Godzilla *** (1998, Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo) – Classic Movie Review 424

Director Roland Emmerich’s 1998 sci-fi action thriller and monster movie sees the old dinosaur with radioactive breath being awakened by French H-bomb tests in the South Pacific and stomping off to terrorise and destroy New York. It’s up to scientist Dr Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) and Philippe Roaché (Jean Reno) to investigate and save the day with the US military.

Tatopolous concludes that a giant, irradiated lizard has been created by the explosions. The monster Godzilla makes its way north from the Panama Canal, where it’s first spotted, and hoves up at Manhattan.

Godzilla lacks enough spark and wit, but it’s still pretty good fun, helped by the good performances, decent special effects and zany music. Though Broderick is an excellent actor and can’t help being likeable, he does not seem at all particularly comfortable with this kind of role, leaving the reliable scene-stealer Reno to rescue the overlong film’s empty spaces in an amusingly wry turn. Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn and Michael Lerner are all a help in the performance department.

After a long, pretty slow build-up, the film delivers a hot final hour that provides excellent fantasy adventure entertainment, starting with the eerie Madison Square Garden sequence where dino babes are seen hatching in their zillions. The script manages a bit of intelligence and heart. It’s good that the characters are reasonably well drawn, quirky and sympathetic, the monster’s got a bit of a personality and there’s at attempt at accessing science in grappling for reasons for the creature’s awakening.

And Emmerich, fresh off Independence Day, handles the actors nicely and the full-on action excitingly. The effects are really impressive, with the only real problem the shifting size of the creature.

Solidly entertaining without being inspired or capturing the imagination especially, Godzilla didn’t lead to any call for the expected sequel. But a new Godzilla was finally released in May 2014, rebooted by director Gareth Edwards (Monsters), and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and Bryan Cranston.

This 1998 one is written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin, based on a screen story by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Godzilla unfairly won the 1999 Razzie for Worst Remake or Sequel, tied with Psycho (1998) and The Avengers (1998).

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(C) Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Film Review 424 derekwinnert.com

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