‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Review: Oscar Winner Takashi Yamazaki’s Vision Of Japan’s Most Iconic Monster Is Back Bigger Than Ever Battling An Even Deadlier Foe

With 2023’s monster hit Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki became only the second director after Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey to take home the Visual Effects Academy Award, and his film became the only Godzilla movie in 70 years to win an Oscar.

Naturally that all calls for a sequel, doesn’t it? The filmmaker wasn’t sure since he didn’t want to disappoint the legions of fans of the first film, a Japanese Kaiju cinema masterpiece which, unlike most of the Godzilla films, really succeeded in part because of the emotional human story it also had to tell. Well it is nice to say he hasn’t forgotten that aspect, even as Godzilla Minus Zero, set two years after the first, has gone much bigger and was “filmed for IMAX”. The fabulous Scope visual palette is still there but adding the IMAX brand turns out to complement it rather than smother it.

The irony here is the titular star, Godzilla, is really just a supporting player in his own movie. This one for much of the 135 minute running time is more obsessed with another Kaiju, the regally named King Ghidorah (one of my favorite Godzilla foes ever). Ghidorah, in the wake of the apparent death of Godzilla in Minus One, is ruling the skies over Matsumoto, a truly terrifying creature who proves three heads are better than one. He seems invincible but the head of the Large Scale Disaster Response Bureau, Kenju Noda (Hidetake Yoshioka) is convinced he can be banished through electrocution and sets the plan in motion with associates including Weather whiz and meteorologist Masami Nagasawa (Makoto Aoyama), and the Professor Kanji Murakami (Min Tanaka), a survivor of unspeakable horrors including the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the Americans to end WWII. The U.S. Army is around too but with their own motivations, just as Murakami has his. The film’s first half is all about Ghidorah, and also the returning Shikishima family who so movingly figured in Minus One.

Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuki Kamiki) is now married to Noriko (Minami Hamabe) sporting an eye patch and her own secrets, the parents of now five year old Akiko (played again by Sae Nagatani). Koichi is happy to put his past as a kamakazi pilot behind him, although still riddled with guilt over still being alive. Noriko’s connection to Godzilla will soon thrust this loving family into crisis as they are drawn into the new disaster when it becomes clear Godzilla is still around, and actually needed by the powers that be to destroy Ghidorah, a complicated plan concocted when all else fails. How the hell do they lure Godzilla out of hiding and to cooperate in this ambitious scheme. This all leads to the film’s truly spectacular Kaiju battle for the ages. Yamazaki had only 35 artisans on board for the equally thrilling fights in Godzilla Minus One, and here only really adds a handful who all contribute to the remarkable visual effects on display at an ounce of the cost of major studio productions on this scale. I smell another Oscar.

Still despite all the histrionics on display, it is the human element that makes this a step above the usual monster mashups. In a heartbreaking Solomon-style moment, circumstances force the parents to give up Akiko to an orphanage as their duty to country (and I won’t give the exact details of that but it is pretty persuasive) trumps duty to family. The separation scene is gut wrenching as Akiko fails to understand why she is being abandoned and gives one wail of a goodbye scene.

The craft of Godzilla Minus Zero is stunning to say the least and if ever there was a reason to head out to the local IMAX, this movie gives you one. The good news is this may not be the last of Yamazaki’s dance with Godzilla as the ending leaves room for a third edition, which considering the artistic and crowd pleasing success of the first two is something to look forward to.

Producer is Kazuaki Kishida. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Title: Godzilla Minus Zero

Distributor: Toho/ G Kids

Release Date: November 6, 2026

Director/Screenplay/VFX: Takashi Yamazaki

Cast: Ryunosuki Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Mio Tanaka, Min Tanaka, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sae Nagtani, Makoto Aoyama.

Rating: R

Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes