Movie Defense Force: Godzilla

[Worgen]

I always liked the monster design in the movie, even though the big chin looks kinda silly. My biggest problem with it is all the squishy pink things running around, the humans.

Hey Jim, Id like to see you do a movie defense force of the second Matrix movie, I never understood why people hated on it so much. Sure the third one sucked but the second was pretty cool to me... although I haven't watched it since it came out so I might be remembering it wrong.

 

[Rad Party God]

I watched this movie at the thatres back then, I didn't know shit about Godzilla himself (except for that godawful 70's cartoon... and the pretty decent 90's cartoon) and I remember liking it as a kid and I still like it as an adult, it's just silly fun, even if the effects are very dated (have you seen the dock scene recently?).

Also, I just couldn't help it :3

 

[luclin92]

this was the first godzilla movie i watched as a kid and i think it was the one that got me interested in kaiju movies.

 

[varmintx]

I have a defense: the LFE on the blu-ray will jar the fillings from your teeth.

 

[Ruisu]

This movie is really in no way "awful" or even bad. It was really, REALLY fun back in 1998, and it was likely the first movie I watched as a child in a movie theater. And there is nothing wrong with godzilla's looks. Ok, so he's a actual giant lizard/t-rex with spikes on his back. Original godzilla is basically a giand lizard with spikes on his back too, only he walks straight because rubber suit, and is "fat" because rubber suit as well.

Besides the cartoon based on it was badass. And I mean it, badass.


One more thing: Human element being skippable in a giant monster movie is more of a rule in the genre rather than the exception. So nothing new here.

 

[RJ Dalton]

You're telling me that after all the movies you've reviewed, this one is the one you struggle to come up with justification for? After reviewing Trans-fucking-formers and Alien Resurrection, *this* is the movie that you struggle with?

. . .

Yeah, okay.

Actually, the monster design never bothered me. I actually kinda like it, all told. The real problem with this movie is that it just takes itself too seriously. It never embraces the insanity of its premise and instead tries to explain everything in way more detail than it really needs to instead of saying, "here's some crazy shit, enjoy the madness."

 

[jFr[e]ak93]

I'm still waiting for a Lost World episode. That movie is under appreciated...

OT... I only ever saw 5 minutes of this as a kid. Thought it looked like a Jurassic Park knock off. Part of me wants to pick this up... the other... not so much

 

[Mangod]

Explain to me how a giant Lizard that's only slightly smaller than the Empire State Building managed to hide INSIDE of Madison Square Garden?

I'll freely admit though, I still watch this movie whenever it's on the telly, because Jean Reno, damnit!

 

[malestrithe]

The only problem with this movie is that it's called Godzilla. If it was called something else, like Artiguno, Cloverfield, or Mr Dimples comes to New York, a lot of people would have been okay with it.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Was GodZilla dry humping that skyscraper at 1:21?

 

[scw55]

This is one of the most horrible movies I have ever seen. The script is doing its damnest to make sure that Zilla is nothing more than a momma looking after its children with horrible human beings hunting it and trying to kill it. They literally killed her kids and then she ran after them for revenge and we're supposed to root for the humans. I was like "KILL THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS, ZILLIE"!

I always felt like the film was a paradoy of AmericanFUCKYEAHism. Where the vast majority of damage was caused by the military epicly failing. The monster was just an animal doing animal things, and did very little damage itself.
I made these observations at 10 years of age. Either I am wrong, or I was a very sharp kid.

It think it's OK to not root for the 'intended characters to root for'. For example, in the Mass Effect series I literally didn't care at all about Shepard. I sincerely hated the character.

 

[Ruisu]

I always felt like the film was a paradoy of AmericanFUCKYEAHism. Where the vast majority of damage was caused by the military epicly failing. The monster was just an animal doing animal things, and did very little damage itself.
I made these observations at 10 years of age. Either I am wrong, or I was a very sharp kid.

It think it's OK to not root for the 'intended characters to root for'. For example, in the Mass Effect series I literally didn't care at all about Shepard. I sincerely hated the character.

This is of course correct. Later it became clear to me that godzilla was not the real villain of the movie (like he actually is in the first classic if I'm not wrong), but rather almost a "Frankstein" kind of monster, created by "humanity's own destructive nature". There is even that one scene where the zilla' mom cries for her killed spawns, while grabbing to a building against a rainy background. That's pure "monster drama" right there.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

"Jean Reno is in it."
Well I'm convinced.

Seriously though, I never thought this movie was all that bad, then again I'd never seen a Godzilla movie before this one so there ya go. Still haven't really seen any except for Godzilla 2000 which was pretty good.

 

[hazydawn]

This movie is not only not that bad but actually fucking awesome! I didn't even knew people disliked it
And the "that's a lot of fish" quote is funny too... seriously. I enjoyed every minute of every time I rewatched it.

 

[Muspelheim]

I rather like this film. It sold itself quite well when I was a kid, starring dinosaurs, dinosaurs breaking things and military vehicles breaking more things. Like The Land Before Time meets Thunderbirds. I remember mum summed it up as "Roar boom-boom for two hours", which still feels like time very well spent when I happen to watch it again.

The only problem with this movie is that it's called Godzilla. If it was called something else, like Artiguno, Cloverfield, or Mr Dimples comes to New York, a lot of people would have been okay with it.

I'm relabeling the VHS casette as we speak. "Godzilla" never had that good of a ring to it, anyway. Mrs Dimples it is, sounds much more pleasant.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

2 giant monsters fighting each other isn't that special because you don't get much sense of scale.

I got that feeling from Pacific Rim whilst I was watching, great film none the less, and there are plenty of little moments that demonstrate the scale. However they don't feel as big as Godzilla 2000 and going to go see this as a ten year old blew my little mind.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Didn't even know there was hatred surrounding it. I remember finding it quite enjoyable.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

You win this one, Jim! I honestly can't argue.

You aknowledge G.I.N.O. (Godzilla In Name Only), and that Zilla isn't Godzilla... and that Godzilla has looked goofy (Googley eyes era, anyone?) and his weird looking kid. I kinda appreciated the attempts to humanize Godzilla, though.

I just feel like the plot was that of a SyFy film, just that there was a bigger FX budget for this one.

 

[T3H-G04T]

It's fun to see how many of us actually like the film, despite it being widely recognized as a bad one.

I loved it since I saw for the first time, just like Ruisu says:

[...] It was really, REALLY fun back in 1998, and it was likely the first movie I watched as a child in a movie theater. And there is nothing wrong with godzilla's looks. [...]

Besides the cartoon based on it was badass. And I mean it, badass.

And yeah, the feeling of "you get what you deserved for nuclear testing" was there since the beginning and I liked the aspect of it. If you approach it as a standalone movie it's really good. Plus yeah, flippin' Jean Reno with a goddamn Elvis accent!