Now am I one of those reviewers who will say Minus Zero is superior to Minus One? Not currently but I can safely say it is on par with the first! Of course I was excited to see this, hell it's probably the last of my most anticipated movies for the year, but excitement doesn't always equal expectations. The story picks up 2 years after the supposed destruction of Godzilla when unbeknownst to all another monster has taken to terrorizing Japan with extraterrestrial origin, as we catch up with the Shikishima family who are thrown head first into the deep end once again and an eventual showdown between old rivals begins anew. There's a fair bit more to it than that plot wise including a scientist who was giving me major Doctor Mifune vibes from Terror Of Mechagodzilla, a weather expert who can track the newest iteration of Ghidorah, and a follow up to Noriko's cliffhanger condition. It's still a very well told story that focuses primarily on the human characters, maybe even to the slight detriment of Godzilla screentime, but nevertheless I'd be a damn liar if I said it doesn't make you very emotionally invested. Cause we don't truthfully have a lot of examples of continuity in the Godzilla series so the simple fact we are getting back together with these characters who already have had such a journey from the last movie makes it ridiculously easy for both the writers but more importantly the audience to have that connection. And hey a good grab bag of fan service to past films and even references to old sci-fi movies of the 50s doesn't hurt, we got a lot of 1985 callbacks and and even a potential(?) Godzilla 2000 plotpoint revisited. Cast still is bringing their A-Game with flowers aplenty to Ryûnosuke and Minami who still bring a lot of drama and emotion to characters who you so wish to have a happy ending, lot of spotlight on Doc Noda which I loved cause he's a fan favorite already and Hidetaka gets some more material to sink his teeth into, newcomers Masami Nagasawa and Min Tanaka are solid additions to the cast and each have their own part to play, so full marks across the board there! The special effects and production do feel bigger than the first and still just as great, both starring monsters get a bit of a redesign and it suits them very well, the scale is much more pronounced here with vast ruined cities and if last movie had a lot of emphasis on water shots we get a lot of aerial shots here. I can completely see why they went for the R rating here, this movie has some serious balls and at least horrified me to my core twice, it really does bring a lot of realism to a shall we say outlandish genre to put it lightly, but it works effectively and never detracts from the film. Pretty damn bold to bring Ghidorah into the fray if I'm being honest, I obviously knew we were getting some continuation but I neverrrr would have bet money on the space dragon making an appearance. But it poses the biggest threat of this famous kaiju we've had in years (sorry Monsterverse we still love you), and seeing the gravity beams do exactly what the name suggests was stunning in more ways than one. Godzilla may not have a great deal of screentime here, I'd probably even say he has less than the previous film but when he is on screen you better believe my eyes were glued to the scene and getting all kinds of pumped up. It never fails to put a smile on my face. If I had two gripes for this film and reqlly one was just about as close of a call to me hating a film based on story direction alone, I will say the big fight at the end could have used a more definitive end cause I saw it and I was like, oh we still got round two or maybe even three to go but NOPE! Just ended and it threw me off a bit. And the ending man...I seriously was about to cuss at the screen very loudly for reasons I cannot divulge, and you will know precisely what I mean when you see it, to the point where if they did go through with it no matter how good the story, solid the production, or invested I was I would have hated this movie for the rest of my days. But we're good! We're happy! It's a damn good continuation and I'm giving it time to grow on me like Minus One, even though that film knocked my socks off opening day, so even if I say it's nearly as good as the first that is by no means, shape, or form a slam. I give it 4 stars, 8.5/10, and there will certainly be an In Retrospect next year.
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