GODZILLA (1998)
Directed by Roland Emmerich
Starring : Matthew Broderick (Nick Tatopoulos)
Jean Reno (Phillippe Roche)
Maria Pitillo (Audrey Timmonds)
Hank Azaria (Animal)
Written by Dean Devlin=20
Running Time : 2hrs 15mins
A Tristar/Centropolis Release
Rating : *** out of ***** =09
JURASSIC CENTRAL PARK!
Back from the immensely successful INDEPENDENCE DAY, director ROLAND = EMMERICH and producer DEAN DEVLIN (both collaborated in earlier moderate = hits, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER and STARGATE) are back with yet another = eye-popping, effect-laced excuse of a movie. GODZILLA has nothing going = for it other than its CGI effects, which forms nearly 90% of the film! = And what effects! As yet again, EMMERICH and DEVLIN has opted to go for = lesser hit-movie actors as in their films pre-dating GODZILLA. The = teasers for GODZILLA started hitting screens and TV more than a year ago = and rumours has it that the budget is close to a whopping US$200 = million.=20
The story brings us to the pacific where the French have been conducting = nuclear tests, inevitably harming the wild life and setting them off = from their predestined path of evolution. GODZILLA was thus born, = standing as tall as the Empire State Building, GODZILLA is no more than = a gargantuan mix between a Komodo Dragon and a T-Rex. It sets off from = the pacific, walked across Mexico (without being detected!) and swam its = way to Manhattan, New York to make it into a nesting place. Sounds more = like an excuse than a story right? Well, I don't blame you. After all, = this is Hollywood!
Broderick is the ever-zealous Nick, who leads his field of study in the = effects of radiation on the evolution of animals. Trailing the creature = to New York, he bumps into ex-girlfriend, Audrey (Maria Pitillo), an = aspiring reporter who find herself lacking in the nasty skills required = in achieving her dream. When the military falsely dismisses Nick from = their research team with the accusation that he has been leaking = information to the public, he is picked-up by French secret agent = Phillippe Roche (Jean Reno). Incidentally, the French has sent a team of = secret operatives to destroy the creature, an effort to undo what they = have indirectly done through the nuclear tests. Jean Reno once again = reprises his role as `The Cleaner' (as in his roles in Luc Besson's LA = FEMME NIKITA and THE PROFESSIONAL aka LEON), apparent to his words in = the film, `we are here to clean the mess we have made'. Hank Azaria = plays Animal, the crazy cameraman who would do anything for a good = camera shot.
In GODZILLA, the creature takes centrestage. True to the original = Japanese GODZILLA movies, we get to see gratuitous lack of respect for = public property as it tramples through landmarks of New York. The CGI = effects are impressive, imagine JURASSIC PARK with a few thousand = percent more worth of CG creatures. One cannot help but notice the = resemblance of this creature to the previous two dinosaur movies and = though it may not deliver the landmark quality to outshine the realism = of JURASSIC PARK and THE LOST WORLD, it sure has the magnitude and = destruction to significantly numb audiences, forcing them to immerse = into the fast paced action and loud sound effects.=20
EMMERICH's direction flows with unoriginal ideas, regurgitated from = landmark action sci-fi movies of our time. Each scene an excuse to flex = yet another muscle of his CGI team. Definitely the special effects movie = of the year. Not quite memorable stuff, but it was highly entertaining = while it lasted.=20
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