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Godzilla Minus Zero reviewed at London Film Festival: critics split on sequel

Takashi Yamazaki's sequel to Godzilla Minus One has drawn opposing reviews: the Evening Standard calls it a "monstrously good" follow-up, while Screen Rant calls it "remarkably mediocre".

2 outlets · 0L · 2C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Screen Rant
Image: Evening Standard

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Centre · 2Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to the Oscar-winning 2023 film Godzilla Minus One, has been reviewed following its screening at the London Film Festival. Centre · 2Takashi Yamazaki returns as writer and director, and also oversees the visual effects. Centre · 2The film is set in 1949, two years after the first film, and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face a new disaster.

Centre · 1According to the Evening Standard, Godzilla returns while Japan's Disaster Response Bureau is already dealing with a dragon-like alien named Ghidorah, which spawns extra heads, a tail and golden scales after early attempts to stop it. Scientists then decide the only option is to let the two creatures fight. Returning cast members include Ryunosuke Kamiki as Kōichi Shikishima and Minami Hamabe as Noriko, joined by Masami Nagasawa as weather forecaster Makoto Aoyama. Centre · 2Both reviewers praise the visuals. The Evening Standard cites a higher VFX budget and "a staggering visual spectacle", and Screen Rant calls the film "visually arresting" with monsters that look "profoundly authentic", though it says fire and explosions are less polished. Centre · 1They disagree on the story. The Evening Standard says the character drama is "just as compelling and very moving", with only occasional far-fetched or tangled plotting, and that the film carries social commentary on grief, guilt, government failure and WWII trauma.

Centre · 1Screen Rant's Ben Gibbons says the sequel shifts towards the "action-dense, story-light" Godzilla films of the West, dilutes the human stories, and ends with a resolution that feels "largely unearned". He concludes it is "a remarkably mediocre film" that will not reach the heights of the first.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre2 outlets

Framing
Both centre outlets run opinion reviews of the sequel and judge it against Godzilla Minus One. The Evening Standard is enthusiastic. Screen Rant is disappointed.
Emphasis
Both stress the visual effects. The Standard adds emotional core and allegory. Screen Rant adds weakened human drama and an unearned ending.
Leaves out or plays down
Screen Rant gives few plot details and does not mention Ghidorah. The Standard does not discuss the ending or release date.
Charged language
“Monstrously good sequel”“remarkably mediocre film”“largely hollow ending”
For example
“Godzilla Minus Zero - London Film Festival: Monstrously good sequel” — Evening Standard
“leaving this a remarkably mediocre film” — Screen Rant

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.