Godzilla (1998)

Director: Roland Emmerich

Written by: Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin

Here we go.

I’ve not been looking forward to this one, time has done little to ease the distaste this film left me with back on its original release. However, on rewatching this I think perhaps I was originally (very slightly) too harsh.

Let me be clear from the get-go, this is not a great film and it’s a terrible Godzilla movie but there are enough good points to validate a rewatch.

For starters, the movie moves along at a swift pace and Zilla himself probably has more screen time here than in five Toho movies combined. The ToraGoji design is much different to anything we’ve seen before, giving an agility and speed that even the later ‘Monsterverse’ movies have yet to equal.

Another positive thing here is scale, with no opposing Kaiju to battle Zilla’s main focus is on its human adversaries and the frequent interactions between man and monster deliver a sense of the pure size of the Kaiju in question, even though it is ultimately one of Godzilla’s smaller incarnations.

The acting is bad, the writing is bad, and worst of all the movie has no heart. You never feel like any of the main characters are in danger and everything is played off for laughs or cheap emotional beats that do not resonate.

As for the plot, well it seems the French are to blame for this Godzilla, their nuclear tests mutating an Iguana or something that heads for Manhattan to lay eggs for some reason. The eggs hatch and lots of terrible C.G.I monsters make for a poor man’s Jurrassic Park, Zilla is killed by some fighter planes. The end.

I’m sorry if I’m coming off as dismissive but after watching four decades of lovingly crafting, mythology-cultivating Toho films this feeble entry is all style no substance. The best way to view it is as a decent monster movie and nothing more.

Incidentally, the name "Zilla" is a modification of Godzilla, omitting the "God" component. As explained by Godzilla Final Wars producer Shogo Tomiyama, this choice was made to reflect the perception that the TriStar Godzilla stripped away the divine connotations associated with Godzilla, portraying it simply as a regular creature. Tomiyama elaborated that Hollywood's rendition of Godzilla was presented as just another ordinary monster.

The ToraGoji design (taken from the Japanese term for TriStar, combined with "Goji," derived from Godzilla's original Japanese name, Gojira.) presents a radical departure from previous iterations of Godzilla, with a design that strays far from convention. Its CGI model adopts a posture reminiscent of modern depictions of theropod dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex, deviating from Godzilla's traditional upright humanoid stance.

Its skin tone is a deep, almost blackish blue along the dorsal surface, transitioning to a silvery light-blue hue on the sides, and tan underneath, seemingly crafted to camouflage amidst urban landscapes. Boasting powerful, elongated limbs, the ToraGoji is built for remarkable agility, a deliberate trait in its design.

One of its most striking features is its pronounced underbite, sporting a massive chin and teeth protruding reminiscent of crocodiles. Departing from the usual maple leaf-shaped dorsal plates, the ToraGoji boasts curved, spike-like structures that curve forward, resembling inverted shark fins.

In the cinematic depiction, Godzilla sports only four fingers in its primary CG model, giant animatronic, and final design maquette. Interestingly, a vestigial fifth digit is discernible in the suit, adding a subtle detail to its overall appearance.

Interestingly Stan Winston's unused initial concept art would have given us a very different, much more recognizable take.

*1/2