Godzilla (1998) Tri-Star Pictures Written by: Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich Directed by: Roland Emmerich MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running time: Approx. 2:20 Film review by Jeff Williamson
This is not your father's Godzilla.
That being said, I enjoyed the hell out of myself watching this film. Since hearing rumblings about it in 1991, I've eagerly anticipated the translation of everyone's favorite rubber monster to American digital theater. There's a certain ludicrous charm in watching an actor in a big green suit stomping on a Matchbox playset version of Tokyo--a charm which I've appreciated in its various stages throughout the years--but the wholesale devastation wreaked by the latest incarnation of the Mean Green Stomping Machine is well worth the wait.
Now, as in Devlin and Emmerich's last blockbuster, INDEPENDENCE DAY, there's something which can be laughingly referred to as a plot which exists as a means of padding $100 million of CGI out to a feature-length movie. Matthew Broderick, in a disingenuous turn here as Nick Tatopolous, a researcher with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission whose last assignment involved cataloguing the growth of Chernobyl earthworms, pretends at a naivete which seems forced. His estranged (and isn't THAT a tired plot point for these "event" films?) college girlfriend, Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo) manages only briefly to pull herself from whine mode, and one never quite manages to like her. The supporting cast is better, with Hank Azaria (Moe the Bartender and many others from TV's THE SIMPSONS) as "Animal", the luckiest cameraman alive, Harry Shearer (another SIMPSONS veteran, as Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders) playing Charles Caiman (look, kids, a lizard pun!), Audrey's egotistical news anchor boss, and Jean Reno as Phillippe Roche, a French "insurance salesman" who keeps you guessing at his motives through most of the film, offering a surprise by the end.
None of the human principals here has the charm of Will Smith; however, certain "clevernesses" in the script echo Jeff Goldblum's swipe of Bill Cosby material in the 1996 film. As an example, the overweight, candy-chomping Mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner) of New York City has a balding beanpole aide named Gene. When reporter Caiman swipes Audrey's exclusive, naming the lizard "Godzilla" after the fevered whispers of a Japanese fisherman who survived the beast's early attacks, Audrey shouts "That's Gojira, you moron!" at the TV--the non-Americanized title of the original 1954 Japanese film, drawing laughs from aficionados of the kaiju (giant monster) genre.
Undeniably, though, the star of this film is Godzilla himself. In a stylized opening sequence (scored with a heavy hand by David Arnold), we see the origins of the beast, as nuclear tests in French Polynesia irradiate scores of marine iguanas--and their unhatched eggs. After some underwater attacks on fishing boats, and an off-screen walkthrough in Panama, the big lizard surfaces in the Big Apple, dropping debris in his wake, such as small trawlers.
Appropriately, the earliest scenes of Godzilla are from the ground, showing the human reactions to a twenty-story lizard run amok. One of the best perspective shots has a man in a truck, which suddenly tilts and rises into the air as it is treated as a chew toy by the beast. It's soon clear that this will not be the slow, lumbering Godzilla with which we're already familiar: this creature runs and jumps, climbs and burrows, and corners better than most automobiles. And the casual damage inflicted by his swinging tail is a nice touch.
The military soon reacts to this monster attack, sending an impressive show of force, and evacuating the island of Manhattan (as best as possible on short notice). Several confrontations between 'zilla and military hardware are evocative of similar scenes in the Japanese series of films, except with better effects. In both cases, the military is about as effective against the monster.
This film comes across as derivative of other "creature" films, most notably JURASSIC PARK and ALIENS. That's not to its detriment; bigger, if not better, manages to be sufficiently different and entertaining. The new Godzilla (as envisioned by Patrick Tatopoulos Design) is less a mythic figure and more of an animal, with purely animal instincts. Gone is the stream of nuclear fire the old version would breathe onto cardboard sets; instead, this creature's roar blows cars through the air, occasionally igniting a fireball which recalls its predecessor. Most impressive is the maneuverability of Godzilla: as soon as you become satisfied with thinking that he's just a larger T-Rex, 'zilla uses functional forelimbs to climb through a concrete hole, or leaps over the heads of awestruck humans to dive into the Atlantic. There are a few surprises I won't mention here; other reviewers probably will not be as discreet. Suffice it to say that Madison Square Garden is one hell of a set piece. ^_^
This movie runs long at 2:20, but is such a roller coaster that it manages to keep you on your seat through two false endings, one fully telegraphed, and the other not. And of course, there's the inevitable sequel shot: don't leave until you hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers blasting their Led Zeppelin cover over the end credits. Of course, by that point, you may already have been deafened by the SDDS explosions and roars--this is one *loud* movie. Genre fans will be disappointed--perhaps even outraged--by the end of the climactic chase, but you can put it from your mind in the face of the inevitable sequels.
If you enjoy the massive destruction of expensive real estate, this is the perfect film. Not quite as insistent about its "Nature vs. Man" message as the monster films born in the wake of the Atomic Age, it nonetheless manages to entertain. Just discard your preconceived notions at the door; they'll only be a hindrance.
Rating: * * * (7.5 out of 10)
Worthwhile at full price if you're an effects buff; if you're not, it's probably not your film. Definitely worth tracking it down in first run for the aural and visual amazement.
Too loud and perhaps too frightening for smaller children. Use your discretion.
Repeat viewing factor: High (FX)
-- /-\ ** Jeff Williamson ### Lightfall Interactive ### Evanston, IL ** /-\ |A| O_o docangst@mcs.com ^_^ AnimeCentral HomePage: http://www.acen.org/ |9| |C| *==> "In every revolution, there is one man with a vision." <==* |9| \-/ * =If you're Friends with Key, well, then, you're friends with me= * \-/
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