Godzilla 1998 Film Review

Godzilla has been destroying Japan for a little over 70 years at this point in time and while the Monsterverse films have proven that an American Godzilla film can work it wasn't always that way. As back in the late nineties there was a film that did leave a bad taste in the mouth of every single die hard Godzilla fan as it just got so much wrong about the king of the monsters and so then join me as I review the film that sees Godzilla loose the army in the middle of New York City for some strange reason with the film in question being called simply just "Godzilla" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when Godzilla starts attacking New York City it's up to the army to find a way of defeating him before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best with the films plot being dumb and not in a good way as this films plot does make alot of stupid choices which either makes the films characters look dumb or it makes them look really dumb as for some strange reason the film gives Godzilla the power to hide in the middle of a crowded New York City which is a key plot point in the film and it's something that this film never bothers to explain away and while yes the Godzilla films are by nature dumb films there is usually a smartness to them that makes them more easy to watch here it just felt like that this film was made by people who aren't fans of the character and therefor they just gave there version of the character the most generic plot which does at times be fun to watch but because of the fact that the makers of this film seem to be more interested in giving the humans alot of drama which is really not needed it does mean that the Godzilla plot feels more like an afterthought so much so that you could be forgiven for thinking that Godzilla wasn't a main character in the movie but to be fair when this films plot wants to be fun it can be really fun to watch it's just that you have to sit through alot of the bad scenes to get to the few good ones in this film with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaing and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Matthew Broderick as Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos and Jean Reno as Philippe Roaché. Also starring in this film is Maria Pitillo as Audrey Timmonds , Hank Azaria as Victor "Animal" Palotti , Kevin Dunn as Colonel Hicks , Michael Lerner as Mayor Ebert , Harry Shearer as Charles Caiman , Arabella Field as Lucy Palotti , Vicki Lewis as Dr. Elsie Chapman , Lorry Goldman as Gene , Doug Savant as Sergeant O'Neal , Malcolm Danare as Dr. Mendel Craven , Ralph Manza as Fisherman Joe , Glenn Morshower as Kyle Terrington , Chris Ellis as General Hunter Anderson , Richard Gant as Admiral Phelps , Clyde Kusatsu as A Japanese Tanker Skipper and Nancy Cartwright as Caiman's Secretary.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. With all of this films actors either being really wooden at best or just being wrong for this film like for example Matthew Broderick who we know can act but here he just turns in this really wooden performance that doesn't work well either for the film or for his character with another great example being Maria Pitillo who just isn't even trying to turn in a good performance with it being obvious that she was only cast because of the fact that she's good looking and that's really it as she's just so wooden in this film with the films best actor being Hank Azaria as Victor "Animal" Palotti as he seems to be the only actor that's actively trying to pull of a good performance with it showing through in the final film with another decent actor in this film being Jean Reno who is just as good as he always is but even he can't top Hank Azaria in this film as it's clear as day that Hank really does know that he's in a bad film and is just going to have fun with it whilst Jean Reno is just to good for this film with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with in terms of what it is that here actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to hurt the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Centropolis Effects , VisionArt and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as this film does have some semi-decent CGI in it the issue is tho is that you can tell that this film was made in the nineties as the films CGI really hasn't aged all that well this is of course no fault of the makers of this film as the world of CGI does evolve alot faster then the world of practical effects does with Godzilla himself being a really good example of this as for alot of the time Godzilla in this film is just a man in suit with the character being played by Kurt Carley which is when the character does look good however when they switch to a full on CGI version of the character that's when he starts to look a little of as it does come across as the makers of this film not really giving the films effects teams alot of time to work on him when he's done in CGI which does have the adverse affect of making all of this films effects look cheap when the fact is just given how big that this films production budget was that just simply wouldn't have been the case and if you were just to look at this films CGI Godzilla you wouldn't know that this films effects teams would have had a large effects budget with the rest of this films effects looking as good as you expect them to given just who is working on this films effects. 

Look the Godzilla films be they Japanese or American don't typically have the best record when it comes to the human characters. Which is something that does make alot of sense as the human characters are never meant to be the main attraction of a Godzilla film as that's always going to be Godzilla himself and yet this film takes that to a whole different level as not only are this film human characters completely bland and boring but even alot of the ones that your meant to like come across as being just bad people with the best example of this being Audrey who willingly steals a top secret tape from the tent of an ex-boyfriend without telling him and who has proven to be a pretty decent guy and yet she does this just to further her own career and while yes the character does show some remorse for her actions it's only AFTER he gets let go from the army and openly tells her off for doing so so it doesn't come from her heart as she's only doing it because she got found out for doing it in the first place with Nick himself just being the typical nerd character that you always see in nineties disaster films with there being nothing about him as a character that makes him stand out in fact the only tolerable character in this film is Dr. Elsie Chapman who is only tolerable because of the fact that she has a sarcastic sense of humor that actually makes her an entertaining character to watch but even she can't save this film film from having dull and boring characters as really none of this films characters are that memorable as there all just very poorly done with it being made clear that the makers of this film put more thought and effort into the films action and effects then they did into giving us some really memorable characters.

This film is just so dumb even for a Godzilla film this film is still pretty dumb as the army loose Godzilla a giant lizard not once , not twice but at the least THREE times. This is something that would be understandable if the film took place in a city that wasn't surrounded by water as then you could argue that Godzilla just moved on from that town or city and that's it but it doesn't the film wholly takes place in New York and therefor there's no way that they could have lost this giant lizard even the once and yet because of the fact that the film wants to be dumb for all of the wrong reasons that's exactly what happens and it's really annoying to see as that's something that really shouldn't happen and yet due to the fact that the film wants to make the army look dumb that's exactly what happens when all that does is make those characters look dumb which is something that does make sense as they are meant to just be side characters and really nothing more then that but when you make them look dumb you also make the main characters look dumb due to the fact that there working with the army and yet if the film didn't have them loose Godzilla and just have him out power them which is something that they very easily could have done then it would have made him be more of a threat and it would have made his defeat at the hands of the army all the more satisfying as they would have had to actually outsmart him something which they don't get to do in this film as he spends alot of the time out smarting them and making them look dumb in the process yet as the film needs them to look dumb it means that we have to have dumb scenes like that in the film even tho they really do nothing for none of the films characters.

Whilst the film did rob Godzilla of his Atomic Breath for no reason whatsoever it was replaced with Fire Breath. Which granted is cool to see and is something that could only work in an American Godzilla film t also makes no sense even in this film as this films Godzilla much like the original was created after several atomic bombs had been dropped somewhere and there for he wouldn't have fire breath rather he would still have the ability to breathe atomic air on people which is something that's more effective and more deadly then fire with it being something that whilst it does look cool it would have been more cooler to see him use his powers that the fans of the original Godzilla know him to have like how cool would it have been to see him use his atomic breath when the army first chase him through New York as that would have shown just how powerful that he is and it's something that would have made Godzilla out to be more of a threat as then we the audience would have gotten the chance to see just what kind of damage that he could really do and while him breathing fire still does achieve that affect it's something that he only uses the once and heck he even doesn't use it in Godzilla: Final Wars when he took the actual Godzilla but in saying this tho seeing him use his fire breathe is something that does make this version of the character feel unique and standout from the original Godzilla however tho that is the only cool thing that this film does with the character as everything else that the makers of this film do with this character is just so lame and feels out of place for any Godzilla film be it American or Japanese.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and eighteen minuets and forty three seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for alot of the Japanese Godzilla films as well the American ones as well with this film having just about the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place and yet in saying this tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as this film doesn't fully develop it's plot which I guess make sense as this is from the makers of Independence Day and that films plot wasn't that well developed either with the makers of this film knowing full well that we don't go to a Godzilla film to see a fully realized plot as we go to a Godzilla film to see Godzilla blowing things up and that's really it but here tho it is something that does get in the way of giving the plot some much needed development as the makers of this film could have had the plot be more developed something which would have helped the action scenes be all the more impactful with this even being for the films characters as none of them get any character development as the film doesn't bother to give them any granted none of the classic Godzilla films gave there characters any kind of character development but there they still made the attempt to make a decent film with decent characters and yet none of that is the case here with this film as the makers of this film are more bothered with the films action scenes then they are in giving us a good film in it's own right but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this film putting lot more focus on it's action scenes then it is in anything else which is something that really does make sense as this films co-writer and director Roland Emmerich is mostly known for directing action films and therefor he does know how to give us some good looking action scenes which is very much the case here as the film does give us alot of really good action scenes that feel true to who Godzilla is as a character with the films best action scene being the films third act chase through New York as we get to see now a really angry Godzilla who has just lost all of his kids thank to the army blowing up Madison Square Garden chasing are three main characters all throughout the city with them driving away him in taxi all the while there trying to lead him to a suspension bridge just so the army can blow him up something they do do but it's the chase that makes it all the more exciting as we get to see Godzilla destroying things left right and centre only no it's done on a Hollywood budget altho if truth be told it's the army that does more damage to the city of New York then Godzilla h9mself does with the film having alot of really good action scenes which given who made this film is something that really make alot of sense in my freaking opinion anyways / at least.

Overall whilst this film might have helped end the Godzilla franchise it's not something that stayed dead forever and the fact that we are getting a sequel to Godzilla Minus One this year called Godzilla Minus Zero does prove that this film as bad as it is wasn't strong enough to end the king of the monsters for good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Wikizilla and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Wikizilla this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Wikizilla are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Wikizilla really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.