Godzilla [DVD]

It’s not a popular opinion on the internet (where even the original films are widely ridiculed), but the 1998 American version of Godzilla is, once it gets going, is a surprisingly enjoyable monster movie, albeit one that’s best thought of as a big budget throwback to the classic American rampaging creature features of the 50s that inspired Godzilla rather than a Godzilla film per se. As an origin story there are no monster mashes but plenty of “We’ve tried everything and nothing can stop it!” rampages and showdowns between the big feller and the military, be it submarine attacks or helicopter chases through the skyscrapers of New York, and if that’s all you’re expecting it’s a fun popcorn flick on an epic scale.Not that it’s without some major problems. Yes, there’s some very bad bad dialogue (“That’s a LOT of fish!” “We’re going to need bigger guns”). Yes, Maria Pitillo’s heroine is annoying (as, sadly, are all the women in the film) and Harry Shearer’s comic relief too broad. But, after the first third, which doesn't really work as well as it should, once the monster appears it's quite enjoyable, and the last third with the Babyzillas in their nest in Madison Square Garden (and Jean Reno impersonating Elvis) is great fun, David Arnold’s superb score and camerawork pull off one of the most effectively executed false endings in a blockbuster and the then-surprisingly dark, rainy look for what was intended as a fun summer blockbuster now almost looks bright and sunny as designer gloom has become the default visual option for so many big budget fantasy franchises. Time has taken some of the shine off the FX but they’re still for the most part impressively photorealistic and while this Godzilla doesn’t have much personality he’s given a lot more screen time than in any other Godzilla film before or since.But the giant dinosaur in the room will always be the fact that this is not the Godzilla that fans of the Japanese films know and love but has been given an ill-considered redesign from a guy in a suit to a giant iguana-like reptile. Changing the look of such an iconic movie monster is the kind of bad idea that’s like turning King Kong into a giant werewolf. What made it worse was the redesign was kept a big secret until the film’s release, building up unrealistic expectations of what the new look would be that were fuelled by the bigger is better marketing overkill. At first it was fun to see huge billboards on office blocks promising 'He's bigger than this building' or huge billboards covering a block saying 'His tail is this long,' but when they booked what seemed every single billboard in every capital city in the world with variations on the same theme, it got tired fast. It didn’t help that director Roland Emmerich boasted of completely changing Godzilla and producer Dean Devlin was giving self-aggrandizing interviews about how this was what the Toho Godzilla would have been like if they had access to modern effects and of bearing the awesome responsibility of making the year’s biggest hit and talking up the proposed sequels before it even opened, while the film’s classic first teaser trailer took a swipe at Jurassic Park’s takings by having the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex effortlessly crushed by Godzilla’s foot. Such self-satisfied hubris was just riding for a fall, though it’s worth noting the film still sold more tickets than the 2014 version and ended its run showing a decent profit even if it was a long, long way from the filmmakers’ unrealistic expectations.Taken away from those unrealistic expectations and the fanboy outrage of 1998, it holds up pretty well. It’s certainly not disrespectful to the original films, bowing to the big feller’s origins by opening on a Japanese ship and it comes up with a credible explanation for why modern weapons don’t work – heat-seeking missiles aren’t much good when your target is a cold-blooded lizard. And Toho have made plenty of worse Godzilla movies, not least Godzilla 2000, which ushered in the last and most inconsistent series of Japanese movies (with this film’s Notzilla having a brief literally throwaway cameo that’s the highlight of the worst of them, Godzilla: Final Wars). As long as you’re not expecting a classic kaiju film but accept it as a Hollywood monster movie with (then) state of the art effects, it’s an enjoyable low-brainer that offers far more entertainment value than some modern summer blockbusters.That the film’s overambitious box-office expectations weren’t met has always been apparent in the extras package the film received on DVD (where it was one of the first major releases) and Blu-ray. Where there was no shortage of material swamping the TV airwaves during the film’s release, little of it made it to home video. The DVD featured and audio commentary by visual effects supervisors Volker Engel and Karen Goulikas and creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos, theatrical trailer and the two teaser trailers, music video (Heroes), behind-the-scenes featurette (introduced in character by Harry Shearer but running only a third as long as the version that played on TV and omitting its interview with the original man inside the suit Haruo Nakajima), and a before and after f/x stills and stills gallery, all of which is less substantial than it sounds. The Blu-ray offered only the commentary, music video and featurette and adding a few extracts from Sony’s Toho Godzilla titles and a trivia game but offers a very substantial upgrade in picture and sound quality.

Ever since the 1950s the Japanese movie industry has produced a boatload of terrible, low-budget Godzilla (or Gojira) movies. They are characterized by men in rubber suits stomping around, and production values and acting so poor that only people who have a humorous attitude to this material can possibly love it. But I guess that is frequently how cult phenomena work: they acquire substance purely on the strength of having a cult following across many decades, and people come together in enthusiastic fandom to appreciate these "classics"; to participate in the vibrant culture that forms around them. It's the same with Doctor Who or Star Trek or James Bond.I have met many people who declared themselves big fans of Godzilla/Gojira, who love the Japanese movies and vehemently hates the American 1998 movie by Roland Emmerich. I guess there is a kind of symmetry in the fact that it is the other way around with me. I cannot endure much of the Japanese versions, but love the American version (which is currently rated a rather misleading 4.8 out of 10 at IMDb).Why do people hate this movie? I doubt it is no other but the main: it does not give them what they expect from a movie calling itself a Godzilla movie. Cult audiences generally want what they expect, and nothing else will satisfy them. Whether it's a good movie on its own, irrespective of its prior namesakes, is apparently not even worthy of being considered. What a crime.Why do I love this movie? Mainly, it's the (human) characters. I am a big fan of Matthew Broderick. Who cannot love Ferris Bueller? It's true Broderick has gotten a bit chubby in recent years, and he has been a bit dull in some of his later movies, but he's still ace here! He plays a really nice guy, and Maria Pitillo plays a really nice girl. Their performances and character histories ring so true to life that I can't help loving these characters - they're so adorable, and so right for each other. In combination with the highly engaging underdog/"nice guys finish last" theme, they totally make the movie for me. I wanna hug them!In addition to the mains, we also have Jean Reno as a sympathetic (!) French intelligence agent, and Hank Azaria, one of America's greatest showbiz talents, who's great as whomever in whatever.Then there's the monster. I think it's perfectly fine. It serves its purpose in the story admirably, and there's even a touch of pathos in its demise. I find nothing to criticize about the action structure of the movie; it proceeds by the numbers and culminates in an appropriate climax. Great. Godzilla is quite simply Roland Emmerich's best movie. Which is perhaps not saying a lot, but still.Godzilla is a character-driven movie, not a monster-driven one, and I think this is the best choice. Like in the first Transformers movie (2007), the human characters were the more interesting ones. Because it is pretty damn difficult to make some monster or alien robot more interesting than a well-rounded human being.Great movie!

Remember taking my youngest and the Mrs to see this when it was doing the rounds -The film tells of how after a French nuclear test in the South Pacific an Iguana nest is exposed to the fallout.Sometime later a Japanese fishing vessel is attacked by a mysterious and very large creature, the one survivor of the vessel will later call the creature Godzilla.When the attack is reported and giant prints are found Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos (Mathew Brodrick), an NRC scientist, is approached whilst investigating worms at the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is asked by U.S officials to investigate the incident.Nick dismisses talk of a survivor from the Jurassic era but says samples he finds was of an unknown origin.Soon after, the creature surfaces in New York and though showing little interest in humans causes death, destruction and chaos on a large scale, but what is it looking for?With the military, police and officials in disarray, only the logic of Nick joined by his ex-girlfriend would-be reporter Audrey (Maria Pitillo) her colleague Victor (Hank Azaria) and French secret-service agent Philippe Roaché (Jean Reno) set about saving the city from the giant creature.However, they'll find a nest with hundreds of ready to hatch eggs, stopping disaster begins to look more unlikely.Who'll prevail?I did enjoy watching the film again in truth though I have to say some of the acting left much to be desired especially in my opinion that of the lead character.The special effects were with the ongoing destruction of New York were pretty good for the time (1998)However, the continuity of the 4k upgrade wasn't in my view consistent, sometimes impressive, often not. ....4k upgrade rating 7/10