New Things #1: Godzilla Minus One

One of my most strongly held unpopular opinions is that cinephiles and movie critics often give foreign films a pass or judge them less critically than English-language films. Godzilla Minus One is a perfect example. I believe that, if the movie had been in English, more people would be critical of the melodrama, acting, dialogue (although maybe the actual dialogue is better than the subtitles make it seem), the formulaic plot, the silly plans, the sillier ending, etc.

All of that being said, the lower bar is what should be used to judge this movie, it’s a Godzilla film for crying out loud. It hit all of the right notes for me. I’m sure some monster movie fans might have wanted more action and destruction but I was pleasantly surprised with the mix of action vs. emotional scenes.

I do think some of the praise the film is getting is over the top. Godzilla Minus One was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. I can’t imagine I’ll ever want to watch the film again and I have zero interest in a sequel and I’m not sure I’ll even remember much about it this time next year.