Ghidorah can bring, and, of course, the deathmatch that pits the two monsters against one another. Gone are the days of rubber suits or miniature sets. They’ve been replaced by CGI (which won an Oscar for “Godzilla Minus Zero) that allows for amped up action.

“Godzilla Minus Zero” is an atomic blast, a good time at the movies, but it also explores deeper themes of the lingering physical and psychological scars of nuclear destruction, survivor’s guilt and geopolitical concerns.

Yamazaki seamlessly blends spectacle with the psychological to create a serious movie about the recovery of post war Japan that uses monsters as allegories for natural disasters, nuclear weapons and the trauma of the atomic bomb.