GODZILLA (1998) - 8/29/30
I will defend this movie until I die.
The 1998 Godzilla has been consistently derided as one of the worst films ever made since it came out. Its rollout was somewhat disastrous, making a lot of money but not what was expected, and has been considered so far removed from the Toho Godzillas that Toho just branded it something else completely. However, I am here to say that the 1998 Godzilla is actually good. Not good-bad, but actually good.
This iteration of Godzilla is the first PG-13 movie I ever saw in theaters, and it terrified the shit out of me. Less of the major monster that emerged from the sea and more because of the vicious baby zillas that roamed and hunted down everyone in MSG. But even with all of those nightmares and terrifying imagery, I was absolutely enraptured. After it came out on VHS, it quickly became one of my most watched films1.
I understand the hatred of it. It’s not the fat kaiju that destroys cities and battles other monsters. This version doesn’t have any of the same verve that the rubber-suited King of All Monsters has - hell it doesn’t even shoot fire or nuclear blasts from its mouth2. Most importantly, the American Zilla completely misses on all of the nuclear metaphor the original was borne from. But honestly, this movie is still solid.
Sure, it’s thematically different, and that is very apparent when you have a bunch of Americans who were the ones that created the nuclear holocaust - not the ones who survived it - making the film. But it if weren’t called Godzilla, I think people would have enjoyed it more. I, personally, love the design, although rewatching it now after having seen so many Godzilla movies it feels weird to call it Godzilla. But its lizard-like realistic design is a lot more terrifying than the king kaiju. It looks like an actual terrifying dinosaur that if it were to be let loose in the city, would be a lot more harrowing than the bumbling behemoth we all know and love. Partially my love for its is because this is my first reference point for what “Godzilla” is, but even if you hate it, you cannot deny that it looks cool.
This movie, alongside Gargoyles the animated series and Men in Black were my original reference points of what New York is and was, so my vision of the city that I have called home for the past decade is truly ingrained in that. This dark, rainy, gritty place where crazy shit always happens - and to be fair, it’s still not that far off even in 2024. Is this story a little schlocky? Sure, but it is pure entertainment which is what Roland Emmerich excels at. Matthew Broderick is just a sweetheart and Hank Azaria is solid comic relief, as is the always incomparable Jean Reno. Do the VFX hold up? No, but nothing ever does, especially from this era. What’s more impressive are the puppets they utilized to make this film which, like Jurassic Park, play such a huge part in gripping the viewer and making the asinine stakes feel a little more real. In fact, this story was so successful with people my age that it spawned a sick animated Saturday morning cartoon.
If you go into this film trying to compare it to the Japanese legacy, you’re out of luck. If you go into this wanting to watch a monster film in New York, I don’t understand how you won't have a good time. This film is good and people just want to hate to hate. Gojira forever.
And who can’t forget the iconic eye on the green cover.
Or maybe it does, because there is one quick scene where it completely destroys a few tanks with fire but it never happens again.