An explosion creates Godzilla, a giant lizard that begins heading for New York. When Godzilla reaches New York, it destroys everything in its path. An insurance and a nuclear scientist team up to combat Godzilla. The last thing I expected to demand of this film is for it to be more violent. Too often the violence is communicated verbally rather than pictorially.
Characters scream in reaction shots rather than having their heads knocked off by the lizard's tail.
In one bit of dialogue, we are told, as Godzilla trashes Manhattan, that looters have emptied out the Disney and Warner Bros. stores on 57th Street. Godzilla mauling assorted plush toys. Indeed, Godzilla's entire destructive jaunt through Midtown Manhattan is tossed away without pictorial reference to commercial icons. Only a sequence involving Madison Square Garden approaches the potential of this film. But still, even there, obvious jokes about the incompetence of the New York Knicks are not exploited.