Please note: A lot of people have asked why I do not include a rating for this movie. The answer is that all the various Godzilla movies I rate are rated in comparison to other Godzilla movies, not in relation to movies in general. And, since I don't personally consider this to truly be a "Godzilla" movie [despite the title], it is simply impossible for me to give it a comparison rating.
If you haven't seen the movie yet, do not read this part! French nuclear testing in the
South Pacific inadvertently irradiated iguanas living on an island, and as result a hideous
mutation is born -- a 200+ foot tall reptile who, years later, makes his way to New York City.
Once there, the giant lizard acts like the proverbial bull in a china shop, and generally wreaks
havoc. The military tries to stop him, but just causes more damage; this particular giant reptile,
you see, happens to be extremely fast and agile, and manages to dodge out of the way
of most of the missiles aimed at him. But that's not the worst of it! A scientist [played
by Matthew Broderick], whose life work has been the study of atomic mutations,
disovers that Godzilla is not only the first of a new species, but is also somehow
preparing to lay eggs, and that if the eggs hatch it will mean the end of life as
we know it. Of course the military, being the chowderheads that they always
are in films like this, ignore the scientist. So, while the military continues its struggle
against Godzilla, finally killing the big beast in a climactic undersea battle
involving three nuclear submarines, the scientist is forced to deal with the problem of
the eggs by himself. Fortunately, he gets help from his ex-girlfriend (an aspiring TV
reporter) and her plucky co-workers, as well as a mysterious French "insurance
agent" played by Jean Reno. And boy, do they find eggs! Godzilla, being the
canny lizard that he [she???] is, managed to burrow underground into the subway system while the
military was hunting him topside. Then, while no one was looking, he made his
way to Madison Square Garden where he laid hundreds of man-sized eggs!
And, of course, our heroes arrive just as the eggs start hatching.... Well, the
eggs hatch, our heroes are threatened by hundreds of very hungry baby zillas
[think raptors, but meaner and faster], and the military finally get off their
collective butts and bomb Madison Square Garden to rubble. End of story, right? Well, not
quite. Seems that Godzilla wasn't quite as dead as everyone thought, and now he's
really upset! Unfortunately for Godzilla, though, he makes the fatal mistake of
leaving the protective covering of the New York skyscrapers and is finally brought down
for good in a climactic battle on the Brooklyn Bridge. Now it's the end of the
story. Well, except for the one baby zilla that manages to survive....
My Review
The good news is that this is a really fun and entertaining movie. Even knowing most
of the plot ahead of time, it kept me on the edge of my seat. It was, for the most part,
fast-paced, witty, exhilarating, and just plain fun! The special effects were awesome, and the
CGI scenes were integrated well enough with the live footage so that it was easy
to suspend disbelief and accept the thought of a gigantic monster rampaging in
New York City. No, none of the actors are going to win Oscars for their performances,
and the script probably won't be considered one of the classics of Western literature,
but who really cares? This is a giant monster movie, and this movie certainly
delivers a fantastic giant monster! Everything else is incidental. I mean, the
more time they spend on character development, the less time they can spend showing
the monster destroying New York, right? So, as giant monster movies go, this one is
definitely a four star movie. Well, at least three and a half....
But is it truly a Godzilla movie, or is it simply a great monster movie?
Basically, this movie is a retelling of the original Godzilla movie, starting anew as
if none of the previous Godzilla movies has ever taken place. This allows the film
makers to play fast and loose with the character, without having to worry about
monkeying around with the existing Godzilla continuity. Toho did something similar to
this in 1984 when they "deleted" all the previous movies except for the first one.
This is definitely an American movie, though -- Godzilla attacks New York, not Tokyo,
and there is no connection to the atom bombing of Japan which served as the moral
compass of the first movie. The important question, then, is whether this is
really a "Godzilla" movie in anything other than name only.
Well, it is about a gigantic mutated reptile that attacks a major metropolitan
area. And he does have these really funky spines running down his back. And,
unlike movies like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and The Giant Gila Monster,
this new monster does walk on two legs just like the traditional Godzilla. And
this new monster does have a breath weapon of sorts, although instead of the
traditional atomic plamsa breath we get a strong wind and a major case of
halitosis. So, if Godzilla is simply a giant reptile that was created by radiation, has
spines on his back, walks on two legs, breathes something destructive from
his mouth and destroys cities, then yes, this probably is a Godzilla movie, in spite
of the fact that this Godzilla also burrows underground and lays eggs.
Is this all Godzilla is, though? Personally, I think not. Although this movie
preserves the basic concept of a giant monster attacking a city, that basic concept
has been used in countless other movies. The original Godzilla was portrayed as an
unstoppable force of nature, whereas this monster is simply a giant animal trying
to get along in the world. The original Godzilla was an allegory for the horrors
of nuclear war visited upon Japan, whereas this monster doesn't seem to be much of
an allegory of anything. And, most important of all in my opinion, the original
Godzilla had a powerful weapon that made him truly terrifying, his fearsome atomic
plasma breath. That's what made him uniquely different from every other monster,
and it was a clear, visual representation of his atomic-spawned origin.
This monster, on the other hand, is able to blow hard enough to knock cars over,
but it's just not the same. The film does pay homage to the traditional breath
weapon by having vehicles ignite in mid-air, making it look briefly as if Godzilla is
breathing fire, but that's as close as they come. Apparently, a fire-breathing
200-foot tall radioactive iguana would just be too hard to believe.... Unfortunately,
Godzilla without his flame breath is like Batman without his batmobile, batcave and batarangs.
Or perhaps a better analogy would be Superman without his ability to fly. Flying may not be
"realistic", but it is an essential part of the character....
So, what's the final verdict? It's a fun movie, as long as you don't care about such things as
good acting, decent dialog, or a coherent plot. Go see it. Enjoy it. See it again. Check
your higher reasoning functions at the door and just think about how lucky you are to
have finally seen a giant monster movie done with such great special effects.
And then, when you're done, go pop Godzilla: King of the Monsters into the
old VCR and remind yourself what Godzilla is really all about....
CREDITS
Godzilla [The American Version] (1998)
Running Time: 140 min.
CAST
Nick Tatopoulos...........Matthew Broderick
Philippe Roche............Jean Reno
Audrey Timmonds...........Maria Pitillo
Animal....................Hank Azaria
Mayor of New York.........Michael Lerner
Charles Caiman............Harry Shearer
Lucy......................Arabella Field
CREW
Director.................Roland Emmerich
Producer.................Dean Devlin
Music....................David Arnold
Special Effects..........Volker Engel
Screenplay...............Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich
Fan Reaction & Dean Devlin's Response
Well, Godzilla was either one of the most successful movies of all time or one of the most hated and reviled, depending on your point of view. Perhaps both. The film cost an estimated $160 million to make, and that may or may not include the huge amount of money spent on advertising. Within the United States, the movie "only" made about $135 million, but when you factor in the world-wide box office receipts we're looking at an amount in the vicinity of $350-400 million. In just about every country the movie has played, however, the first weeks' box-office was tremendous [due to the aforementioned advertizing blitz], but it dropped dramatically after the first week. In other words, many people were lured in to see it the first time, but then never went back to see it again....
Although some people enjoyed the movie, to be sure, the almost universal reaction from long-time Godzilla fans and the mainstream press has been overwhelmingly negative. The Fans have complained that the filmmakers strayed too far from the vision of the original movie. After all the hype and expectation, they felt betrayed to discover that instead of a remake of the original Godzilla, they were given a high-tech remake of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" instead. The more charitable fans are willing to admit that it was still a fun and enjoyable film, but should have been called something else.
The mainstream press, on the other hand, have been downright hostile, spewing venom and vitriol left and right. They have attacked the poor scripting and dialogue, the pathetic acting, and the nonsensical plot. The depths of the hatred shown toward this movie would make one think they were talking about Showgirls or something. I mean, what were they expecting, Citizen Kane? It's a giant monster movie, for Pete's sake!
So, what went wrong? Well, after months of claiming that the movie came out just the way they planned, and that they were very happy with it, Dean Devlin has finally decided to respond a little more honestly about the issue. The following is from an interview Dean Devlin gave to AP columnist Michael Fleeman, and which was reprinted on Cinescape's Website:
What were they thinking?
- "It's a movie wherein we took a lot of risks, and we knew we were taking them, but we thought it would be cool."
Rushing towards the release date:
- "We were so determined to make this date that we built a schedule where we couldn't screen-test, and we should have. I think we really could have improved the film."
- "This is the first film we ever put out that we didn't have time to test screen, and every film we've ever done we improved tremendously over the test screening. With Independence Day, for instance, the whole ending was reshot."
- "[With] Godzilla, we literally finished the cut and went to the printer. And we didn't even have a chance to screen it for the studio. It was just like, ‘We have to go. We'll never make enough prints to get them into the theater in time if we make any adjustments.’"
- When Sony offered to push the film’s release date back, Devlin and Emmerich felt obliged to stick to their schedule commitment. "It was a move done from the heart, to say, 'Thank you' to the studio, but it also was foolish. It was for all the right reasons (with) the wrong result."
The film’s flaws:
- "Godzilla has no evil characters. There is no villain. And I think, perhaps, after Independence Day people were expecting a super villain. I think, for the audience, they were a bit confused. It was, like, 'Well, are we cheering for the death of Godzilla or not cheering?’"
- "We did this structure where we put so much character in the middle of the film instead of the beginning of the film. We thought that was kind of interesting. But what we discovered was that by the time we learned the character's background, we didn't care anymore."
Audience anticipation based on the ad campaign and the "Size Does Matter" catch phrase:
- "People expected more, and we didn't deliver."
- "It's meant to be a joke, and people took it really serious, and they thought we were talking about the size of the movie or the size of the budget or the size of the campaign. All we were trying to say was the reason why this is not Jurassic Park is that it's a bigger lizard. We were making kind of a dirty joke, but it got totally misinterpreted."
- "Nothing stays popular for a year. I think if we released Godzilla in February we'd have had a giant hit. You know, I really do. But by (Memorial Day weekend), it was, 'I can't hear from Godzilla anymore.’"
Audience and critical reaction:
- "I think the only thing that was really disappointing for me was the level of vitriol."
Devlin’s final assessment:
- "It's the only movie in history that (will) make between $350 million and $400 million [worldwide] that's considered a disappointment. Luckily, the studio didn't feel that way."
- With four pictures in development at Sony (one of which may be ready to start shooting in January, according to Fleeman), Devlin and Emmerich have a renewed philosophy about filmmaking. "We're taking more time developing the script this time than we did before, and we're making sure we have enough time -- post time."
- "We're back to being to where we used to be: the underdogs, and we love that."
And, Just for the Record....
I was told it was created by a sculptor who was working on a toy line for the new movie. When I posted this picture on my Web site, I got a very irate e-mail from Centropolis simultaneously denying that this was the real Godzilla design and demanding that I tell them where I got the picture from. Here's a sample from the e-mail in question:
We are extremely upset, surprised and dissapointed that you would post the alleged godzilla sculpture.... (this sculpture is from the same batch of planted drawings that surfaced last fall.)Well, since I received it anonymously, I couldn't really tell them much, but I told them what I could. Dean Devlin later wrote me personally to thank me for my help, and he then went on to explain where the statue had orignally come from:In order that people who had no part of this leak don't lose their jobs, we are asking that you tell us where you got these pictures from.
A mold maker who had been hired by two of our merchandizing partners to do design work made that mold from the same fakes we had sent to Fruit of the Loom. Later, when he learned that those were fakes, the tossed out his early molds in favor of the new (real) final drawings. HOWEVER, what he didn't do, which he was supposed to do, was destroy the old molds. Somehow someone got a hold of the early mold and took those photographs.The problem for us now is that the print media believe that this is the REAL creature and are threatening to use them in magazines if we don't release the real photos of our new creature. Unfortunately we can't. If we did, an entire promotional campagin of 150 million dollars will go down the drain.
So, I guess what I'm asking, is if you could help us in not encouraging the "hunt" by posting up every new leak that appears. Because there will be more. The Fruit of the Loom drawings were only the first of five sets of fakes we sent out. So I'm sure, at some point, some of those will leak out as well. And of course, the REAL creature may eventually leak out as well. The problem for us all is that this has become some kind of game wherein a feeding frenzy is growing on the internet and encouraging people to lie, steal and bribe their way into getting the "scoop."
Well, I was later contacted by a reporter from the Wall Street Journal who wanted to know about the story, so I told him what had happened and forwarded him copies of the e-mails I had received from Centropolis and Mr. Devlin. None of the e-mails said that they were confidential or private, and I figured that was the easiest way to make sure nobody was misquoted. Well, the article was printed [click HERE to read it], and once again I got a very irate e-mail from Centropolis. It seems that they considered those e-mails to be "private" after all, and they couldn't believe I had forwarded them along to a reporter without asking them first. Mr. Devlin later made clear to me that it wasn't because anything in those e-mails was untrue, it was just that they didn't want it revealed publicly.
Now, as everyone knows, the movie eventually came out and the creature design was essentially the same as all the pictures that had leaked onto the Internet, including my little sculpture. Devlin's response was to say that "essentially is not the same as identical". Since the leaked designs weren't 100% identical to the way the creature actually looked in the movie, Devlin was justified in calling them "fakes", right? Well, maybe. Remember, though, that Devlin also claimed that the statue I received was also based on a fake design. And this time it wasn't just "fake" in the sense that it was different than the actual creature in the movie, but also because it was different than the final version of the merchandise based on that sculpture. So you'd expect that the actual merchandise would look significantly, or even slightly, different than the statue I received, right? Well, a friend recently sent me an official Godzilla product put out by "Noteworthy". It's a self-inking stamp called a "Dimensional Stamper". Here's a picture of it:
Looks familiar, doesn't it? In fact, after looking at it from all angles, I can confidently state that it is IDENTICAL to that little statue I received. Here's a picture of both of them side by side:
Unless Dean Devlin wants to try and say that, since one is painted and the other one isn't, they are only "essentially" the same, I can only come to one conclusion:
That's just my opinion, of course....
The World Premiere
Yes, it's true. I attended the World Premiere showing of the
American Godzilla movie on Monday, May 18th. The bad news was
that I got "general seating" tickets instead of the special
"studio" tickets that would have let me sit up front and hobnob
with the rich and famous but, as it turned out, that didn't
really matter....
The fun all began when I arrived at Penn Station earlier in the
day. Signs for the movie were absolutely everywhere --
on buses, on buildings and on billboards! Here are just some of
the ones I saw:
That's me in the black Godzilla T-shirt, by the way....
Later, I changed into my tuxedo [a very clever plan, as you will
shortly see], and my date and I made our way back to Madison
Square Garden:
Well, we got there a bit early, but there were already huge crowds gathered near the main entrance. Police had
blocked off the streets, and there were limos and cameras
everywhere. There didn't seem to be any way actually in,
so I told a policeman that we had tickets to the premiere and we
were wondering how to get in. He took one look at my tuxedo and
ushered us past the barricades. Suddenly, we found ourselves
standing on the "Green Carpet" -- the VIP path to the main
entrance!
As we walked up the green carpet, arm-in-arm, people started
cheering and cameras started flashing. Video crews from dozens
of countries turned our way and started filming. We were on the
green carpet and all dressed up, so we had to be
important, right? So, we did what anybody else would have done
in the same situation -- we smiled, waved at everybody and kept
on walking down that green carpet! Of course, when we finally
got to the entrance and they checked our tickets, we were told
that people with general seating tickets had to enter the
building around the back. Fortunately, the security guards let
us go around the side instead of sending us back down the carpet
in shame and defeat....
Once inside, we took our seats way up in the bleachers. Security
guards were checking everyone's bags to make sure that nobody
brought cameras or camcorders or anything, but I was able to slip
my little snapshot camera in my pants pocket and conceal it with
my tuxedo jacket....
The hype inside the Garden was incredible! Approximately
12,000 people were in attendance, and the entire floor was
covered with folding chairs for all the people with VIP passes.
The entire Garden was festooned with posters and banners, there
were green spotlights dancing around, and they showed trailers
and live footage from outside on the overhead monitor. It was so
intense! My only regret was simply that I was way up high away
from all the famous people. And then I remembered -- I was
wearing a tux!
Slowly, carefully, I made my way down to the floor. One usher
caught my attention, and I was sure I was going to be sent back
to my seat. Instead, however, she just wanted to compliment me
on my outfit. Apparently, most of the VIP's had come casual, and
she was glad to see somebody in a tuxedo. Score!
The first person I recognized was Kevin Dunn, who plays Colonel Hicks in the movie.
I wasn't able to get his picture, but we were able to chat for a few minutes. Real nice guy.
I then saw Mohammed Ali, but was unable to get close enough for a picture. Too bad!
Never fear, though! I next bumped into two extremely lovely ladies:
The woman on the right is, of course, the inimitable Arabella Field, one of the
stars of Godzilla. The woman on the left is the equally inimitable Shae D'lyn,
star of ABC's "Dharma and Greg." I told them who I was and even gave them one
of my "Temple of Godzilla" cards. They thought it was "so cute!" Aw, shucks....
An announcement was then made that it was time to head to our seats, so I started
making my way back. And then, to my utter amazement, I saw one
of my favorite actors, Hong Kong Cinema's number one action star,
Chow Yun Fat! This was too good to pass up! I cautiously
approached and told him how much of a fan I was. I then politely
asked it I could take his picture. To my surprise and utter
delight, he not only agreed but actually took my camera and gave
it to his wife, who took the following picture [I'm the handsome
guy on the left, in case you can't tell]:
Five minutes before the movie started, there was a loud
BOOM which reverberated throughout the garden, and a loud
voice called out "ONLY FIVE MORE MINUTES UNTIL GODZILLA!" This
was repeated at at four minute mark, the three, the two and the
one. Then, the last five seconds: BOOM, BOOM,
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!! All the lights went
down, and a single spotlight lit the center of the floor, where
the "Let's Get Ready to RUMMMMMMBLE!" guy [Michael Buffer, I believe]
was standing with a big microphone. He then went into his spiel, saying
something like "in this corner, weighing 200 million pounds, the undisputed
heavyweight champion of the world, GODZILLA!!!"
The crowd, needless to say, went wild! I mean, really wild! It
was mind-numbing!
Well, the movie was a lot of fun [click HERE to read my review]. There were a
lot of friends and family of the the various actors and crew in
the audience, and everytime someone's name was mentioned in the
opening credits or made their first appearance onscreen,
different sections of the audience started cheering. And
everytime anything exciting happened in the movie, all 12,000
people burst into applause and cheering. I swear, this had to be
the world's most enthusiastic audience! The entire experience
was completely overwhelming, and it was great to see Godzilla on
a really big screen!
One funny thing happened toward the end of the film. I won't
give away the plot for those of you who haven't seen the movie or
read my review of it yet, but there's a point toward the end
where you think the movie is over. At this point,
hundreds of people stood up and started making a break for the
exits. Having read the script, however, I knew that there was
still a lot of action to go, so I started yelling "it's not over
yet! Sit down!" Nobody listened to me, of course, but 30
seconds later there were a bunch of people trying to find their
seats again in the dark....
After the movie ended, I decided to give the tux one more shot,
so my date and I threaded our way back down to the main floor.
Most of the big names at already left, but a few were still
chatting. I recognized Nick Nolte right away, and politely asked
if I could take his picture. His response was something like
"well, you're gonna take it anyway, so you might as well." Not
exactly Chow Yun Fat, but at least he didn't sic his security
guards on me:
Note the woman on the right? Well, that's Vicki Lewis. Not
only does she star in Godzilla, but she's one of my favorite TV
actresses for her work on "News Radio". I managed to catch her a
few minutes later, and told her that I thought she acted circles
around her co-star, Matthew Broderick. She thought that was
sooooo sweet of me to say, and then let my date take a picture of
us together [and just for reference, I stand about 5' 10" tall]:
Well, that was about it. I didn't get to meet Dean Devlin,
Ronald Emmerich and Matthew Broderick as I had hoped, but I still
had an amazing time! Which just goes to show that you should
never underestimate the power of a good tuxedo....
