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‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Is Leaving Early Audiences Breathless With Its Action

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‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ arrives with huge expectations. Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel follows ‘Godzilla Minus One’, which became one of the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

The new film is set in 1949, 2 years after the events of ‘Minus One’, and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity. Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe return, and the sequel is the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX.

As the film begins reaching audiences, viewers are sharing their excitement online. One fan, Sonia, wrote on X that ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is the best film she has seen so far this year.

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She said she was holding her breath at certain points and described the adrenaline as insane. She called seeing it in IMAX unbelievable and said it has some of the best action and fight sequences she has seen in a long time, adding that she was still in shock.

Her reaction matches what many critics said after the world premiere at the New York Film Festival in September. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% Tomatometer score from the first wave of reviews.

The action has drawn the most attention. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich said the sequel features some of the most thrilling kaiju fights ever, and The Guardian’s Jesse Hassenger wrote that its extended climax includes some of the most majestic CG monster action ever put on film.

GamesRadar+ critic Molly Edwards called the visual effects spectacular when the kaiju action arrives. Slant Magazine’s Eli Friedberg predicted that one clash will have most Godzilla fans springing from their seats.

Not every critic was won over by the fights. The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager felt the skyscraper-sized battles were few and far between and found the showdown with Ghidorah surprisingly underwhelming.

Many reviewers agreed that the format matters. Next Best Picture’s Dan Bayer called it a jaw-dropping spectacle that demands the biggest, loudest screen possible, while /Film’s Jeremy Mathai said it was designed for the largest possible canvas.

Lexi Amoriello of Movie Recs by Lex called the film perfect for IMAX. Some viewers have even noted how loud it is, with 1 moviegoer sharing a smartwatch alert that warned of sound levels hitting 90 decibels during a screening.

The human story appears to hit just as hard as the monster fights. Critics praised the action that keeps the human toll front and center, carrying over one of the qualities that made ‘Minus One’ stand out.

Several early viewers admitted to crying during the film. IndieWire went as far as calling the sequel better than ‘Minus One’ in almost every way, while /Film said it falls slightly short of its predecessor.

Yamazaki wrote and directed the film and also served as VFX supervisor, with Shirogumi returning to handle the effects. The sequel reportedly had a budget of more than $15 million, larger than the under-$15 million cost of ‘Minus One’.

Naoki Satō composed the score, and Toho and Robot Communications produced the film. GKIDS, a Toho subsidiary, is distributing it in North America. The film opens in Japan on November 3 and in the United States on November 6.

Box office analyst Todd Thatcher predicts it will win the weekend with about $36.2 million, far above the $11 million opening of ‘Minus One’. If the early buzz is any sign, word of mouth could push it even higher. For fans planning to go, the advice from early audiences is clear: see it on the biggest screen you can find.

What are you most looking forward to in Godzilla Minus Zero?

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