This short review is to help readers living in Western countries decide whether Godzilla Minus One is worth watching.
There's three things you need to know beforehand so you won't be disappointed:
1) The movie is in Japanese but has English subtitles.
2) CGI is pretty bad (although I actually prefer costumes and prostethics more than 100% computer graphics. I'd rather Godzilla looks like this than the CGI in 'The Marvels' for example).
3) The movie is dialogue heavy. Godzilla scenes are few and far between. That's how they kept a low budget - by giving you 5 - 10 minute snippets of Godzilla and then it's back to lengthy scenes of dialogue in Japan.
Wrong expectations are probably the biggest reason for how divided the audience reaction has been.
Keep in mind that this movie had a 9-point-something score on IMDb before it was released in Western Countries. By East-Asian standards this is one of the best movies of all time. So there's a clear distinction between how the movie has been received in different regions of the world.
Being from the UK, my biggest gripe with Godzilla Minus One is that with a $15 million budget you would expect it to have far more substance than style. I was expecting top tier, edge-of-your-seat drama to compensate for what the movie lacked visually. But that wasn't the case. The plot was incredibly basic and predictable. It thinks it's deeper than it is.
So overall you're left with a movie that doesn't look great, doesn't showcase Godzilla doing much (just slowly walking around, stepping on people, knocking over buildings and hurling ships) and doesn't have much substance either.
On the below scale...
5. Absolute must watch in theaters.
4. Worth the ticket price
3. Shortlist and wait for streaming.
2. Could miss it entirely.
1. Complete waste of time. Avoid.
...it gets a 2.5 from me.
There's three things you need to know beforehand so you won't be disappointed:
1) The movie is in Japanese but has English subtitles.
2) CGI is pretty bad (although I actually prefer costumes and prostethics more than 100% computer graphics. I'd rather Godzilla looks like this than the CGI in 'The Marvels' for example).
3) The movie is dialogue heavy. Godzilla scenes are few and far between. That's how they kept a low budget - by giving you 5 - 10 minute snippets of Godzilla and then it's back to lengthy scenes of dialogue in Japan.
Wrong expectations are probably the biggest reason for how divided the audience reaction has been.
Keep in mind that this movie had a 9-point-something score on IMDb before it was released in Western Countries. By East-Asian standards this is one of the best movies of all time. So there's a clear distinction between how the movie has been received in different regions of the world.
Being from the UK, my biggest gripe with Godzilla Minus One is that with a $15 million budget you would expect it to have far more substance than style. I was expecting top tier, edge-of-your-seat drama to compensate for what the movie lacked visually. But that wasn't the case. The plot was incredibly basic and predictable. It thinks it's deeper than it is.
So overall you're left with a movie that doesn't look great, doesn't showcase Godzilla doing much (just slowly walking around, stepping on people, knocking over buildings and hurling ships) and doesn't have much substance either.
On the below scale...
5. Absolute must watch in theaters.
4. Worth the ticket price
3. Shortlist and wait for streaming.
2. Could miss it entirely.
1. Complete waste of time. Avoid.
...it gets a 2.5 from me.