Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to the absolutely incredible Godzilla Minus One, has just released its first teaser trailer and yet again, humanity’s hubris is gonna get them all killed. The teaser was criminally short, but damn did it pack a lot into a tiny, Son of Godzilla-sized (though far less charming) package.
The problem with the American Godzilla movies is that there’s too much sauceless human drama detracting from the big lizard fights. But in Minus One, the relationship between its two leads, returning stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe, had me sobbing like a baby in the theater, and I’m glad it looks like we’re getting more of that in the sequel. The film also brings back its wholesome mad scientist, Hidetaka Yoshioka, meaning all three of my favorite characters have returned.
Although vanquished at the end of Godzilla Minus One, it was only a matter of time before the King of the Monsters came back. Two years have passed since Godzilla’s fateful first arrival, and now the survivors of his initial attack must face the creature again. Unfortunately, the powers that be have terrible ideas for how to handle him in round two—namely nukes.
The Godzilla series as a whole is a great big metaphor for the horrors of nuclear proliferation while also being a manifestation of the collective trauma unleashed upon Japan (and to a lesser degree the world at large) after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Godzilla Minus One was an even sharper metaphor focused on the apathy of the Japanese government toward its citizens and soldiers in the aftermath of World War II. It seems that Minus Zero will continue that tradition, critiquing the global powers’ destructive wars through the lens of “maybe it’s a bad idea to fight a living nuke with even more nukes.”
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