Thursday, May 30, 2019

A Look Back at Godzilla (1998)





Hello everyone and welcome back to another installment of A Look Back at and this time I'll review 1998's Godzilla, but before we get to that let me explain something first. Now yes it would make more sense for me to review 2014's Godzilla what with the sequel coming out but since I already reviewed it I decided to go with this film instead. Also I was gonna make this a Cinematic Disaster review but I don't think it's completely bad. I still think it's bad none the less but not enough to say it's a complete abomination to film. So with that out of the way let's get started.



Godzilla is a 1998 monster film and a reimagining of Toho's Godzilla franchise. The film is also the 23rd film in the Godzilla film series and the first film to be produced by a Hollywood studio. Godzilla is produced by Centropolis Entertainment, Fried Films, and Independent Pictures and distributed by TriStar Pictures. The movie was written by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin and directed by Roland Emmerich.




The story is an unknown creature has risen from the South Pacific Ocean and is making a path of destruction. NRC scientist Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos has been recruited by the U.S. military to study this monster and find a way to stop it. But one question remains, are they any match to stop this creature known as Godzilla?







  • Negatives



You probably know by now the worst thing about Godzilla is Godzilla himself. I mean what happened? The design makes him look more like a T-Rex than his usual look. Really makes me question why Toho gave the thumbs up for this design (also yes Toho approved of that final appearance. I'm not kidding look it up). The other problem with this Godzilla is the characterization. In all of the other movies human weapons have no effect but here they do. Oh and in this film Godzilla can reproduce asexual. Now I admit I'm not deep into Godzilla lore but last time I checked he couldn't do that...at all!




The other issue with this movie is it really brings down your hopes. The beginning starts out promising enough but once we get to New York that's when things go from pretty good to it really could have been better.







  • Mix




There are many gray areas with this movie one of them being the acting. A lot of people riff on Matthew Broderick and yes while he does have some bad moments he's performance isn't the worst...that dishonor goes to Maria Pitillo. She was truly awful in this.




Another part of the movie that's just okay is David Arnold's score. There is music in the movie that's perfect to live to but then there are times when it tries to be John Williams. And considering people were saying the film was trying to be like Jurassic Park it didn't help that not only were certain scenes trying to be that film but the score also wasn't helping matters either.



The final thing that could have used some improvement is the action. It's passable for what it is but there really needed to be a lot more suspense and such to really make you get into it.






  • Positives



The only truly good thing about Godzilla is the visual effects. Yes there nothing compared to what we have today but they are rather good for 1998 standards.







So yes I don't think Godzilla (1998) is as bad as people try to make it out to be. It's still bad yes especially with Godzilla's characterization and that false hope at the beginning. The only things saving it from me giving a very low rating is the decent performances, score, and action. The only aspect of the movie to really get a kick out of is the special effects.







My final rating is Bad But Harmless







But if you want to see a truly horrible Godzilla movie go watch Godzilla's Revenge, now that's a stinker. Anyways that's gonna do it for me. Come back on Saturday, June 1st for my review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

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