“Godzilla Minus Zero” falls slightly short

In 2023, director Takashi Yamazaki and film company Toho released “Godzilla Minus One,” a reboot of the Japanese branch of the classic monster franchise. It received rave reviews, grossed over $116 million worldwide and won the Oscar for best visual effects on a budget of around $10 million. Naturally, this prompted Yamazaki to make a sequel, “Minus Zero,” which has now reached theaters after its September premiere at the New York Film Festival. “Minus One” is, in many ways, a modern classic. It’s as much a drama about the post-traumatic stress disorder of a man and a nation as it is a monster film. The film’s depiction of the truly nuclear nature of Godzilla’s famous atomic breath is harrowing, and its serious treatment of the human consequences makes it an emotionally engaging experience. What’s more, the film dives into the psychology of defeated Japan after the events of World War II and uses the fights against Godzilla to offer hope to that destroyed nation.

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