Movie Review: Godzilla (1998)
1998’s Godzilla was the first attempt to make an American Godzilla movie, and it’s generally considered a massive failued — due more to it being not true to the character than its quality as a film. But to be fair, it’s not a great movie either.
Producer Dean Devlin and director Roland Emmerich had come off the massive success of Independence Day, and seemed like the perfect team to bring Godzilla to the big screen. The main problem, though, was the screenplay, which was written by the two.
Every single character in this movie is a comedic relief character. There’s no one to relate to, and no one to be invested in. In a normal movie, Victor “Animal” Palotti (Hank Azaria) would probably be your comic relief. Here, though, it’s not just him. It’s Mayor Ebert and his assistant, Gene (Michael Lerner and Lorry Goldman riffing off Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who had hated Independence Day), Lucy Palotti (Arabella Field), and basically every other character. They even cast Ferris Bueller himself, Matthew Broderick, as the lead: Dr. Nick Tatopoulos.
What has driven Godzilla fans nuts, however, is that Godzilla himself doesn’t resemble the Japanese monster. It’s clear that Emmerich was more inspired by Jurassic Park than by any of the classic Godzilla movies.
There are even a bunch of velociraptors, basically, when our heroes have to fight off a bunch of Godzilla’s recently hatched children in Madison Square Garden.
The best part of the movie is Jean Reno (Leon: The Professional) who plays a French secret agent. It’s not really clear exactly what he’s trying to do, but he gets the disgraced Nick past a military blockade and into Madison Square Garden, as they try to destroy the Godzilla babies because the military handles things so poorly.
The military really is inept in this movie. I mean, they’re not supposed to be able to do anything to Godzilla, but there’s no reason why they should try and keep Godzilla on Manhattan. And they even end up blowing up the Chrysler Building.
Eventually, though, the military does defeat Godzilla as he’s on the Brooklyn Bridge in what must be a slap to the face to actual Godzilla fans. Godzilla himself is inconsistent in size and weight (would he even be able to walk on the Brooklyn Bridge without it immediately collapsing?), and he’s defeated by a military that traditionally has zero effect on the guy.
I don’t think this is the worst movie ever, though. It’s not a real Godzilla movie, but as a generic monster movie, it has its moments. The biggest problem is the characters, of course, but some of the action is decent.
Rating: 4/10
