GODZILLA
Release Date: May 20, 1998 Starring: Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Michael Lerner, Arabella Field, Kevin Dunn, Harry Shearer Directed by: Roland Emmerich Distributed by: TriStar Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment MPAA Rating: PG-13 (sci-fi monster action/violence) URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/godzilla.htm
Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, creators, writers, and producers of 1998's long-awaited monster thriller GODZILLA, once caught lightning in the bottle with 1996's INDEPENDENCE DAY. So overhyped that it became the must-see movie of the year, and eventually impossibly successful with the summer movie crowds, and so corny and melodramatic that it was actually fun to watch, ID4 was the pinnacle of senseless cinema. In keeping with the lightning analogy, though, it rarely strikes the same place twice, and Emmerich and Devlin have turned out a product here that pales in comparison to their earlier alien-invasion film.
The Memorial Day weekend has long been home to loud and high-powered movies (e.g. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE LOST WORLD). After all, it practically opens the summer movie season. In fact, the much-overhyped movie that opens on Memorial Day is typically the only movie to have a chance to outdo the much-overhyped movie that opens on the July 4 weekend. However, if there was any doubt prior to GODZILLA's opening, this Memorial Day movie will likely fade quickly once the asteroid thriller ARMAGEDDON takes to the screens. After the limpness of DEEP IMPACT and the downright staleness of GODZILLA, audiences will be looking for something sharp and intense when they attend the theaters.
The reason GODZILLA is so stale is because the picture is incredibly formulaic. It follows the typical maxim that "my enemy is only my enemy until I know his secret." Although that was present in INDEPENDENCE DAY, it wasn't completely obvious until the final thirty minutes. Here, Emmerich brings Godzilla (a gecko-ish creature created from a French nuclear explosion) to New York City with little premise but much fanfare; turns the disaster and distruction knob to 11; and sits back as a paltry crew of humans works frantically to hit the beast with everything they have. The special effects, very JURASSIC PARK-ish in nature, depict an agile Godzilla that's novel but hardly worth much. For almost the whole of its 135-minute running time, this movie is nothing but a messy mix of special effects and bad acting.
The only way to enjoy GODZILLA is to dumb yourself down prior to watching the flick. Matthew Broderick and Maria Pitillo, our two leads, almost seem to be laughing silently at their parts. Most of the cast, save the watchable Jean Reno, follows in accordance, and this results in the movie being split into two entirely different sections. The movie gravitates towards parody ground when the beast isn't on screen, and then makes a radical shift towards guns-blazing action territory whenever the call comes in that Godzilla looms nearby. It's much harder to get as attached or involved here as most were in INDEPENDENCE, but with the imminent box office returns and the wide-open ending (again, formulaic), it won't be long before we see GODZILLA 2.
FINAL AWARD FOR "GODZILLA": 2.0 stars - a fair movie.
-- Craig Roush kinnopio@execpc.com -- Kinnopio's Movie Reviews http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio
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