By Geno McGahee
Two things really get a bad name when it comes to the film world. One, the entire film GODZILLA from 1998 is trashed often for various reasons and mostly from die-hard Godzilla fans. I grew up on those original Godzilla films. They have a place in my heart, but I have no issue looking at this as a different take on the story. The second problem and it’s a big and a short problem at the same time is Matthew Broderick, the star of this film.
In 1986, Broderick was considered cool, I guess, after his starring role in FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF. He fell off the radar mostly after that, but he did come back in the 1990s with the underrated film THE CABLE GUY with Jim Carrey and a very good comedy in ADDICTED TO LOVE. Neither film did any big noise, but it was enough to get him this starring role in GODZILLA, a film made by the same people that created INDEPENDENCE DAY and it shows.
We begin with Godzilla attacking a ship and scaring a pour old guy into saying “Godzilla” over and over again. The guy was terrified, but they kept asking him “What did you see?” You’d think that they’d leave the guy alone. He didn’t seem right and maybe he had some screws loose. He may not have been a reliable source to base an operation on.
Dr. Niko TatoPoulos (Broderick) begins the film with an experiment on worms at Chernobyl, while singing “Singing in the Rain,” which makes him immediately obnoxious and irritating. He’s approached by some army guys and we get a terrible ongoing joke, where NOBODY can pronounce his name correctly. It gets old fast. It isn’t funny. I’m guessing the writer came up with the name and it hit him how strange it was and this joke was born.
Tatopoulos is introduced to the leader of the group, Elsie (Vicki Lewis), and they begin to try to figure out what Godzilla is and what it’s going to do next. It doesn’t take long for it to make its way to New York City and that’s where we are introduced to Audrey (Maria Pittilo), a very attractive former girlfriend of Niko. She is trying to make it as a journalist, but her boss, Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer), expects sex in return for promotion. Audrey doesn’t know what do to and confides in her friends, Lucy (Arabella Field) and her boyfriend, and one of the biggest problems of this film, Victor (Hank Azaria). I know people really like Azaria, but I’m not very impressed with any of his work and this may be his worst performance. The overacting mixed with the forced New York accent, makes his moments nearly unwatchable.
One of the jokes that does work is the spoofing of Siskel and Ebert. Mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner) and his aide, Gene (Lorry Goldman), is the producer’s way of sticking it up their asses and good for them! Siskel and Ebert were often unfair with films and were not fans of the big budget disaster films of that time. The producers knew that GODZILLA was going to get trashed by them, so they beat them to the punch. They even went after Ebert’s weight, as he’s clutching a bag of Hershey Kisses, refusing to let it go as Gene tries to wrestle it away.
The military desperately wants to kill Godzilla, but they are misguided as the military always is in these sorts of films. The voice of reason is Niko. He comes up with the plan to use fish to draw it out, leading to the comment “that’s a lot of fish” that you see so much when people discuss this film. I wonder if it’s not the GODZILLA haters that trash this film, but the FERRIS BUELLER lovers that have an issue. Their hero, the cool guy that they may have based their lives on, is now a nerd and not cool anymore. Now they think that they are nerds for every looking up to that bastard, Broderick. It’s a theory.
Audrey sneaks her way into the group and starts picking the brain of her ex, Niko, to use in a piece she’s writing. She has no issue using that nerd to push her career. Betraying Broderick is better than spreading her legs for that old creep she works for. I wonder if he was based on Harvey Weinstein.
After some research, Niko determines that Godzilla is pregnant, which complicates things. Now the city will have to deal with small Godzillas that attack and we see the JURASSIC PARK influence with them quickly. They look and behave like raptors from that film. If you caught this film more than halfway through and didn’t know any better, you’d probably think that you were watching a JURASSIC PARK sequel. Hell, that movie did big numbers. It made total sense to hitch their wagon to it.
There is a nest of Godzillas at Madison Square Garden, which is awesome. As I watch this, I sort of get sad because if FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN had the money that this film had, or even half of it, imagine how great it would have been. New York City is such a great setting for a film and GODZILLA does some really cool things in that setting.
As the military and Niko are seeking Godzilla, there’s a group of French guys doing the same thing. They don’t deserve much of a mention. They really aren’t woven into the film too well. There is so much going on in GODZILLA that they sort of get lost in the mix and don’t mean much in the end. I didn’t even feel like mentioning them, but what the hell?
The Godzilla babies are discovered and we get a lot of fun as the group tries to survive. There are a few good one liners and a lot of fun factor wrapped up in the ending of this film. We get the ending that you’d suspect, with plenty of room for a sequel that was never to be, but this film was not the stinker that so many have called it.
GODZILLA (1998) is a mixed bag. I was not a fan of some of the over the top characters that seemed really unrealistic like Victor and Lucy and even Audrey, part of the time, but when you get past that, this film is really enjoyable. The design of Godzilla is panned, but I like the look and if you can take this for what it is, it can be appreciated a great deal more.
You can see the influence of the films of the time. These sorts of films were hot at the time and GODZILLA follows the formula well, bringing a lot of action, special effects that remarkably stand up well today, and a fun factor that I really enjoyed. This is not a serious film, but no Godzilla film is a serious film, with the exception of the new ones. This one has a lot more watchability than the newer ones. I like the newer releases, but I’m going to state an opinion here that you may not agree with…this one is better. How about this as an even more unpopular opinion…I think this is the best GODZILLA movie ever made. It’s not perfect, but it checks every box.
I highly recommend this film and recommend it even more if you’ve seen it and hated it the first time. When I first saw it all those years ago, I wasn’t crazy about it, but much like the film SHOCKER, this has really grown on me and I have a greater appreciation for it.
