Sarah Jamieson of DIY described the song as a "grand statement" and a "return of epic proportions". She viewed the song as combing the band's past works into one, and a "slow burning offering that swells into frenetic life" throughout its runtime, highlighting the latter half of the song.^[1] Ali Shutler of NME described the song as a "fierce, fearless return" for the band, writing that the track had "fire, urgency and plenty of joy", and considered the song as My Chemical Romance "reinventing themselves".^[2] Eli Enis of Revolver wrote that the song was the "heaviest thing they've released" since Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004).^[3] In their review of the band's live performance at the Barclays Center, Danielle Chelosky of Alternative Press described "The Foundations of Decay" as a quintessential song in My Chemical Romance's discography.^[4]

Mitchell Peters of Billboard felt that "The Foundations of Decay" demonstrated My Chemical Romance's "epic storytelling". He also highlighted Gerard Way's voice, describing it as "impeccable".^[5] Shutler believed that the song's lyrics demonstrated that the band hadn't lost any of its talent during their time separated. They further wrote that while the band writing new music could've been risky due to their past works reverence, it was "never bogged down with legacy".^[2] Jack Rodgers of Rock Sound described it as "six minutes of dark, destitute and dramatic story-telling and world-building" that was unlike anything the band had released up to that point.^[6]

The staff teams of The Los Angeles Times and NME ranked "The Foundations of Decay" as the twenty-second and twenty-third best song to release in 2022, respectively.^[7][8] Suzy Exposito of The Los Angeles Times described the song as a "fist, bursting defiantly from the soil" towards people who thought that emo music had faded out of relevancy.^[8] NME wrote that it as My Chemical Romance's "fiery comeback" that "exceeded every current or ageing emo kid’s wildest dreams".^[7] Rodgers listed it as one of the ten best songs released that year, describing it as a "defining moment" in the band's return that showed that they "[meant] serious business".^[6]

Several critics praised the story and writing of "Granite State".^[9][10][11] In their rankings of every Breaking Bad episode, The Ringer ranked "Granite State" as the seventh best episode in the series. An editor of the site, Chris Ryan, wrote that the episode was "epic in scope" and had a "season's worth of plot", though didn't feel "too tidy or rushed". He further described the episodes plot as "full of terror and tenderness" in reference to the last appearance of Saul, and that the episode could have been a "fitting ending" for the series on its own.^[12]

https://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/breaking-bad-season-5-episode-15-granite-state/ https://slate.com/culture/2013/09/week-7-breaking-bad-season-5-part-2-episodes-recap-and-review-of-granite-state-1.html https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/23/breaking-bad-granite-state-review https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/sep/23/breaking-bad-episode-15-granite-slate https://collider.com/breaking-bad-season-5-episode-15-recap/ https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/recap-table-is-set-for-the-finale-in-breaking-bad-season-5-episode-15-granite-state-93371/ https://www.avclub.com/breaking-bad-granite-state-1798178016 https://entertainment.time.com/2013/09/23/breaking-bad-watch-the-iceman-cometh/ https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/breaking-bad-season-5-episode-15-review-granite-state/

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Critics were divided on the film's plot and whether or not A Minecraft Movie was a faithful adaptation of the game, as well as if it made sense to viewers unfamiliar with it. Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter and Jesse Hassenger of IGN both believed that the film's plot was confusing. Gyarkye felt that it struggled to maintain a balance between appeasing the Minecraft fandom and writing a film that made sense to a general audience, and Hassenger said that the film was "conceptually muddy" and "confusingly and erratically presented".^[18][15] Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press believed that the film would likely make no sense to a viewer unfamiliar with the source material, but still believed that it was a faithful adaptation. However, he did highlight the films featuring concepts not present within the game itself to enable plot progression.^[14] Contrarily, Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence believed that the plot was fully comprehensible to someone unfamiliar with the game.^[23] Some reviewers viewed the fan service present within the film positively,^[20][24][25] particularly highlighting the tribute to Technoblade.^[20][24]

The performances of the cast was praised. Many viewed their performances as helping alleviate or distract any problems present within the films plot.^[15][18] Black and Mamoa, in particular, received a lot of praise.^[15][23] Miller and Jordan Hoffman of Entertainment Weekly both felt that the story was not the main priority of the film and could be ignored in favor of the performance of the actors, the former believing that the film was mainly made with the intent of having fun..^[23][22] However, some viewed that the characters–despite the performances of their actors, were generally underdeveloped.^[23][18] The sub-plot involving Coolidge's character dating a villager, while viewed as generally unnecessary or relatively thin in terms of character development, was subject to a lot of praise.^[23][18][15]

Some reviewers questioned the purpose or value of the film, with some viewing it as nothing more than a product with the intent of promoting Minecraft. Both Kevin Maher of The Times and David Fear of the Rolling Stone likened the film to a corporate cash-grab, viewing it as existing with the sole purpose of promoting the Minecraft brand and offering nothing else of value.^[13][26] Maher further viewed the film as lacking a level of versatility present in other video game adaptations, while Fear believed that the film was intentionally confusing so that it would stay in the minds of people longer, and therefore encourage them to purchase merchandise.^[13] While Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent believed that the idea behind a live-action Minecraft adaptation was fundamentally flawed and destroyed the spirit of the source material, he felt that the film had "genuine intent" and was not like other adaptations that he viewed as existing solely for the sake of profit.^[27]