In 1954, the new film "Godzilla" hit the theaters in Japan and made an impact that nobody foresaw or thought would have happened. Sure, in 1933 the famous King Kong was released but Godzilla was still an inspiration for many monster films to follow. These movies include the classic 1954 movie, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and even more recent films including the 2006 South Korean film, "The Host" and "Cloverfield" from 2008. So many monster movies world-wide have been inspired by the original Godzilla movie.
In my mind, around the 1990's, we were long overdue for an American Godzilla film for many years. It is true that in 1956, there was an American production of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! but it had mostly the same footage from the original Godzilla to introduce the monster Godzilla to an American audience. It would seem that a new American version would surely find an audience in the States and create a new audience so to generate sequels.
In 1998, an American version of Godzilla was indeed released. It came with a risk because of the past history of Godzilla movies and it also needed a big budget to properly depict this large monster. In the end, this movie version of Godzilla is mostly hated but I was able to look past this.
After a sudden and mysterious attack on a Japanese vessel and also some big footprints found in the Panamanian forests, Dr. Nick Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) is contacted by the U.S. State Department who discovered a giant mystery which a monster we later called Godzilla and who's main target for attack is the Big Apple, New York City. This is an attack that later turns into much more.
At the time of the movies release, director Roland Emmerich was coming off the huge success of Independence Day and there was much hype surround this film because of that. He brought Matthew Broderick in for the lead role but I believe Broderick is a questionable lead because he has never been the action film actor and his inexperience in this genre shows in this movie. Emmerich also casts popular television actor Hank Azaria as Victor Palotti as a funny guy but he mostly meanders around and is not very funny. Maria Pitillo is the love interest of Dr. Tatopoulos but her acting here is a mess and she gives some clear reasons as to why she's not around in films any more.
At first glance, it seems like this is a simple plot but the plot does have some substance. Even though New York City comes off as a simple setting, the film does give us many interesting shots of the city during it's action scenes. The action scenes don't really stand out and the ending is tiresome but the action here is enough to get by. Popular actor Jean Reno plays an very interesting French secret agent which adds a foreign spy angle to this new Godzilla.
What's becomes even more interesting about this American remake is the Godzilla creature itself. Godzilla sure looks like a dinosaur and that maybe is understandable considering this film was made during the heights of the popularity of Jurassic Park. The special effects here are hit or miss. The film does sets itself up perfectly for sequels but these were late canceled due to the poor audience reaction to this movie. There is also a baby element which later turns into a type of biology lesson that involves asexual reproduction. As you can see, the substance of this movie is kind of all over the place but it sure does add some elements to a film that could have easily been too simple.
In the end, this is a somewhat standard Roland Emmerich film. The movie is very dumb at times and has many problems but in the end Godzilla works in a cheesy kind of way. This was a silly action film from the 90's that I wish had found it's audience. This is "guilty pleasure" fun indeed.
3/5
0 comments:
Post a Comment