GODZILLA
A film by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day)
Starring Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Jean Reno (The Professional), Hank Azaria (Great Expectations), Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap), Maria Pitillo (True Romance), and Doug Savant (Teen Wolf)
Written by Dean Deviln and Roland Emmerich. Produced by Dean Devlin
GODZILLA shouldn't be this much fun. After showing what to do right with a cheesy disaster movie in the incredibly entertaining INDEPENDENCE DAY of 1996, Emmerich and Devlin do everything wrong in this motion picture. Without a doubt the most cliched, hackneyed picture made by Hollywood in recent memory, Godzilla has one of the worst scripts I have ever seen. The dialogue is garbage, the characters are under-written, the acting performances are pathetic, and the music is unbelievably bad. Yet, I guarantee you that Godzilla will be one of the most enjoyable movies you have ever seen.
Remember that 45 minute lead-in to the aliens in ID4? Forget it. Devlin and Emmerich are out to get the monster shown in a hurry, and they do. By the time the credits are over, you see the destructive power of Godzilla. Within 30 minutes, Devlin and Emmerich show you the beast. A mix between an iguana, a crocodile, and a T-Rex, he does look good. The animation is smooth, if horrible at certain times, and the night sequences are particularly fantastic. Emmerich's talents with quick cuts and sharp turns make these portions a delight, especially helicopter chases that go around searching for the monster.
Unfortunately, it's the portions bookending the monster sequences that are absolutely dreadful. Matthew Broderick does his best as Nick Tatopoulus, an expert on radiation effects, but he isn't helped much by this awful script nor by the other actors. Maria Pitillo is atrocious as Broderick's long-lost love, a perfect ditz who can't get anything right. Hank Azaria is as wonderful as ever, but he is so underused we never get a chance to really know him. Only Jean Reno has the most impact: as a mysterious Frenchman, he is a wild and crazy delight, a cross between Jeff Goldblum and Brent Spiner's characters in ID4.
After a particularly good 40 mins, the movie settles into a 60 minute holding pattern that is mildly enjoyable at its best, and downright tedious at its worst. The CGI graphics are outstanding, and the movements of the monster are fabulous, but sooner or later, you get tired of seeing the same old scenes over and over again. Savant is OK as O'Neil, a big and important soldier, but he's not used much either, and wasted like the rest of the cast. Cliches abound, and the jokes are painfully stale.
However, it is the last 40 minutes that saves Godzilla. This movie resembles last year's Memorial Day blockbuster, The Lost World, in that both are mediocre. However, Devlin and Emmerich saved their best for last, which is what Spielberg should have done. When Broderick and Reno go hunting for Godzilla's nest (that's right, he's pregnant--just watch the commercials!), they find 200 eggs, all of which hatch into little baby 'Zillas, each of whom are about 5-6 feet tall. Imagine lizard velociraptors. What happens is some frighteningly fun sequences with 200 monsters and 4 people in a closed up Madison Square Garden. Have we seen this before? Sure. Jurassic Park did it better before Godzilla, the remake, was even thought of. But damned if its not fun. The sequences are gems because they provide some action. Quick cuts and stale jokes here help, because they are so lighteningly paced that we actually laugh.
The real fun comes at the end, with an elaborate chase scene. Again, everything from this movie is derivative. From the music to the monsters, we've seen all of this before in far better movies. But that's the point. Devlin and Emmerich set out to make a modern-day, B-movie monster movie with an enormous budget. That they succeeded proves that you don't need a script to make a movie fun; you just need a lot of money. Godzilla shouidn't be this much fun. We should hate it because it is everything we abhor about the movie industry. But inside that movie theater, it certainly can be captivating. This is not a good movie; its just a damn fun bad one.
RATING:
** 1/2 out of ****
Movie Reviews by Sridhar Prasad
Movie Reviews starting with "G"
Berge Garabedian's Review of Godzilla
Scott Nowlin's Review of Godzilla
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