Godzilla minus Zero teaser

[Donald]

Extremely bare bones with no release date, but what the hay.

 

[MarkB]

Goo!

 

[GreyLord]

Is it so terrible that I'm not a Godzilla fan. These movies came out many years ago and had terrible puppetry and terrible special effects. I find that some people tend to love them for some reason.

The new ones have much better effects...but I just...haven't found any interest in them.

Should I have watched the Minus One movie?

Would it change my mind?

The only one I slightly enjoyed is the one that everyone hates (that 90s American one, I love how the French copy cat Americans by chewing gum).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Minus One is a great movie, but it’s more a serious movie about post-war Japan, and what it’s like to be on the losing side generally, than it is about giant monsters.

 

[MarkB]

Is it so terrible that I'm not a Godzilla fan. These movies came out many years ago and had terrible puppetry and terrible special effects. I find that some people tend to love them for some reason.

The new ones have much better effects...but I just...haven't found any interest in them.

Should I have watched the Minus One movie?

Would it change my mind?

The only one I slightly enjoyed is the one that everyone hates (that 90s American one, I love how the French copy cat Americans by chewing gum).

I don't think it will change your mind about Godzilla movies in general, but it is an excellent examination of post-war Japan that happens to make very good use of a giant monster to help explore its themes.

 

[TiQuinn]

Is it so terrible that I'm not a Godzilla fan. These movies came out many years ago and had terrible puppetry and terrible special effects. I find that some people tend to love them for some reason.

The new ones have much better effects...but I just...haven't found any interest in them.

Should I have watched the Minus One movie?

Would it change my mind?

The only one I slightly enjoyed is the one that everyone hates (that 90s American one, I love how the French copy cat Americans by chewing gum).

I would say if there is a truly good Godzilla movie that way outperformed my expectations, it’s Godzilla Minus One. And yeah, I’m not even really a Godzilla fan.

 

[Umbran]

Should I have watched the Minus One movie?

Yes.

Would it change my mind?

Would it change your mind... about what? Other monster movies?
No, it won't do that. G-1.0 is a kaiju/monster movie, but it is much more than just a monster movie. It is stretching the genre into new spaces, and doing a really great job of it.

 

[Clint_L]

Minus One is a great movie, but it’s more a serious movie about post-war Japan, and what it’s like to be on the losing side generally, than it is about giant monsters.

I had issues with Minus One for exactly these reasons. Specifically, I think it promotes the problematic ideology that the Japanese military were victims of WW2, when militarism was one of the main drivers of the Pacific theatre. I don't want to debate the pros and cons of that position as it will get into politics, but in terms of the film's themes, it felt disquieting to me, given the Japanese military's tradition of minimizing its own actions during WW2.

 

[Umbran]

I had issues with Minus One for exactly these reasons. Specifically, I think it promotes the problematic ideology that the Japanese military were victims of WW2, when militarism was one of the main drivers of the Pacific theatre. I don't want to debate the pros and cons of that position as it will get into politics...

Hm. I am not debating about militarism in WW2.

But, what I got from the film wasn't that "the military" were victims. I got that the individual humans, many of whom were in the military, were victims.

Kind of like how I could do a piece on Vietnam veterans who really got the short end of the stick, without extending that to the US military as a whole.

 

[Clint_L]

Hm. I am not debating about militarism in WW2.

But, what I got from the film wasn't that "the military" were victims. I got that the individual humans, many of whom were in the military, were victims.

Fair, though I was struck by how the climax, in particular, was framed as a collective military action and a chance for redemption, and some of the rhetoric used in the filmed echoed that of the Japanese Far Right...and that's as far as I can safely go with that.