{"id":1236712678,"date":"2026-09-26T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236712678"},"modified":"2026-09-26T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:01:26","slug":"godzilla-minus-zero-review-takashi-yamazaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/godzilla-minus-zero-review-takashi-yamazaki-1236712678\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Review: Monster Movie Genius Takashi Yamazaki Returns With a Crackling Kaiju Epic Every Bit as Exciting as Its Predecessor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tWriter, director and VFX wizard Takashi Yamazaki three years ago reinvigorated Japanese production titan Toho\u2019s seven-decade kaiju franchise with Godzilla Minus One<\/a><\/em>, which delivered amply on monster mayhem with sophisticated (and Oscar-winning) effects, but perhaps more importantly, grounded the creature feature in affecting humanistic drama. By dividing the film\u2019s attention between mass destruction and the raw pain of post-WWII trauma, reconstruction and societal reintegration \u2014 not to mention the atomic allegory \u2014 Yamazaki boldly reimagined the property while honoring the roots of the series\u2019 1954 original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThat same meticulously balanced duality is evident in the director\u2019s approach to the scaled-up sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero<\/em>, an equally thrilling jolt of marauding monster action anchored by tender themes of family, friendship, camaraderie and personal courage. These are characters about whom we come to care deeply, and Yamazaki trusts his audience to know the value of time spent observing human relationships, ennobling the horror with tangible emotional stakes. Following its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, GKIDS will release the film in the U.S. Nov. 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile the 1949 setting might be expected to make the aftermath of war recede into the past, it\u2019s no less acutely felt here, with resonant moments touching on the complicated perceptions of the Japanese people toward America and the outsize impact on the rest of the world of its military industrial complex. World War II may be over, but its vicious cycle of loss, destruction and power-flexing continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAt the risk of angering the spoiler police \u2014 a cue to stop reading now if you\u2019d rather go in blind \u2014 the new film ushers in another legendary kaiju first seen in 1964. Promotional materials for the most part refer evasively to \u201ca new threat,\u201d but fan anticipation and advance media have pretty much let the badass three-headed dragon out of the bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tJust as Japanese life appears to be returning to some kind of peacetime normalcy, with Godzilla exiled to the ocean depths and believed to have been killed in the previous movie, King Ghidorah comes swooping in with massive wings generating hurricane-force winds, ripping apart an entire town in the opening action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThere\u2019s a ton of sci-fi mythology in the Godzilla<\/em> series concerning the origins of Ghidorah the Explorer, a creature at various times under the control of alien invaders and time-traveling human terrorists, which supposedly arrived on Earth inside a meteorite intent on detroying the planet, much as it had destroyed Venus thousands of years earlier. Yamazaki wisely ignores all that geek lore, instead treating the dragon as simply another killer Monsterverse freak with regenerative powers, inevitably destined to fight a death match with Godzilla for alpha status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tJust as Godzilla can charge up his radioactive dorsal plates and shoot nuclear-level heat rays at his targets, Ghidorah has his own neat trick and three gaping fanged mouths with which to deploy it. The creature design is magnificent, with the huge wingspan and writhing tangle of elongated necks and tails cranking up the menace, while the ferociousness of the monster\u2019s faces is enhanced to great effect by growling and roaring that can sound almost like an evil cackle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe mega-dragon spews out electromagnetic energy in the form of gravity beams; some of the most outstanding sequences involve those lightning-like bolts wrapping antigravitational forcefields around buildings, trains and anything else in Ghidorah\u2019s path, sucked up into the air and then smashed to the ground for maximum wreckage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe heart of the previous film was former WWII kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) \u2014 stunned by the loss of his parents and crushed by guilt over his conduct in the dying days of the war \u2014 daring to dream of a life of domestic contentment only to see that dream repeatedly put in jeopardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tMore or less given no choice, Koichi welcomed a young woman, Noriko (Minami Hamabe), into his home in the rubble of Tokyo, along with Akiko (adorable Sae Nagatani), the orphaned child she had found alone and terrified. Two years on, this found family are inextricably bound together, with flinty neighbor Sumiko (Sakura Ando, so memorable in Hirokazu Koreeda’s transcendent Shoplifters<\/a><\/em>), who also lost her family during the war, serving as \u201cAuntie,\u201d to lend a hand with Akiko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOnce Ghidorah\u2019s rampage spreads fresh terror, Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), the former naval weapons engineer now heading up the government\u2019s Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, begins working on defense plans. He signs up his old comrades from the previous film along with a couple of new ones, meteorological forecaster Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa) and Professor Murakami (Min Tanaka), who lost his family in Hiroshima and may have a hidden agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tVeteran Jun Kunimura (much better served here than in the Takashi Miike dud Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo<\/a><\/em>) also turns up as a doctor studying the effects of exposure to Godzilla\u2019s cellular tissue on people involved in the attacks of Minus One<\/em>. This phenomenon impacts Noriko, who miraculously survived the devastating Ginza attack last time around and has shown remarkable resilience, with her wounds healing at an uncanny rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYamazaki infuses tenderness into not just the core family but also the extended group, bound by profound fondness as much as by horrific shared experience. With Ghidorah dictating that the fight will now be airborne, Koichi is eager to get back in the pilot\u2019s seat, compelled by a sense of duty to his country but also by lingering survivor\u2019s guilt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tNodo wrestles with his own guilt over the countless deaths caused during the war by weapons he designed; he will not hear of Koichi putting his life at risk again and possibly robbing Akiko of a father. Nodo agrees only to bring the pilot on as an advisor, but Koichi is not easily deterred. The same goes for Noriko, whose medical condition may have the potential to be weaponized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tNodo and his crew set up a command center in Matsumoto City, where Aoyama determines that they can track Ghidorah as the creature responds to the electromagnetic force of a fast-moving storm system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAround this point Godzilla \u2014 fully regenerated and pissed as hell \u2014 resurfaces offshore. Given that heavy artillery and bombs have failed to slow down Ghidorah for long, Murakami calls Godzilla\u2019s reappearance \u201cdivine providence,\u201d insisting that setting the two monsters against each other is their only hope. Via some ingenious plotting, that entails a plan to lure the beasts into proximity, using a system tested by the professor in a cheeky homage to Hitchcock\u2019s The Birds<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe resulting clash of the legendary kaiju is a rip-roaring smackdown in a movie that keeps awing the audience with exhilarating action and then continually one-upping itself in the dustups that follow. I’m fairly sure I stopped breathing during a tense scene in which Godzilla bears down on a seaplane attempting a hurried liftoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a><\/em> generated plenty of sparks and Dune 3<\/em> and Avengers: Doomsday<\/em> are still to come, it\u2019s interesting that some of the most pulse-pounding, intense and inventive action sequences on screens this year have been in two East Asian films \u2014 Godzilla Minus Zero<\/em> and Hope<\/a><\/em>. Stand down, Hollywood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAs he demonstrated in Minus One<\/em>, Yamazaki\u2019s command of big-ass destruction spectacle is breathtaking, this time overseeing a significantly larger VFX team that makes the monsters not only mighty physical presences but also part of an immersive environment in which we experience the full force of their earth-shaking power. This is some of the most impressively seamless integration of major-scale CGI in recent memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut the masterstroke of Yamazaki\u2019s direction is the skill with which he ensures that the human drama remains no less compelling than the monster faceoffs. The film also benefits from initially making Godzilla the underdog in the fight, bringing back the creature\u2019s representation in Japanese culture of nuclear trauma, natural disasters and the pervasively heavy anxiety that gripped the nation in the postwar years. Watching the Minus<\/em> movies, you realize how much the lack of that cultural specificity limits the American Godzilla<\/em> entries and how much these latest two Japanese films serve as a reclamation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile the action in those U.S. productions, notably Godzilla vs. Kong<\/a><\/em>, can pack a visceral charge, the human element generally is forgettable and the mythology sketchy. But the characters here are richly developed, especially Koichi and Noriko, played with a mix of determination and vulnerability by Kamiki and Hamabe that fosters genuine emotional investment in them as both individuals and as a makeshift family; and the wonderful Yoshiyoka\u2019s avuncular Noda, who has some of the film\u2019s most affecting moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAs she was in the previous film, Ando\u2019s hard-edged but soft-hearted Sumiko is a droll scene-stealer, and Nagasawa\u2019s Aoyama is a terrific addition \u2014 it\u2019s great to see a woman with authority and sharp intuition on the science team, even if she\u2019s not immune to self-doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe first Japanese feature shot in IMAX, the movie looks stunning, with so much detail and nimble movement packed into returning DP Kozo Shibasaki\u2019s frames. Period production design by Anri Jojo and Wataru Hirai is understated but evocative. And the score by another repeat collaborator, Naoki Sato, is a marvel, ranging from brooding apprehension, with solemn choral elements, to thunderous symphonic bursts for the big clashes. With the plot door open to another sequel, here\u2019s hoping Yamazaki will keep on making new entries in this hugely entertaining series. And while we\u2019re raiding the Toho kaiju vaults, bring back Mothra!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This direct sequel to the 2023 global sensation picks up in 1949, as a makeshift family finds its domestic harmony again threatened by a rampaging creature\u2019s path of destruction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223286,"featured_media":1236710266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":59,"subcategories":114,"thr-review-summary-credits":"Venue<\/strong>: New York Film Festival (Spotlight Gala)
Release date<\/strong>: Friday, Nov. 6
Cast<\/strong>: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Kuranosuke Saski, Jun Kunimura, Mio Tanaka, Sakura Ando, Masami Nagasawa, Min Tanaka, Hidetaka Yoshioka
Director-screenwriter<\/strong>: Takashi Yamazaki
","thr-full-credit":"Venue: New York Film Festival (Spotlight Gala)
Release date: Friday, Nov. 6
Production companies: Toho Studios, Robot Communications
Distribution: GKIDS
Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Kuranosuke Saski, Jun Kunimura, Mio Tanaka, Sakura Ando, Masami Nagasawa, Min Tanaka, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Munetaka Aoki, Eita Okuno, Miou Tanaka, Sae Nagatani
Director-screenwriter: Takashi Yamazaki
Producers: Minami Ichikawa, Taichi Ueda, Kazuaki Kishida
Executive producer: Hisashi Usui
Director of photography: Kozo Shibasaki
Production designers: Anri Jojo, Wataru Hirai
Costume designer: Aiko Mizushima
Music: Naoki Sato
Editor: Ryuji Miyajima
Sound: Hisafumi Takeuchi
Visual effects: Takashi Yamazaki
Visual effects supervisors: Takayuki Ueki, Elsin Okubo, Kiyoko Shibuya
Casting: Toshie Tabata
","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"R","thr-review-running-time":"2 hours 15 minutes","_synopsis":"A radioactive blast.","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"movie-reviews","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"Godzilla Minus Zero","pmc-review-canonical-link":"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt34384661\/","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"Takashi Yamazaki","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"This direct sequel to the 2023 global sensation picks up in 1949, as a makeshift family finds its domestic harmony again threatened by a rampaging creature\u2019s path of destruction.","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"'Godzilla Minus Zero' Review: Monster Mayhem Rules in Thrilling Sequel","mt_seo_description":"In 'Godzilla Minus Zero,' Takashi Yamazaki's sequel to the 2023 smash hit, a new threat emerges to terrorize a Japan still reeling from World War II.","mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","_pmc_canonical_override":"","instant_articles_should_submit_post":false,"_pmc_newsletter_bna_selected_alerts":[],"_pmc_newsletter_bna_subject_override":"","_pmc_newsletter_bna_alert_configs":[],"_pmc_newsletter_bna_send_override":false,"_sailthru_selected_alerts":[],"_sailthru_send_override":false,"_sailthru_alert_subject":"","_sailthru_breaking_news_meta_data":[],"experimental_features_inline_styles":"","linked_video_id":"","pmc_hubs_hide_header":false,"override_apple_news_title":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-27T00:30:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"74f36039-5370-4b22-aa99-50347ad31a82","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-27T00:30:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AdPNgOVNwSyKqmVA0etMagg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_pitched":false,"_pitched_by":"","_pitched_timestamp":"","_pitched_by_name":"","_pmc_automated_related_links":{"settings":{"module_name":"Related","hide_box":0},"data":[{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true}]},"overlay_text_placement":[],"overlay_text_one":[],"overlay_text_two":[],"pmc-gallery":[],"kicker_meta_block_field":[],"_pmc_kicker":[],"pmc_multiple_products_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_photo-ideas-or-requirements":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[114,59],"tags":[64597,96174,71846,8204,95981,95539,95053],"post_format":[],"_post-options":[],"pmc_ads_suppression":[],"hashtags":[],"ep_custom_result":[],"editorial":[],"coauthors":[63456],"class_list":["post-1236712678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-movies","tag-gkids","tag-godzilla-minus-zero","tag-japan","tag-new-york-film-festival","tag-new-york-film-festival-2026","tag-takashi-yamazaki","tag-toho"],"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/godzilla-minus-zero-review-takashi-yamazaki-1236712678\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Review: Monster Movie Genius Takashi Yamazaki Returns With a Crackling Kaiju Epic Every Bit as Exciting as Its Predecessor","url":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/godzilla-minus-zero-review-takashi-yamazaki-1236712678\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/godzilla-minus-zero-review-takashi-yamazaki-1236712678\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Godzilla-Minus-Zero.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Godzilla-Minus-Zero.jpg"},"articleSection":"Movie Reviews","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Rooney"}],"creator":["David Rooney"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Hollywood Reporter","logo":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thr-site-icon.png"},"keywords":["gkids","godzilla minus zero","japan","new york film festival","new york film festival 2026","takashi yamazaki","toho"],"dateCreated":"2026-09-27T00:30:00Z","datePublished":"2026-09-27T00:30:00Z","dateModified":"2026-09-27T00:30:00Z","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{}},"rendered":"