MY REVIEW AND THOUGHTS OF GODZILLA 1998 : A lizard egg exposed to nuclear testing by France is mutated into a giant monster called Godzilla. It is pregnant and comes to New York where it lays hundreds of eggs in order to populate the species. Our human friends (Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno) find the nest in MSG and have the military call in a air strike; killing the eggs. Godzilla chases them in a taxi and is killed by F-18's. At the end, one egg survives. This is not Godzilla, instead its a remake of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Poor acting (except for Reno), horrible script, poorly written characters, especially Audrey. The movie actually starts off promising, but after the creature is revealed, it goes nowhere. I do like the overall look of the movie and the special effects. I did not have a problem with the new Godzilla design (I actually grew to like it because of the animated series), the problem was its lack of fighting spirit and no atomic breath. Other problems are that no one in the movie objects to killing Godzilla. Also no one in the audience wants to see Godzilla killed, then everyone cheering in the movie after it was done. I heard people cursing and sighing. It left a bad feeling in people's mouths. And the whole taxi cab chase scene at the end was also very ridiculous. I heard in a recent interview that Devlin and Emmerich (the director) didnt get a chance to test screen the movie because they were rushing to make the release date. They both later admitted to mistakes. Maybe if it was called something else, it wouldnt have been so bashed. But making a movie and slapping Godzilla's name on it to make money, doesnt work. A sequel was planned and a story treatment written, but it was abadoned when Emmerich and Devlin pulled out in 2000. While it did make a lot of money for the studio (Budget $130 million, made $379 worldwide), the backlash from fans was too great. But I think if they made a sequel and fixed the problems, Zilla would be remembered differently. So while I am not a fan of the movie, I am a fan of Zilla. I think back to 1997-98 and will always remember the excitement leading up to the movie (the media coverage, the toys, etc.) It was a fun time to be a Godzilla fan!
