“Godzilla Minus Zero”

Published 1:57 pm Tuesday, November 10, 2026

By Bob Garver

“Godzilla Minus Zero” is a follow-up to 2023’s “Godzilla Minus One,” taking place two years after that film in 1949 Japan. This film opens with an attack by a 50-foot space dragon named Ghidora, which is the last thing that country needs following World War II and the attack by Godzilla in the last movie.

Since the events of “Minus One,” heroic pilot Kōichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) has married his lover Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and together they are raising orphan Akiko (Sae Nagatani). Government official Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) recruits Kōichi to serve as a consultant in the fight against Ghidora, but stresses to Noriko and Akiko that he won’t be put in harm’s way. Yeah, and Maverick was just brought back for “Top Gun: Maverick” to serve as an instructor.

Noda’s plan is to shoot rods into Ghidora that can then be hit with concentrated lightning strikes. The plan is a spectacular failure, with the lightning mutating the dragon into an even bigger threat, and even resurrecting an old enemy. You didn’t think that a movie with “Godzilla” in its title would have Ghidora as its only kaiju, did you?

People come to Godzilla movies for monster action, and make no mistake, they’ll get it here. But the real story coming out of this film is the human drama, especially the Kōichi/Noriko/Akiko family dynamic. The ending of the film is very weepy, some will say too much so, but I was weeping along with it. Length and pacing and “suspense” over obvious decisions drag “Godzilla Minus Zero” down a bit, but overall I’m still loving this wing of the Godzilla franchise.

Grade: B- “Godzilla Minus Zero” is rated R for some violent content/bloody images. Its running time is 135 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.