This past month has been an early Christmas present for movie fans, with a huge range of hotly anticipated films hitting the big screen. That includes the surrealist Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson as the morally dubious Chris Hansen, as well as Martin McDonagh’s stressful comedy thriller Wild Horse Nine.
I’ve been dashing to my local cinema to see as many of these releases as I can, and the latest film that caught my eye was Godzilla Minus Zero. I loved the previous instalment of the Japanese blockbuster (Godzilla Minus One), so within days of the new release being out, I found myself back in the cinema, clutching an extra-large fizzy drink, as per.
The experience was perfect in a lot of ways. Seeing Godzilla on the big screen felt genuinely intimidating, with his massive frame dwarfing military tanks and villages. There is another creature sharing the stage this time round (don’t worry, you won’t find spoilers here), which only adds to the sense of peril.
And, while the expertly crafted visual effects left me awestruck, there was one aspect of my experience that left me a little disappointed – the sound. In my screening, the volume level felt a little too timid, and that detracted from the drama of the film.
When Godzilla first lets out his mighty roar and fires the deadly heat ray, I was hoping to feel blown away by the sheer power of the beast. But there was no floor-shaking bass or massive dynamic shift to be heard. It all left me feeling a little disappointed.
It wasn’t just action scenes that had a less direct impact. During a discussion between a few American soldiers and Dr Noda at a military base, I struggled to catch several lines of dialogue from the Yanks and was grateful for the subtitles with the Japanese characters.
As is my immediate reaction after finishing a film, I hopped onto Letterboxd to read other people’s thoughts. One user said that it was “the loudest [...] movie I’ve ever seen”, and joked that they had to do “circular diaphragm breathing to calm down”. It was clear at this point that we had experienced the film pretty differently.
That said, I would personally prefer to have the sound a touch too quiet than too loud, as the latter can quickly make for an overwhelming and rather grating experience.
Of course, the volume level of each cinema is massively varied because of the different acoustic designs and decisions by the cinema. But a search online also shows that screenings across the UK can range from being much too quiet to deafeningly loud.
During a screening of Wildwood (an incredible stop-motion animated film that is well worth a watch), one user on Reddit commented: “10 minutes in, my eardrums were already buzzing at how loud the cinema was.” Suffice to say, that does not sound like the most fun cinema trip.
So now we want to hear from you, our trusted readers. Have you have noticed this too? Have you experienced volume issues at your local cinema? Has your viewing experience been made less enjoyable when a film was too quiet or too loud?
You can comment below with your experiences; we can’t wait to hear about them.
MORE:
These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
Check out the best TVs
And here are the best surround sound systems
