You heard it. I heard it. We all heard it. King Ghidorah is in the upcoming Godzilla Minus Zero. Even though I was kind of hoping that Hedorah would be the kaiju that would go up against Godzilla in this sequel, King Ghidorah's trademark roar could clearly be heard at the end of the latest trailer. Even though King Ghidorah is one of Godzilla's best enemies, I'm going to come out and say it: He does NOT need to be in this movie.
But, Rich, how? You just said that you wanted Hedorah to be in this movie, and he's super obscure. Why wouldn't you want what is arguably Godzilla's greatest foe to be in this film? Well…
Godzilla Minus One Ruled Because Godzilla Was The Main Antagonist
I am a MEGA Godzilla fan. In fact, I think he's the greatest character in cinematic history, but I think the best Godzilla movies are the ones where Godzilla is the main antagonist. This is one of the reasons why Godzilla Minus One is my favorite Godzilla movie of all time.
Honestly, ALL of the Godzilla movies where he's the sole bad guy are my favorite: The original 1954 flick, The Return of Godzilla, Shin Godzilla, and yes, Godzilla Minus One, are the best Godzilla movies, and nobody is going to convince me otherwise. So, I was definitely looking forward to this sequel to continue the trend, but alas, it's just not to be!
As for wanting Hedorah, well, if we were going to get ANY Godzilla villain (and it seemed to be the direction with this next movie), then I wanted it to be Hedorah since he's only really been in two movies - and a short film for Godzillafest, if we're counting that. So, I'd definitely prefer him over King Ghidorah, who's been done to death. That's not the only reason I don't want Monster Zero…
I Don't Want This Sequel To Lose Sight Of The Humans Just To Stage A Massive Kaiju Battle
The main reason Minus One holds the distinction of being my favorite Godzilla movie is because it's not even about Godzilla. It's about the people on the ground. Yes, other Godzilla films have focused on human characters, but if I'm being completely honest, none of those characters were interesting. I'm talking about every era of Godzilla - the human characters in these films are just BORING!
Not so with Minus One, where every human character introduced to the story felt vital. I see that characters like Noriko Shikishima, Kōichi Shikishima, and Kanji Murakami are returning for this sequel, and I still don't want their stories to get overshadowed by a massive Kaiju battle going on in the middle of it. I fear that King Ghidorah is just too big a deal to be relegated to a background character role. His and Godzilla's battle will likely take up a lot of screen time, and I'd rather know how Kōichi and Noriko are doing now that they're married rather than see Godzilla take on Ghidorah for the umpteenth time.
Lastly, This World Has Felt Relatively Realistic Thus Far, So Why Are We Adding In A Three-Headed Alien?
Lastly, and this may be my biggest sticking point, but how are we even getting King Ghidorah in this film in the first place? Unless director Takashi Yamazaki is completely changing King Ghidorah's background, this kaiju's an alien!
That normally doesn't bug me, but it does for this sequel. You see, Minus One ruled because it felt “realistic.” Of course Godzilla himself is very unrealistic, but at least he felt like he existed in this world. That said, King Ghidorah is not of this world, and are we really being introduced to an alien in this relatively grounded take on Godzilla?
I honestly want this film to be better than Minus One, but adding in Ghidorah just seems…well, not as good as Minus One, and that's a shame.
But what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts, fellow Godzilla fans!
