Title: Godzilla 2000 (1999)
Director: Takao Okawara
So in preparation for Godzilla (2014) I decided to revisit
some of the Godzilla movies in my collection and the one that jumped at me was
Godzilla 2000, mainly because I had not reviewed it here, so I took the
opportunity to revisit it. I have to say, it’s a pretty solid Godzilla flick filled
with lots of fun moments. The thing with this particular Godzilla film is that
it was made as a response to Roland Emmerich’s masterpiece (I kid, I kid)
Godzilla (1998). Japanese audiences hated that American Godzilla so much that
they had to immediately make a response film. Originally, Tri Star pictures had
a trilogy of Godzilla flicks planned, but Japanese hatred for that film moved the
guys at Toho Ltd. to make a proper Godzilla flick, as a result we get Godzilla 2000 a film made to remind us what a true Godzilla film is all about.
On this particular flick humans discover a huge chunk of
rock beneath the ocean; the rock is emitting energy, so of course they decide
to unearth it. They soon discover this ancient rock is actually a dormant alien
spaceship that had crash landed on earth’s oceans years ago. At the same time,
we follow a group of scientists who are trying to pin point Godzilla’s exact
location on earth, which is kind of funny because how the hell do you lose
track of something as huge as Godzilla right? So anyways, the main character is
this scientist and his daughter who are the equivalent of storm chasers, but
instead of storms, they chase Godzilla. Will Godzilla make it in time to save
humanity from the evil alien ship that’s stealing all of humanities knowledge?
What I like about this one is that it was the first time we
get a glimpse at a new Godzilla design, which to me is the best Godzilla has
ever looked on any of the Japanese films. To me this era of Godzilla films (known
as the Millenium Era) is the best era, because Godzilla looks pretty bad ass,
not bulky or obviously a man in a suit. So right from the beginning we meet
Godzilla face to face, and it’s not some computer generated image trying to get
away from cheesiness, nope, this is Godzilla, the way he’s always been, kind of
goofy, but 100% fun. There’s this scene where the protagonists are driving down
a tunnel and what awaits them at the end is Godzilla’s giant face and his
breath, the scene is beyond cool! A great way to remind us just how fun a
Godzilla movie can be. The ideas have to be out there and crazy! The crazier
the better! And so to me, this one delivers in that aspect.
Starting with the fact that we’re talking about a giant
alien spaceship that sucks up knowledge from computers and morphs into a giant tentacled
monster! The only downside in this movie for me is that the alien creature was
achieved through computer effects, and since nothing else in the film is
computer generated, well, the effect stands out like a sore thumb. It just doesn’t
look good; it doesn’t help matters that the computer effects aren’t good at
all. This is one of those Godzilla villains that never returned, it’s not a
favorite and it’s easy to see why. The effects were terrible, good thing it doesn’t
stay that way for long and eventually morphs into a man in a suit type of thing
called Orga. Orga has a cool ability, it can steal your DNA through its bite
and it can copy your abilities, so logically, it bites Godzilla and starts to
clone Godzilla in a way, which was a cool ability in my book. The monster
brawls are cool, destroying buildings and putting Tokyo in peril, but my
favorite part of the film is how Godzilla decides to destroy the alien.
So anyhow, my final words on this one is that it was a good
way to start the new era of Godzilla films. It was a fresh start in many ways,
for example, it starts from scratch and ignores the continuity presented in all
previous Godzilla films save for what happened in the original Gojira (1954). Godzilla
2000 was a huge box office success in Japan and so they also released it in the
U.S. They cut a couple of minutes off to quicken the pace and added new music.
By the way, this was the second Japanese Godzilla film to be released in American
theaters since Godzilla 1985 (1984). The English dubbing is deliberately tongue
in cheek and funny, so when you hear people saying things like “Great Caesar’s
Ghost!” don’t be surprised. American producers decided to make the tone of the
film funny, because in their heads, they think American audiences would never
take the monster fight sequences seriously, so why not make the whole thing
funnier with a funny line or two? But what do they know right? Godzilla films
exist in their own unique universe and offer a very distinctive experience. You
gotta take them for what they are, because with Godzilla films you either get them
or you don’t. I’m one of the ones who has a blast watching these movies, this
one was super fun, I recommend it!
Rating: 3 out of 5
2 comments:
the American dubbing for this was just hilarious. Never knew shooting "crap through a goose" was even possible! XD
Anywho, love Orga's death. The surprised look he had when he felt "the pulse" was priceless!
Agree Kaijinu, Orga's death is one of the highlights of this film. The "Shooting Crap Through a Goose" is a line from the film Patton (1970), I guess one of the people doing the dubbing must have been a fan of that film.
Thanks for commenting Kaijinu!
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