Well, as the Midnight Godzilla run is coming in from across the country there is a decidedly split decision amongst fans. People (like me) that overlook the admitedly sub-par plot, dialogue and characters because of that incredible dang lizard. And People like 'Don'here. As a matter of a fact I just got off the phone with Hallenbeck, who seems to agree exactly with Don here. What fans that hate Godzilla are hating is the lack of a great story to go with the effects. As I thought from my review, I've been getting a lot of the 'derivative' nature of the movie. I'm fully willing to tell you readers out there that the plot, characters and dialogue aren't very good. GODZILLA though is a kickass monster in my opinion. The only bones I have to pick with this review are the effects pot shots he takes. I LOVED the FX, and thought them superior to LOST WORLD and JURASSIC PARK. However, I was not looking through Don's eyes, or yours for that matter. Personally this was a 'FUN Movie' in my mind. But hey, if you want a well rounded film, perhaps you should look elsewhere... Here's 'Don's' review...
"Godzilla"
Words cannot describe what an amazing, colossal...disappointment and disaster "Godzilla" has turned out to be. After looking forward to this film for a year, and being a fan of the previous Devlin/Emmerich effort, "Independence Day," I cannot express the anger and frustration I feel after watching the enormous blunder that the duo have committed.
A reviewer yesterday said it well: "Godzilla" looks cheap. The effects are shockingly inadequate for what is supposedly a $120 million film using state- of-the-art technology. Quite simply, the visuals don't hold a candle to "Jurassic Park" or "The Lost World." Godzilla himself isn't impressive either: a cross between a T-Rex and an iguana, with unnaturally long, human- like arms, pretty much sums him up. And all the flaws of computer-generated effects are exposed here, with some of the shots looking almost like they're out of bad 50s films, with actors running in front of rear-projected monsters.
From the opening, this film generates no suspense, no tension, no sense of awe. Godzilla is stomping New York after barely twenty-five minutes, with only the bare bones of a buildup beforehand. If you remember ID4 (a masterpiece compared to this), it took some 45 minutes, at least, before the aliens decimated the world, which gave more time to develop the characters and build the suspense. Here, the monster is shoved onstage so quickly, you feel like half the movie is missing. The plot is full of holes, cheap tricks, leaps of illogic, and blatant ripoffs from any number of films, but particularly "Jurassic Park."
The characters: no one would accuse ID4 of having complex characters, but they were adequately done and at least casted and acted well. I cared about them. The characters in "Godzilla" are caricatures. Matthew Broderick is terribly miscast--I don't believe you need an action hero, but he's too cutesy and smirky for this. Hank Azaria and Jean Reno make the best they can of the material. Michael Lerner as the mayor is a screeching bore. And worst of all, Maria Pitillo is a dreadful, dreadful actress. As the female lead, and the only character with a semblance of a "moral" crisis, she plays a huge role in destroying any human interest the film may have. Emmerich should be ashamed, as a director, that he could look at her takes and not want to recast the part completely.
"Jurassic Park" and "ID4" had an epic feel and a sense of awe to them. You were blown away when you first saw those dinosaurs. Here you feel nothing: not only is Godzilla's new design a letdown, but the effects are so cheesy and poor that any chance the filmmakers had of creating a new King Of The Monsters for the 90s is utterly ruined. There are a few moments of excitement here and there (particularly at the end), but they are desparingly few and far between.
Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich need to know just what a disgrace this movie is. I can't imagine that people will like this movie, so I suspect they'll have a huge opening weekend (like "The Lost World," another awful film but at least with good effects, for God's sake), followed by a swift plummet as word- of-mouth gets around. They and TriStar deserve no success with this. "Godzilla" doesn't hold a candle to the original "Gojira," or to the resurrected Toho films of the 80s. In fact, I think I'd rather watch the Godzilla films of the 60s and 70s before seeing this again.
Don
