***
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki.
Starring Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Godzilla.
Science-Fiction, Japan, 135 Minutes, Certificate 15.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on November 6th by Anime Limited.
Seventy- two years after his debut, Godzilla returns to screens once more. This time the hype feels even bigger than before, with this continuation of director Takashi Yamazaki’s take on the world’s most popular kaiju. GODZILLA MINUS ONE arrived on screens, seemingly making more of an impression with audiences than the bland American franchise where he shares the screen with King Kong and totally eclipsing the success of its last true highlight, Hideaki Anno and Shinji Iguchi’s SHIN GODZILLA from 2016. After storming the box office and winning an Oscar for Special Effects, there was definitely an appetite to see what Yamazaki had up his sleeve for the future, especially with the underwater tease that closed that film. So here we are, three years later amid a slowly building wave of hype that has managed to keep audiences in the dark as to who or what the big guy would be fighting this time and a merchandising campaign that would make the latest US superhero franchise proud, (I really wanted that massive Godzilla popcorn bucket myself before it sold out everywhere, even if it was seventy-five quid.)
Where MINUS ONE patiently set its characters in place before the mega destruction began, MINUS ZERO roars into life from the word go. We bear witness to a familiar face (who I won’t name here for the spoiler adverse who have managed to keep themselves pure) laying apocalyptic waste to a Japanese city. Two years have passed since Godzilla’s destructive rampage and scientist Kenji Noda is now in charge of a team trying their best to tackle large scale disasters in Japan. With the help of a weather forecasting prodigy and the aged Professor Kanji Murakami, a survivor not only of Godzilla but also Hiroshima, Kenji devises a plan to destroy their latest adversary. With a hands-off US Navy supplying planes, one time disgraced kamikaze pilot Shikishima reluctantly agrees to lead the mission, much to the displeasure of miraculous survivor, and now wife, Noriko and their adopted daughter Akiko. Meanwhile out in the depths of the sea, a certain gigantic someone is showing signs of awakening, bringing the promise of even more large-scale trouble ashore.
After its barnstorming opening, which is swiftly followed up with even more spectacular kaiju action, the film settles into a groove of character development and backstory with a sentimental core. Unlike its predecessor the results this time around are not as engaging, and definitely, especially in the case of Akiko, loudly manipulative. There are a number of scenes here which, due to the IMAX screening I attended, made the volume of the young girls incessant wailing and crying every bit as loud and even more unbearable as the screams and nuclear powered roars of the gigantic creatures that lay waste to the Japanese landscape around them. At the same time Yamazaki is unflinching in his exposure of the human cost and widespread damage that such otherwise fanciful scenarios cause. Where other films such as this, especially its US franchise Saturday morning cartoon like counterpart, treat scenes of destruction as little more than audience pleasing distraction, that is most definitely not the case here; bodies are maimed and lives are snuffed out in the blink of an eye from gigantic tooth and claw while innocent bystanders of all ages are caught up in the gravity defying wave of destruction soundtracked by the wails of mothers clutching their newborn, crying babies. It lends a disturbing air to scenes that we have taken for granted and enjoyed before, yet somehow makes the creatures at the heart of it all even more fearsome and awe-inspiring.
Where the previous film was released the same year as Christopher Nolan’s award winning blockbuster OPPENHEIMER, making for an odd but fun double-bill, Yamazaki also seems willing to explore the effects of such an event in even more detail here than before, setting up an intriguing plotline that seems even more critical of the United States. Alas, it does not really amount to much in the end, leading to the film's pervasive air of promising so much and in the end not quite delivering enough. This goes double for the main star of the film. Simply put, for the most anticipated Godzilla film in years, there is simply not enough Godzilla. While the main trailer promised that this was the end, it definitely does not feel or look like it with a number of plot lines left dangling at the end.
Nevertheless when he does show up, it is so easy to get caught up in the widescreen spectacle of it all. To go along with the human frailty at the heart of it all, there is a titanic showdown here that delivers gigantic creature on gigantic creature violence that takes Kaiju cinema to new delirious heights. Headshots and monsters getting battered with their own limbs are only a fraction of the spectacular action on offer here which deserves to be seen on the biggest screen you can find. It can definitely lay claim to being the most spectacular blockbuster of the year, but at the same time there is still a lingering feeling of dissatisfaction, especially in comparison to MINUS ONE. Whether there is going to be a PLUS ONE or whatever, at some point in the future remains to be seen. It certainly would be appreciated, if only to give its titular star the recognition and screentime, he, and his loyal audience deserve.
Iain MacLeod