Godzilla Minus Zero Review: Go, Go, See Godzilla

Seen at a press screening in IMAX.

Verdict: Takashi Yamazaki doesn’t miss. A sequel that fills Godzilla Minus One‘s Godzilla-sized shoes, built for IMAX, with VFX and sound design that rattle the whole theater. Go see it as big and as loud as you can.

• Director, writer and VFX supervisor: Takashi Yamazaki
• Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Yuki Yamada, Sakura Ando, Masami Nagasawa, Jun Kunimura
• Studio: Toho · Visual effects: Shirogumi · North American distributor: GKIDS
• Rated: R (some violent content/bloody images)
• Release: In Japan Nov. 3, 2026; in North American theaters, including IMAX, Nov. 6, 2026

Spoiler-free review

Blue Öyster Cult joke aside: go see Godzilla Minus Zero.

A sequel can’t possibly be that good, can it? Minus One won an Oscar for visual effects, so this one had some Godzilla-sized shoes to fill. Oh man, did it fill them.

Made for IMAX. Really, really made for IMAX.

The VFX are just unreal, from the very moment we’re introduced to Ghidorah until the big dog himself puts that three-headed monster on ice. This movie was made for IMAX. It was really, really made for IMAX. It looked so good, and the design of Ghidorah is incredible. We got to see the movie Takashi Yamazaki always wanted to see as a kid.

The sound team deserves an Oscar

The VFX, as I said, are amazing, but that’s only half of the experience in IMAX. The sound… oh my god, the audio team deserves an Oscar for this one. The harmony of Ghidorah’s three heads and the crackling of its lightning breath were just perfect. The score and the roars were RATTLING the theater. It was like I was sitting in a 4DX theater, and if this makes it to 4DX for its full release, I’ll be seeing it in 4DX as well. And I hate 4DX.

Man vs. beast, beast vs. beast, man vs. man

The story is fantastic. Takashi Yamazaki doesn’t miss. It moves from man vs. beast to beast vs. beast to man vs. man. We see families torn apart by war and destruction, and the hubris of man is on full display: people thinking they can always dictate and control the world, when we are simply ants among the kaiju.

The movie continues to set up the next film in the series, and I can’t wait for the next one in what’s HOPEFULLY a long series.

More: the Godzilla Minus Zero trailer and release date.

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⚠️ Spoilers: how Ghidorah evolves

Stop here if you haven’t seen Godzilla Minus Zero. Everything below spoils the film.

Much like the 1964 classic, we’re told a similar story about King Ghidorah, but much more fleshed out. Ghidorah goes from a ball of mush eating random animals to a classic-style dragon. Then man tries to kill Ghidorah with fire (doesn’t work), then with lightning (makes things worse; honestly, who attacks a lightning-spitting dragon with lightning?). They think the dragon has been defeated, when really it’s evolving.

Two massive heads grow from the beast, the tail splits in two, and the black scales peel away to reveal a fully formed King Ghidorah. Now King Ghidorah has even stronger lightning powers, and it doesn’t just change magnetic fields: it lifts an entire town and drops it. Truly brutal. This movie is rated R for a reason. It has no problem showing a mom and child crushed by a house. Don’t bring your kids to this one.

Man, the evolution of Ghidorah was amazing. The VFX team and the sound design, with the roars and the lightning breath ripping out of King Ghidorah, were amazing. The harmony of all three heads together was incredible. They put so much passion into every part of this film.