Godzilla Minus Zero's teaser trailer dropped yesterday, and you should go ahead and watch repeatedly until a longer trailer drops.

Godzilla Minus One (2023) holds a special place in my heart. I took my son, who was seven-years-old at the time, to see it in the movie theater. It was his first PG-13 movie (mine was Jurassic Park on VHS) and the first subtitled movie he watched in full. It's a Godzilla movie, so I thought, "How scary could it be?"

Scene one (practically): Godzilla throws a flailing body in the air and chomps a guy to death. Pretty similar to Jurassic Park, actually.

We were enthralled, and when it hit Netflix, we showed it to my wife, who cried at the emotional backbone of the film. It's a beautiful watch.

The last movie I saw in the theater before COVID was a screening of the original Gojira (1954). Screened at a film club which typically aired schlocky horror movies, the pre-show festivities were light. A group photo. Trivia about the goofier entries in the series.

After the film ended, the audience—many of whom (myself included) sported t-shirts featuring the Big G—exited in thoughtful silence. The film remains a haunting watch, as it's immediately evident to any adult viewer what this film is actually depicting: a traumatized nation in mourning.

Godzilla Minus One is a much more hopeful watch. While the first film in the series wrestles with responsible use of devastating weaponry, Minus One wrestles with blind patriotism and guilt. The protagonist is a failed kamikaze returning home to an obliterated village. Godzilla's arrival provides an opportunity for redemption. Is our hero rising to the moment to protect Japan, or is he about to engage in a second attempt at the blindest type of patriotism: a suicide run?

If you thought Gozilla flicks were kitschy trash—well, you might have been onto something. However, the first and final entries are the furthest from this perception.