Godzilla (1998)

New York City: The City that Never Sleeps, is about to get an unexpected visitor.  Born of unknown origins, it is a creature whose size rivals those of Manhattan’s tallest buildings and whose penchant for destruction cannot be halted by the Military’s strongest weapons. What’s worse, it’s arrival may only be a precursor to an even greater threat still to come.  Panic sweeps and options dwindle as a group of US Scientists and French Special Forces band together to stop this unstoppable monster, known as Godzilla.

Godzilla’s 1998 debut had a lot of promise behind it. It was the latest project from Director Roland Emmerich and Producer Dean Devlin, whose disaster epic Independence Day two years prior dominated the box office.  And, simply enough, it’s Godzilla, a world renowned character who can be shown as either a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear power or as a Kaiju who throws down with other Kaiju for various unnecessary reasons.  This movie should have been a no brainer to get right.  In that regard though, Godzilla 98 takes that sentiment a bit too literally as the film lacks any sort of brains while also making Godzilla kind of a giant brainless wuss in his own right.  Some parts might become so bad it’s entertaining but yeah this is a movie that should give the King of the Monsters cause to destroy Hollywood out of spite.
 
The opening 25 minutes of the movie are probably the most classic Godzilla the movie ever gets.  You’ve got a very Toho style take down of a fish taker ship. Godzilla slowly emerging from the Ocean into New York City feels as huge as Godzilla coming ashore anywhere else.  And the times we see any kind of Godzilla practical effects are impressive.  Even if you weren’t going to have Godzilla face off against a rival of equal size, having him act as the indestructible force of nature he’s always been works just as well.  Unfortunately, the Godzilla depicted in this movie isn’t the aforementioned force of nature.  Instead he’s a beast in New York for a very specific reason and it actually isnt to wreck the place…wait what?  That’s Godzilla’s whole schtick isnt it?  He comes out of the Ocean, gets in a fight and wrecks some stuff just for the heck of it.  This entire change to the depiction of Godzilla feels like a dumbed down portrayal that’s just an excuse to have a Giant Monster Movie without having ever watched one before.
 
Godzilla’s US design is pretty weak as well and not just because the CG is Asylum levels of bad (along with everything else but I’ll get to that).  He’s a full on skinny lizard and while agility isnt a bad addition, Godzilla lacks just about everything else that makes him who he is physically and mentally.  He’s doesn’t have his signature Atomic Breath, despite what some scenes might imply, he’s just roaring at cars and they explode when they collide.  He’s also very, very, VERY vulnerable to any form of military arms, which is a big WTF right there?  Also, while I think the agility is nifty, why is Godzilla running from everything?  Godzilla doesn’t run. He walks through everything and anything the military can throw at him and makes it very clear, they cannot stop him no matter what they do.  Short version: this Godzilla is a wuss and even his poor attempts at the trademark Godzilla roar feel whimpy.
 
The one thing Godzilla 98 doesn’t seem to mess up is the pointless human storyline.  Does anyone really care about Matthew Broderick’s investigation or his not reporter girlfriends attempts to get the story that could jumpstart her career?  The answer is no and yet more of the movie is dedicated to them than Godzilla himself (ironically though this Godzilla still appears more than he did in Godzilla 2014).  It’s also painful to hear them deliver lines from a script devoid of logic or sense.  Luring Godzilla into a trap with fish?  Somehow losing him in a city as big as New York?  It’s groan inducing at best, brain cell killing at worst.  The only actors who bring any sort of charm or fun to the movie are Jean Reno and Hank Azaria.  Reno’s bad ass French Intelligence Officer is clearly the hero we should be watching while Azaria takes a character that could have been a stereotypical comic relief and turns him into a loveable, loyal friend you want to see make it to the end of the film.
 
What few positives I can give go back to the “So bad it’s entertaining” argument.  This is a dumb, mindless action film that does deliver the hallmark destruction of a Roland Emmerich disaster flick.  The last act dials up the Jurassic Park Rip Offs (?) with the cast needing to evade a legion of little Godzilla’s infesting Madison Square Garden.  And yeah, when there are practical effects in use, they don’t look half bad.  The animatronics on the little Godzilla’s especially look nice, as does the life size Godzilla head made for some shots.  It makes you wonder why they didn’t just stick with an old school suit design, especially since they’re using a lot of model buildings and military vehicles.  Granted CG in any Godzilla movie is iffy and it wouldn’t truly be perfected until Shin Godzilla in 2016.  But Godzilla 2014 still employed a more traditional Godzilla design with minor tweaks and he looked awesome.  And there is a chuckle worthy line of dialogue or two that’s either so terrible its funny or you just like how it was delivered by an actor committed to saying it.
 
Godzilla 98 is widely considered a blemish on Godzilla’s resume and for all the right reasons.  It’s not Godzilla, the Humans are bog standard Emmerich fare and the visual effects feel just as cheap and the story and script without thought.  Every once in a while, you can turn off your brain and enjoy it for what it is.  But the fact is, this was meant to be Godzilla’s big original US theatrical debut.  Sure you could argue that if it wasn’t called Godzilla, it might have a better rep.  But Godzilla is a name meant to put butts in seats.  Too bad this was one rampage no one wanted to sit through.  No wonder this false pretender would show up later in Godzilla: Final Wars and get its ass handed to it in seconds by the true King of the Monsters.
 
3/10
 
And as the old saying goes, “You want something done right…”  Whether because of this films failure or originally planned for a while, Godzilla’s new era in Japan was on the horizon and our next chapter of Godzilla Month II looks at the first entry of the Millennium Era with Godzilla 2000, Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.