Godzilla is too often misunderstood. For more than 70 years, the giant ocean lizard has remained one of cinema’s most enduring characters, but expanding franchises and Hollywood commercialism have frequently lost sight of the atom-bomb allegory that the King of the Monsters was supposed to symbolise in 1954.

Takashi Yamazaki is here to set the record straight, though. Three years ago, the Matsumoto-born writer and director was the man behind Godzilla Minus One, a new story set in 1940s Japan that received international acclaim and a visual effects Oscar on its way to becoming the highest-grossing Japanese-language film of all time in the US.

Now, Yamazaki is back with Godzilla Minus Zero, a sequel of more awe-inspiring spectacle and postwar drama. Premiering at film festivals in New York and London, the film has plenty to say, but tell us first of all that it’s time to take Godzilla more seriously.

Proceedings begin in 1949, two years after the events of the last outing, with the population endeavouring to rebuild their lives while much of Tokyo is a restricted zone after being wrecked by Godzilla, who they hope has gone for ever.

Predictably, though, a new threat arrives and despite only being teased in the trailer, it is no spoiler to reveal that the beast is longtime Godzilla nemesis Ghidorah, as the film’s opening sees the multi-headed dragon lay waste to yet more civilisation.

All the principal characters from Minus One return, chiefly the big-haired scientist Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), now head of the government’s Disaster Response Bureau, plus ex-kamikaze pilot Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), his partner Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and Akiko, their adopted child. Alongside them are also notable newcomers in the form of a young meteorologist and an aging biologist who carries scars from Hiroshima.

Once again, the fight against the creatures that see cities like nothing more than Lego is characterised by elaborate and innovative schemes from lab-coated civilians, with Yamazaki continuing to be masterful at building momentum while clearly laying out how the plucky scientists intend to slay the beast. Last time it involved balloons and water pressure; on this occasion they look to weaponise the weather.

As ever, though, the film is intent on keeping its narrative feet on the ground. Every action set piece is offset by at least two scenes of textured and often wrenching human drama as families and ordinary citizens reckon with the trauma of Hiroshima and growing anxieties of apocalyptic devastation.

There is an old-school melodrama sensibility to the script and some of the performances, which doesn’t always avoid cliché, but Yamazaki’s dedication to social commentary is to be commended.

Fans of the franchise will be relieved to know that the creatures in this feature are, of course, on a collision course – and audiences seeking some classic -genre destruction are not short-changed.

As Ghidorah’s gravity beams lift entire towns and Godzilla reduces cities to dust and concrete slurry, the spectacle and visual-effects excellence is visceral enough to melt the faces off audiences looking up at the big screen.

It is far superior and more serious than Godzilla having a royal rumble with King Kong deep in the Earth’s crust, as seen in a recent Hollywood iteration.

There have been no fewer than 39 Godzilla films to date (34 from Japanese distributor Toho and five American productions) and Godzilla Minus Zero, the first Japanese production of any genre filmed for IMAX, is another blockbuster of the highest order. In Yamazaki's safe and skilled hands, there is plenty of life left in the nuclear lizard.

Godzilla Minus Zero is released in UK cinemas on Friday 6 November 2026.

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