1998
I remember many things about this year. I was working on many different jobs, and have lots of ideas about my future. I was working on many industry jobs during this time, and the money was pretty good. I was hooked up with a girl named Marie at this time, that i found out slept with my friends ( not the best idea ). One thing i especially remember about 1998, was the album 100 % Colombian by hip hop band Fun Lovin´ Criminals. I still consider this to be their best studio album ever. With a mixture of soul, jazz and pop influences, Fun Lovin´ Criminals made a classic, and i did listen to the album recently again, and it still sounds really good. My movie passion was of course on a high level during this year, so i watched a lot of Box Office Blockbusters in cinema. 1998 was a really good film year, with releases such as Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, The Truman Show, The Big Lebowski, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, and the list goes on....But it was this year when legendary action director Roland Emmerich decided to release an American movie adaptation of the legendary creature Godzilla. Since he have made some really good films in the past, such as Universal Soldier, Stargate and Independence Day, you you expect him to give us all a wonderful blockbuster, for all ages to enjoy. And as many of you may remember, Godzilla is one monster that the whole world have loved for many years in the Japanese movies. I remember seeing Godzilla in a theatre with friends this year, and i actually enjoyed it during this time. I also remember buying the movie soundtrack on CD, because i especially enjoyed some of the songs from the film, from Jamiroquai and P. Diddy. I also ended up buying Godzilla on VHS, with the green VHS case. The 90´s had a lot of fun movie releases, and it felt natural to revisit some of those titles, that i remember from my youth. So this year it turned out that Roland Emmerich version of Godzilla turns 20 years old, so i was curious to see how i would feel about this film, so many years later. I managed to find a Blu Ray release with some special features included, so i decided to buy myself a copy and see the film again. Is the 1998 version of Godzilla still a fun time after 20 years, or have this film run out of course completely ?
In the 1960´s, a marine iguana nest is exposed of radiation, through a nuclear test in French Polynesia. Many years later in 1998, a fishing vessel is suddenly attacked in the South Pacific ocean by an enormous sea creature. Dr. Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick ) is working in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine, when he gets a visit from the American military. They need his knowledge, to understand more about this sea creature, and what it wants. Dr. Niko have never seen anything like this sea creature before, so he tries to learn more about why this beast have arrived to New York City. While Dr. Niko try to find answers, his ex-girlfriend Audrey Timmonds ( Maria Pitillo ) run into Niko to try and spend time together again. Audrey is hoping to become a news reporter, if she can find the right material. She finds a video cassette with material about the beast that´s called Gojira, and this is her chance to finally get a break into the TV Channel News Team. She steals Dr. Niko´s material, to make sure she will get to do the biggest TV news scoop yet. Dr. Niko is not happy at all, and focuses on his job. But when Dr. Niko finds out that the sea creature is pregnant, he realises that this could cause a chaos, if these eggs hatches. He have no other choice, but to try and prevent even bigger problems than before.
Some movies can grow very old, and still be as good as they were when the come out. No matter how long it has been since you watched them, the quality level never changes. However, there are films that grows old, and loose some of the magic you used to enjoy. And in the case of the 1998 version of Godzilla, i found myself realizing that this film have grown away from me. Back in my early youth years, i remember i used to enjoy this version of Godzilla. But i think that´s because i used to think that the film looked good. Now, 20 years later, i feel that the film feels like a disappointment. Considering that the budget is said to be 130 million dollars, i can´t say that the CGI effects are that impressive. We do get a lot of action scenes, and explosions. But the design of Godzilla does not look very good, and that is a big mistake. The scenes where Godzilla runs around in the city and is chased by helicopters, looks pretty ridiculous from today´s standards. The few positive things about this film, is the casting. Having Matthew Broderick in the lead role as Dr. Niko is a really good choice. I also enjoy actor Jean Reno as the French Secret Service Agent Philippe. I also enjoy the character Victor Palotti, played by actor Hank Azaria. I think Godzilla becomes a little bit more fun to watch, thanks for the good choices in the casting of this film. They actually do have some good scenes, while some other scenes does not work really well. I can sense that director Roland Emmerich wanted to mix, the traditional story of Godzilla, with some updated elements, and this becomes a problem. If he would have stayed and told more about the origin story of Godzilla, this could have been a different film. Instead, he chooses to go for the action scenes. Some action scenes are fun to watch, while some becomes very dull. But when the CGI effects fails to keep up with the action scenes, you can´t really be pleased. I know that Roland Emmerich is a talented director, he have proved this several times. But he should have stayed away from Godzilla, honestly. The 2014 movie version of Godzilla is still my favourite movie adaptation of Godzilla. This 1998 version of the legendary monster, have not much to offer. If you love the classic monster films from Japan, you might want to see this 90´s version, just for nostalgic reasons. Other than that, stick to the 2014 film. I guarantee you will have a much more fun time.
Rating: DD
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