Godzilla
Tags: mystery

Plot synopsis:
The movie starts with a reel showing nuclear tests on the island of French Polynesia. It shows some lizards on the island and after a huge explosion, we see a single unhatched egg.On a fishing boat in the South Pacific Ocean workers are sorting the fish in their latest catch and the captain sees a weird mark on the radar headed towards the boat. He sounds the alarm and the boat is hit by a large & mostly unseen beast. The monster proceeds to rip giant holes in the boat, which is capsized.Scientist Niko "Nick" Tatopoulous (Matthew Broderick) is collecting earthworms in Chernobyl, Ukraine for study when a helicopter appears and a man from the U. S. State Department tells him hes being reassigned to a different project.In Tahiti, a mysterious French man is interrogating an old man who was the only survivor of the attack on the Japanese fishing boat. When asked what attacked him, he simply replies "Gojira".Nick then arrives in Panama where Colonel Hicks (Kevin Dunn) briefs him on his next assignment. He leads him to his next sample and tells him to study it. Nick doesn't see the sample until he realizes he is in a depression in the ground that is actually a giant footprint. Nick runs after Hicks and starts telling him that its unbelievable and that nothing on earth can make a footprint that big. He is then introduced to his new boss, Elsie (Vicki Lewis), who says that she tried tell Hicks that this project isn't really in Nick's field of study. She seems to take interest in Nick. Then Dr. Craven (Malcome Danare) shows up and puts on a tape showing the shipwreck and the interrogation of the old man.In New York City, Audrey (Maria Pitillo) is getting out of a cab with groceries for her boss and goes upstairs to the news studio. After putting the groceries down she asks her boss, Caiman (Harry Shearer) for a job as a reporter and not an assistant. He says no and goes to his anchor job. Audrey then puts her gum on the nose of a nearby poster of Caiman.Nick and the team have been flown to Jamaica and while in a car ride to the site of another shipwreck, Elsie asks Nick some questions. We learn that he is a radiation scientist studying the abnormal growth of earthworms due to radiation, and that he had a girlfriend a long time ago. At the shipwreck, Hicks is trying to shoo reporters away when the French man who interrogated the crew member shows up and says that they are with him and are preparing a report. Hicks get rid of them eventually. Down on the beach, Nick takes a sample of what looks like fish guts for study.In the ocean on the Eastern seaboard, 3 fishing trawlers are bringing in a day's catch when the nets seem to get stuck on something. The boats then are towed underwater and all members of crew abandon ship. One of the trawlers comes back up upside-down.Hicks and team hear the report about the fishing trawlers while flying back to America and Nick then concludes that it is a new species created by the nuclear tests in the French Polynesia where it was first sighted. Back in New York, Audrey and her friend Lucy (Arabella Field) and Lucy's husband Victor "Animal" (Hank Azaria) are having dinner at a restaurant when Audrey sees Nick on TV. We learn that Audrey is Nick's old girlfriend and that he had asked her to marry him. She'd turned him down and he'd left her.Down at the docks a man is fishing when his line is taken by a huge fish. The beast that attacked the fishing boats surfaces and destroys the dock and proceeds into the city. When it passes the restaurant, Animal chases it with a news camera and manages to get a small video of it near Grand Central Station. The monster continues to stomp through the city -- it's foot nearly crushes Animal. Elsewhere down the street, Mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner) is giving a speech for re-election when the monster storms through the street.Hicks arrives at the city and asks for a status report, Sgt. O'Neal (Doug Savant) reports that the monster has disappeared. Hicks is incredulous, wondering how an animal that big could disappear so easily in Manhattan.Animal's video is broadcast on TV and while handing Caiman his bag, Audrey steals his ID badge. She then replaces Caiman's picture with her own and makes herself a reporter.The French man shows up again and we learn that his name is Phillipe Roache (Jean Reno). He offers the assistance of a special sector of the French government to the mayor while slyly placing a microphone on the back of his jacket collar. The mayor then goes to a meeting with Hicks and the crew with Roache and his team listening in when O'Neal says that finding the monster may be tough since they found the 23rd street subway station destroyed. The beast had burrowed his way through the tunnel and could be anywhere under the city. Hicks then tells O'Neal to block off every tunnel leaving the island effectively quarantining the island. Nick then suggests bringing the monster out with bait.The bait is a large pile of fish set up near Madison Square Park. One of Roache's gang plants video cameras so they can spy on the American authorities. When one of the team says that the fish trap is crazy, Roache replies "No. Very Clever." The trap works and Godzilla arrives and starts eating the fish. The Army opens fire. While being fired upon, the monster escapes and proceeds to run through the city with three helicopters in pursuit. Their missile strikes are ineffective because the monster is cold-blooded and doesn't give off a heat signature for the missiles to lock onto. After a missile strike intended for the monster knocks the top off of the Chrysler Building the copters switch to miniguns with ineffective results. The beast then turns from the hunted to the hunter, destroying the helicopters. He then disappears.Back at the intersection, Nick takes a blood sample found on the street and then is transported to New Jersey. He enters a shop and buys about five different pregnancy tests when Audrey walks in and we learn the secret to the past. They then go back to Nick's tent where Nick finds out that the monster is pregnant from the blood sample and goes to confirm it. Audrey plays a tape saying TOP SECRET on it and then takes it and leaves.At a meeting we see the leaders planning to draw the beast out again this time to a more open area like Central Park when Nick presents his theory of the creature being pregnant and tries to get the others to believe him. Audrey prepares her report with the tape she stole. Her report goes live after being stolen by Caiman (who dubs the beast "Godzilla", a mispronunciation of "Gojira" from the tape Audrey stole) and Nick is fired for going to the press with his ideas even though he hadn't. He then realizes that Audrey took the tape. After hearing this, Roache plans to leave.While Nick packs up Elsie apologizes and Nick tells her to get Hicks to find the nest. While climbing into a taxi, Audrey shows up and tries to apologize, but Nick blows it off. He tells the driver to go to Newark Airport but the drivers locks the doors and drives a different way. Animal follows in a van. When Nick finally gets the driver to stop, Roache turns around and explains the situation. He is part of the French Secret Service and his mission is to protect his country from their own creation. Nick then figures out that Godzilla was created in the French Polynesia during the nuclear testing just like he thought. Nick agrees to help Roache find the nest because Hicks doesn't want to find it. Roache drives them to a base where they prep to enter the city and Animal watches from a hole in the wall. Animal then returns home where he finds Audrey crying because she believes that Hicks not going for the nest is her fault. Animal then convinces her to help him follow Nick and Roache to find the nest. Nick and Roache's team sneak back into the city disguised as soldiers.In Central Park, Hicks has set another trap. While traveling down a wrecked subway, Animal sets off a huge noise that awakens Godzilla and sends him to open air. He then proceeds towards the fish trap but turns away. The army starts firing and Godzilla runs to the river. 3 subs are waiting for him. After dodging 2 torpedoes Godzilla crashes into one of the subs and the torpedoes destroy while following him. Godzilla then goes back towards land and is knocked out, but thought killed by two more torpedoes.Nick and the team then discover that Godzilla has made his nest inside Madison Square Garden (MSG). They discover only 200 eggs which begin hatching. They then decide that they have to run immediately or become food. In another part of MSG, Audrey and Animal escape into the shower room and then proceed up into the vent. While shutting all the doors to lock them in the arena 2 of Roache's 4 man team are killed by the babies. Nick tries to call the military to send a bomber but all the circuits are busy. Roache then tells him to get out and find help while his team holds them off. Nick cant get out and the last 2 members of Roache's team are killed. Roache and Nick are trying to think of a way to contact the military when Audrey and Animal fall out of the vent. The babies then break the door down just as Audrey comes up with an idea to get a message out. They manage to get to the broadcast booth and send a message out through live TV. The Military gets the message and tells them via e-mail that they have less than 6 minutes to get out. They make it to the lobby with 30 sec. to go but the lobby is jam packed with the babies. Roache then finds a way through and gets them out just before F-18s destroy the building. All the babies are killed.After that Audrey and Nick get back together but before they can say anything else Godzilla rises from the ruins. He sniffs one of the dead babies then glares at Nick and the others. They immediately run away to a taxi and drive away with Godzilla chasing them. Nick then throws the cab ID to O'Neal whose caravan is passing by. O'Neal figures out that he can use the cab ID to find the radio frequency to contact Nick. Meanwhile, Nick and the others get stuck in a tunnel with Godzilla trying to get them out. O'Neal contacts them and Nick comes up with a plan to trap Godzilla in the suspension cables of the Brooklyn Bridge. They get Godzilla onto the bridge after a terrifying incident in his mouth and proceed to get him caught. Then the same F-18s that blew up MSG came and each shot Godzilla 4 times for a total of 12 hits. Godzilla then dies landing on top of the taxi.While the city celebrates, Caiman offers a job to Audrey because then his channel would get the exclusive, but she quits. Animal realizes that the tape he had brought to film the entire event is gone. Roache disappears, but calls Nick from a phone booth telling him goodbye and that he will send the tape after he makes a few adjustments to it. Nick then tells Animal this after Roache hangs up and Animal is furious.In MSG, basketballs and towels are burning and there is fire everywhere. One egg is still unhatched and the baby hatches and roars at the camera.

Review: There are already signs of a number of people giving it a second look and lessening the severity of their criticism.The chief complaint seems to come from a very vocal but relatively small crowd of fanboy purists--they dislike that Godzilla is different here.
But whether their arguments are wrong or not, the fanboy purists are at least noisy and prolific, and too many people are followers.If Emmerich would have given us a guy in a rubber suit, acting just like the Toho Godzillas (not "Godzilla"), with the typical gobbledy-gook of a Toho script, this film would have bombed even worse (if we can call a 100 million dollar film that made a profit a "bomb") and the fanboys would have still found something to complain about.
Even though I love the Toho Godzilla films, too, we can't deny that they do not tend to be bestsellers on video in the U.S., despite the fact that they're readily available for purchase.So what Emmerich gives us instead is an epic, expensive-looking film that spans a number of genres, features more coherent dialogue and subplots than a typical Toho Godzilla film, and showcases a redesigned, mostly cgi cast of monsters, where Godzilla looks and behaves much more like a "real" giant, mutant lizard.
Godzilla not only satirizes the media, but the military, New York/New Yorkers, film critics, and even monster movies.
It's not just one-liners and overt jokes, although those are certainly present, but the amped up intentional absurdity of situations such as the final taxi cab "chase".Even if you think that Godzilla has some internal problems as an artwork (and I agree that there is a slight clunkiness in parts of the narrative flow--it caused me to subtract a point), there's no way it deserves the trashing it's received so far.
Godzilla was a GREAT movie, and I'm just sick and tired of all the critics and others who view the movie as a complete disaster due to its lack of a story and other problems.Personally, I don't care.
I have watched it on numerous occasions for a long time now and I always think it is an incredibly fun and entertaining movie.
It was one of the first, as I called it then, scary movies I watched.I actually will never find the strength to call this film horrible, even though my opinions on it have of course lowered a lot over time, because I watched it when I was so little, and I thought it was the best movie ever.
I loved the action scenes, the look of the monster was crazy to me, and the plot was simple enough for a first time viewer to get right into.
And I must tell you, when I saw it when it finally came out I wasn't dissapointed, and to this day I still feel the same way.It's a darn shame that this film gets blasted like it does.
? There is absolutely no comparison....this film stands on it's own and is a fast action paced, highly entertaining movie with special effects that were the best at the time.You have to smile at the people who take the Godzilla mythology far too seriously.
The plot was almost nonexistant, much like the original Godzilla movies.
Everybody is saying this movie is total crap and that it's no match for the original G-movies.I've seen most of the original films and almost all of them stunk.Then I saw this brand new,computer-generated Godzilla waltzing around New York City creating mass destruction and I'm saying to myself "How could this possibly be worse than the originals?"Sure,this movie doesn't have the best acting,but what Godzilla movie ever did?Also,people say this movie's plot is stupid but near as I can recall the original films had even wackier plots.This movie has been totally underrated but I enjoyed it..
Now that doesn't mean I like the movie, it is decent but think to yourself, what is really wrong with this movie?Follows more on Jurassic Park then Godzilla - Rain Overdose - Annoying Human Characters - And much more.The reason why a lot of Godzilla fans hate this movie, is not for the reasons above, it is just the fact that is called "Godzilla".
Very amusing to read the comments:People, who really "hated" this film.Why?"bad acting".Godzilla was the protagonist; and he was "acting" quite well.
Excellent acting, very good production, "old style" adventure, very nice actors, very beautiful sets but all four of us considered Godzilla a BETTER FILM!.
Some people say Godzilla is his worst film to date well let me start by saying its a hell of a lot better than either of those two.
In fact, I don't really understand why people DON'T like this film, other than those original Godzilla fans who were hoping for something more in the vein of the original movies.If you just take this film for what it is, you find an engrossing (yet simplistic) storyline, IMO some rather strong acting from all the regulars, a good soundtrack, strong final chapter (although pos a bit too long) and some clever dialogue at times.
If you want to condemn Jurassic Park 2 or Independance Day, find with me (they are pretty crap), but Godzilla is a thoroughly enjoyable film, enjoy it for what it is, not what it could/might have been.Cheers, Andy Ydna.
The effects in this film were somewhat satisfying and engaging, but the main characters (with the exception of Hank Azaria's character) ruined most of the scenes.Audrey, the "love interest" for Matthew Broderick's role, is perhaps one of most irritating female characters I've ever seen on film - shallow, stupid, totally lacking in judgment, and she runs like "Gloria" from Body Double; a film not known for its satisfying female characters.What's perhaps most sad, except for the fact that she miraculously manages to triumph (sort of), is that the director tried to make Audrey lovable and appealing to the audience, as a vulnerable, sweet, yet misguided woman, despite her effective ability to alienate the interest and care of most female AND male audience members.
I don't even see Godzilla until about an hour or so into the film (yes, I know, that was a marketing ploy for the commercials to make people want to see the movie, but once you're in the theater, they've kind of got you), and I'm in serious pain from the gargantuan plot holes.
The only real problems for me are that the cast is a little too goofy at times (I think they were going for some kind of Jurassic Park humorous/serious blend) and the movie does run a little long.
After seeing Roland Emmerich;s Godzilla remake, I like it, but after a while, it got boring (especially after seeing it the 4th time projected).
Rather than make the atypical Godzilla film, Emmerich and his co-conspirator Dean Devlin took the "Jurassic Park" approach and turned the mega-monster into a really, really big T-Rex and instead of using aliens, bad weather or the apocalypse as an excuse to destroy a city, decided it would be best to watch the beast all but devour Manhattan.
In the rain.The first thing that will likely hit you upon your first viewing of "Godzilla" is "well, that wasn't so bad," but then you come to the ultimate conclusion that, well, it wasn't as good as it could have been, either.
Emmerich, who surely knows how to turn out an entertaining popcorn flick (often at the expense of logic and character development) puts on a good show here, with solid special effects, fun chase scenes and lots of lots of destruction.
Seriously, the movie feels like it's over once it hits the hour and fifty minute mark, but intead overstays its welcome by becoming more ridiculous by the moment and not knowing when to stop.Perhaps a better editor could have tightened up the film and made it more enjoyable to the end.
Given the time and the patience, and with the right mindset (more specifically -- the mindset that is earned by checking your brain at the door) "Godzilla" is an overall entertaining film with its redeeming moments, but is perhaps one that could never live up to all the hype.On a side note, the film's famous ad-campaign featured the tagline: "Size Does Matter." Well, in spite of the innuendo, the film certainly supports that theory by proving that a film too big and too long simply doesn't cut it..
Movie people, please watch the film, It's great..
Don't let these modern updates make you lose sight of a movie of this genre's basic plot and purpose: BIG BAD MONSTER THREATENS THE CITY- PEOPLE MUST KILL THE MONSTER LEAVING SUFFICIENT DOUBT OF ITS DEATH TO ALLOW FOR A RE-MATCH!So many people have cited a lack of a plot to this film.
But what I can't accept are many hardcore Godzilla fans taking the TriStar film WAY to seriously, OVER-BLOWING their negative opinions on it to RIDICULOUS levels, and treating the movie like it shouldn't have existed.
THAT I CANNOT except, and trashing a movie like this in that exact manner SERIOUSLY CANNOT BE.OK, with that said, I just want to say that I am a true fan of "Godzilla 1998" and I always will be.
I like to think of Roland Emmerich's 100% American take on Godzilla (which is what it's SUPPOSED to be in the first place)as a very fun, entertaining movie that has a well-executed plot/story that actually makes sense (for me at least), very well-developed human characters that are relate-able as real people and move the narrative along, and a creature that IS a very realistic depiction of Godzilla.Now I've heard about the scientific inaccuracies related to this film, and I say that conventional scientific thinking DOES NOT APPLY AND IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO APPLY.
You see, in this movie, even though Godzilla (or "Zilla" as the film's creature is now called) is a mutated marine iguana, that's just what he is, a MUTANT.
SHEESH!Now I don't know about anyone else out there, but I believe the main reason for the negative bashing from both the hardcore Godzilla fans and the critics is that people keep comparing this to the Toho Godzilla series when really, "Godzilla 1998" SHOULDN'T be compared with the latter and I don't think it's supposed to be compared with the Toho films at all.
It's NOT supposed to be compared to the Toho films at all because when Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin set out to make "Godzilla 1998," they had it in their minds to give America IT'S OWN GODZILLA while keeping their version true to the original in some ways.
And while it's fan-base isn't nearly as big as the one surrounding the Toho series, TriStar's film IS loved & supported by a good number of people (myself included).
And really, that makes me smile!So in conclusion, I personally give "Godzilla 1998" 5 out of 5 stars in all conventional areas of film-making, cinematic storytelling, character & relationship development, and action & creature design/animation.
The acting from Matthew Broderick is good...its a whole lot better than the original Godzilla.
As often, especially with re-makes from classic films such as this '50s sci-fi one, there are a lot of "good" and "bad."THE GOOD - Great special effects with some tremendous action scenes.
In an interview on a featurette in the DVD release of this film, director Roland Emmerich says that he wanted to make a "completely different" Godzilla, the original being - according to him - out of date.
That film is also way better than this one; heck, while made in the '50s, even its special effects are better.Again, if you have two hours of spare time, and you can think of nothing else to do with your life, by all means let Emmerich give your brain a visual enema with this movie.
The downsides of this movie were pretty lame script at the moments, zero chemistry between Matthew Broderick and Maria Pitillo (and her poor performance as well) and just the look of this movie - literally almost all movie time action takes place at night, sure because its much more easier (and cheaper) to make all the big special effects sequences in a bloody dark, but not so much fun to watch it.Overall, "Godzilla" is a guilty pleasure.
I am not a Godzilla fan and maybe this is the reason why I (and all the members of my family - young and older) enjoyed the Godzilla (1998) film.I have seen the original Japanese film (many - many years ago) but the Emmerich film has nothing to do with that kind of film.(To note: I did not like the scenario and the actors in the "Independance Day" film by the same Director.).
There is NO Godzilla to be seen in the whole movie, thus I cannot imagine the title of the film...Mr Emmerich must have read the wrong script...
In addition, this movie's idea of suspense is easily rivaled by the act of picking one's own nose.A special note (actually a plea) to Mr. Devlin and Mr. Emmerich, whom I understand are threatening us with not one, but two "Godzilla" sequels:  Don't.
I've hated every other Godzilla movie because I don't like their "old" look and they seem very tense and boring.
If you are actually rooting for Godzilla in this movie uh, I think that's what it wants you to so people humans are NOT always the "good guys"..
It has decent CGI for the time and nice action sequences and that, to me anyway, made it entertaining enough to sit through it...again...and again...and again.I've basically watched this dozens of times since I was a kid and I'm 22 now.Although I do agree, this American Godzilla is totally different to Japanese Godzilla and so I just call it Zilla like most fans..
The Perfect Action Godzilla Movie For Its Time.
I wonder why so many people did not give this movie its proper merit in terms of some great Special Effects, Action, the Monster Godzilla itself and the good acting by Matthew Broderick and supportive casts.
and to my surprised it was great for its year of release, surpassing the special effects i expected to see.When I watched new Godzilla 2014 movie, it was as if I'm watching a cartoon movie again at the cine.
Sure, in 1933 the famous King Kong was released but Godzilla was still an inspiration for many monster films to follow.
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.
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 movie is very dumb at times and has many problems but in the end Godzilla works in a cheesy kind of way.
Maybe a lot of people were expecting this movie to be like previous Godzilla movies, but that's obviously not going to happen in Hollywood - at least for now.
The effects are worth watching, the monster behaves in the way you would expect Godzilla to behave.
I have seen people comparing this with some Japanese Godzilla movies, and making negative remarks.
The criticisms come in two forms or a combination: (1.) Godzilla purists complain that the monster is different than the one in the classic Godzilla movies, and (2.) others complain that the film is what it is -- a story about a 200-foot tall dino-lizard attacking New York City.As far as the first point goes, so it deviates from the Japanese Godzilla, so what?
I honestly believe that if the film (and monster) had NOT been called "Godzilla", just called "Monstersaurus" or something, and not been made to appear as the iconic monster from our childhood, the movie would have done great in more people's eyes (well, at least on the level as other similarly-themed films like INDEPENDENCE DAY, TWISTER, and such).
The kiss of death for many people was that they felt the movie was trying to "pass off" this monster as "Godzilla".
The story and the monster itself, 'Godzilla'.If you look back at all of the original Japanese Godzilla flicks, you aren't going to find a great (not to mention BELIEVABLE) story or plot.
The story and the monster itself, 'Godzilla'.If you look back at all of the original Japanese Godzilla flicks, you aren't going to find a great (not to mention BELIEVABLE) story or plot.
It's sad that most Godzilla fans and critics do not understand this.I personally believe that the majority of the general audience ENJOYED this film.
It's sad that most Godzilla fans and critics do not understand this.I personally believe that the majority of the general audience ENJOYED this film.
It's Big, Loud, and Fun. And although we've had lots of great films with tons of Special Effects, there's nothing quite like it.So take a look at it, be open and I'm sure you will enjoy the fantastic pop-corn entertainment known as "GODZILLA"..
It's Big, Loud, and Fun. And although we've had lots of great films with tons of Special Effects, there's nothing quite like it.So take a look at it, be open and I'm sure you will enjoy the fantastic pop-corn entertainment known as "GODZILLA"..
It had real good special effects and Godzilla looked AWESOME!!!!