Godzilla 2000

Release Date: Aug 18th, 2000

Cast :

Director: Takao Okawara 

“History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man” – Blue Oyster Cult, Godzilla

First off, a clarification is necessary.  This movie is the next in the original series of Japanese Godzilla movies, and bears only a name likeness to the cinematic abomination of two years back.  Godzilla 2000 is an attempt to recapture the spirit that was bastardized by that Devlin/Emmerich disaster area.  The original series prided itself on campy stories, effects and acting, choosing instead to the stage for an ultimate showdown between the mutated lizard and the adversary du jour. In doing such, they also made a subtle commentary on the evils of societal tampering with nature.  The finales and battle scenes of these movies were what the audience came to see.  The makers of those films realized a movie could be entertaining, fun and intelligent, without ever taking itself seriously.  However G2K fails to completely learn its lesson, falling prey to a differing set of errors on its way to keeping the legacy alive, but fading faster than the light in the big green guys eyes.

The setting and attitude have been modernized, with the characters spouting 90’s catch phrases and cliché’s while using the latest technology to track the beast within their confines. While government agencies and scientists monitor Godzilla, their intentions are vastly different. The governmental department known as the CCI (Crisis Control Intelligence) continually attempts to find ways to eliminate him and end his reign of terror.  On the other side are the scientists who want to learn from and utilize his longevity and regenerative powers, which their experimentation initially created.  Already, this is way too much of a plot for a typical Godzilla movie, but wait, there is more.  Thrown in for necessity and adversarial purposes, is a mysterious rock, which turns out to contain other worldly visitors, wanting to take over the world, and use Godzilla’s powers to do it.  This should have set up into a nice Monster vs. Alien showdown, with the plot taking the backseat.  Where the movie fails, is in the method and length of time that it takes to get to this obvious conclusion.  It chooses to focus on the side stories and setup, and virtually ignores the actual star of the show.  The film deservedly gets its 90 minute or less running time, for which the final 20 should have been dedicated to the monster and his enemy tearing up Tokyo, while the citizens cheer on the oversized wrestling match.  Instead, the monster disappears for nearly a third of the movie while we are tortured and drug through an extended and unnecessary of the alien story, and an embittered rivalry between a scientist and the head of the governmental agency.  This was excessive, unnecessary and took away from what this movie could have been. 

It is unfair to criticize the expected campy acting and effects, which are so cheesy, they have to be intentional.  However there are just some things that cannot be forgiven.  Lines like “There’s a little Godzilla in all of us” litter this script and become way too laughable to even dismiss as intended.  The effects are nice eye candy, seemingly influenced by Ed Wood, but still surpass those in that other movie because they are at least real and fun.  The modernization has given a bit more flash to the campiness, unfortunately the newer version forgets to dance with the one that brung them.

Ultimately, G2K fails to generate any new interest in the series or appeal to its original fans.  It has saved some face though, so that if this is the final entry (which is never clear in any of these movies) at least it goes out in the style and tradition of its predecessor.  Had the filmmakers tightened up the story and focused more on the monster vs. the alien, this could been a truly fun summer experience. As it is, the movie plods slower than the green guy in Tokyo harbor, and thus becomes bogged down and tangled up its own creations.  A fitting irony and commentary indeed.  Save this one for the Sunday afternoon, where these types of movies have always belonged.($$ out of $$$$)