The 2020s have been surprisingly kind to the Godzilla franchise. Although these movies date back to 1954, with more than seven decades of tales centered on the King of the Monsters, he’s found more love in the last handful of years than ever before. Much of that is owed to the MonsterVerse and movies like Godzilla vs. Kong, but it was 2023’s Godzilla Minus One that brought a lot of folks into the fold.
As a lifelong fan, please allow me to say welcome. We’re so happy to have you. But we also need to have a frank conversation about what a Godzilla movie is and how he functions as a character, given the response to Godzilla Minus Zero.
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One pointed search on your social media platform of choice will bring up plenty of posts with people saying something to the tune of, “I liked the movie but needed more Godzilla.” To be clear, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this does feel like an opinion coming from a casual fan, perhaps someone who only started their journey with the franchise a few years ago with Minus One. To these people, I would humbly suggest that no, Godzilla Minus Zero doesn’t need more Godzilla. Allow me to explain.
To be clear, the response to director Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel has been resoundingly positive, with Minus Zero also doing big business at the box office. Broadly speaking, critics and audiences seem to love it. Though — and without calling out any individuals by name — this complaint has been lobbed at the movie quite a bit. A lot of folks seem to think there isn’t enough Godzilla in this new Godzilla movie.
For what it’s worth, by every measure we have to judge how a movie is received, the response to this movie has been downright glowing. So it’s not like Godzilla’s screen time (or perceived lack of it) was detrimental to what the vast majority of people seem to consider a damn fine piece of popcorn cinema.
Beyond that, and perhaps more to the point, the franchise has historically been closer to Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster classic Jaws in how it handles the title character. Put another way, less has generally been viewed as more. Godzilla gets a little less than eight minutes of total screen time in Minus Zero, a movie with a runtime of 2 hours and 15 minutes. The big guy is on screen for about 6% of the total runtime, which isn’t a lot; this I grant you.
But this also isn’t out of line. The vast majority of Godzilla movies feature the King of the Monsters for less than 10% of a given movie’s total runtime. In many cases, that's less than nine minutes. Only a few movies feature the legendary kaiju for more than 20 minutes, including Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.
Some of those movies are well-liked, but not necessarily more than some of the most roundly acclaimed entries in the series. More Godzilla doesn’t always equal a better Godzilla movie. Even Minus One only featured the character for 12 minutes, which isn't much more than eight. The difference? Minus Zero also features King Ghidorah, who gets an awful lot of screen time. So, overall, Minus Zero features more monster action.
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Scarcity creates demand. In this movie’s case, even though Godzilla isn’t on screen a ton, when he does show up, the impact is felt a great deal. Those eight minutes matter a whole lot. Sure, Shin Godzilla, a damn fine entry in the franchise, features him on screen for more than 17 minutes, but that movie has no other monsters. In this case, King Ghidorah gets the spotlight and delivers a lot of spectacle, which makes Godzilla’s scenes hit even harder.
Another consideration? With all due respect, a great many movies in this franchise don’t feature the greatest human characters. In many cases, they’re fine, but you can find yourself tapping your foot while you wait for the monsters to show back up. Both Minus One and Minus Zero benefit greatly from human characters we actually give a damn about. Sacrificing that wouldn’t feel right.
All of this to say, what seems like a small amount of screen time is just par for the course for this franchise for roughly 70 years. The original Godzilla, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. What do they all have in common? Godzilla gets less than nine minutes of screen time. Yamazaki continued the tradition of the “less is more” approach and, while I can certainly understand the sentiment that no amount of Godzilla is ever enough Godzilla, I also tend to believe that “leave ‘em wanting more” is a better way to go.
You want more Godzilla? The good news is there are dozens more movies out there for newer fans to check out. Come on in, the water’s fine. It has monsters in it, but it’s fine.
Godzilla Minus Zero is in theaters now.
