Godzilla (1998 film)
| Godzilla | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical Poster | |
| Directed by | Roland Emmerich |
| Written by | Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin |
| Produced by | Dean Devlin |
| Starring | Matthew Broderick Jean Reno Maria Pitillo Hank Azaria |
| Music by | David Arnold |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
Release dates | May 19, 1998 |
Running time | 139 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US $125,000,000[1] |
Godzilla is an American science fiction film directed by Roland Emmerich and starred Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Michael Lerner and Kevin Dunn. It is a much maligned remake of the popular Japanese film Gojira (Godzilla).
Tagline:
- Size does matter.
Plot
The film's opening credits play over a montage of French nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean, observed by many marine iguanas. Then, in present days, a Japanese fishing ship is attacked by an unseen monster; only one survived (an old man). Traumatized, he is later questioned in a hospital by a mysterious Frenchman (Jean Reno) and repeatedly says only one word -- "Gojira".
Another seaborne attack just by the Eastern Seaboard culminated in the eventual destruction of a fishing ship. The crew, however, survived, after witnessing their boat sinking, but it shot up from underneath and landed with a huge splash in the surface.
Niko "Nick" Tatapolous (Matthew Broderick), an NRC scientist, who happened to be in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukraine) researching the effects of radiation on wildlife, was interrupted by the arrival of an agent of the U.S. State Department. He was sent to Panama, escorted by the military, to observe the wreckage of the recovered Japanese fishing ship (it had three gigantic clawmarks on one side) and a set of massive dinosaur-like footprints in the grassy soil. The Frenchman is also there, observing the scene and introduces himself as an insurance agent. Aboard a military aircraft Tatapolous identifies skin samples he recovered as belonging to a creature "unknown to science".
"Gojira" then heads to New York City, dragging three fishing boats under the sea on the way, then creating havoc in the Fulton Fish Market, before rampaging through the city. Manhattan is evacuated and the military attempt to kill Godzilla, first luring him out with a huge pile of fish. Godzilla takes the bait, but then shrugs off small arms fire, and evades, and destroys, three pursueing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. He escapes, but not before Nick realises that the monster is pregnant, due to it being asexual, and is collecting food for his offspring. Nick is determined to find Godzilla's nest.
However, when a videotape from Panama is stolen by Nick's ex-girlfriend, Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), a would-be TV journalist for news channel "WIDF", he is thrown off the team. He is then kidnapped by the Frenchman who introduces himself as Philippe Roaché, an agent of the DGSE - the French Secret Service. He and his team have been keeping close watch on events and are now ready to do what they can to clear up the mess they feel responsible for, but cannot acknowledge.
The military lure Godzilla out again and after a fierce battle in the waters of the Hudson River, with three U.S. Navy nuclear submarines, Godzilla is torpedoed and seems to be destroyed. Meanwhile Nick and a crack French team, led by Roaché, surreptitiously followed by Audrey and cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti (Hank Azaria), track Godzilla through the subway tunnels to Madison Square Garden, finding hundreds of eggs. They start to lay explosives, but the eggs start to hatch. The babies were looking for food, and since the team stink like fish, they were inevitable targets. After failing to contain the creatures and losing several members of the team, the remaining 4 of them take refuge in a TV broadcast booth. From there Nick, Audrey and Animal alert the authorities, who order an immediate strike by a trio of F-18s. The four escape just before the building is destroyed, only for an extremely angry Godzilla (who managed to survive the battle in the East River) to emerge from the wreckage. The four make a getaway in a taxicab, and lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn Bridge where he becomes entangled in the steel suspension cables, and is an easy target for the fighters. As the three F-18s close in, they each fire a pair of missiles that slam into Godzilla's side. As the jets pass him, Godzilla uselessly tries to attack by snapping at them with his jaws, but fails and the F-18s circle around and fire another wave of missiles that also slam into the beast's side. After many screams of pain, Godzilla finally falls into the earth. As Godzilla lays down on the ground, he looks at Nick who approaches the creature during it's final moments and looks into it's eyes as its heart slowly stops beating. At the end of the film Nick and Audrey reconcile while Roaché disappears into the night after stealing their videotape footage of the incident. He promises to return the tape after "certain information" has been removed. All seems well until we see in smoking ruins of the Garden, a single egg has survived and hatches.
Music
The film's soundtrack featured songs by such artists as Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page ("Come with Me"), Jamiroquai ("Deeper Underground"), Rage Against the Machine ("No Shelter"), Foo Fighters ("A320"), Ben Folds Five ("Air"), and Green Day ("Brain Stew (Remix)" ). The David Bowie song "Heroes", covered by the Wallflowers, can be clearly heard in the background during a restaurant scene early in the movie. David Arnold's orchestral score provided the music for the rest of the movie, and roughly four minutes of it is included on the album.
Sequels and Spin-Offs
The film spawned an animated series which continued the storyline of the movie. In this series, Nick Tatapolous accidentally discovers the egg that survived the destruction of the nest. The creature hatches and imprints on Nick as its parent. Subsequently, Nick and a group of friends form an elite research team, investigating strange occurrences and defending human kind from numerous other monsters.
A sequel to the film was planned, and would have involved Godzilla battling a mutant insect creature. However these plans for a sequel were ultimately scrapped and Roland Emmerich made The Patriot instead. There are rumors that a Godzilla 2 will be release in 2009, depends on the success of Spider-Man 3 this summer. No other details are known at this time [[1]] .
Marketing campaign
The marketing campaign for Godzilla was multi-pronged in its execution:
- Crushed cars were dotted around London as a part of a guerilla advertising campaign.
- In the month or so before its release, ads on street corners made references to Godzilla's size in comparison to whatever medium of advertising the advertisement was on.
- Examples: "His foot is bigger than this bus", "His eye is bigger than this billboard", etc.
- Bits and pieces of different body parts of Godzilla were shown on TV commercials and posters, but never the entire body; this was to add a bit of mystery as to the design of the creature, ideally prompting people to see the film because that was the only way to see the whole creature.
- Taco Bell had tie-ins such as cups and toys that promoted the film. The Taco Bell chihuahua was also at the height of its popularity in Taco Bell's television commercials. During the summer of 1998, several commercials pairing Godzilla with the Taco Bell mascot were produced and aired, including several with the chihuahua trying to catch Godzilla in a tiny box, whistling and calling, "Here, lizard, lizard, lizard." When Godzilla appears, the chihuahua says, "Uh-oh. I think I need a bigger box." (referring to Jaws)
Box office
Although film received mixed reviews (mostly negative from fans), Godzilla grossed $136,314,294 domestically and $379,014,294 worldwide, bringing back its $130 million budget.
Trivia
- The old cook from the ship refers to the monster as "Gojira" when he is in a semi-conscious state. Gojira is the name of Godzilla in his native Japan, but the name was changed in the process of translating the original film into the American Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. The name "Godzilla" is Toho Studios' official English name for the character. The name was used on English-language international promotional material for the original film in 1954; however, "Gojira" is the pronunciation used by the English-speaking cast of such later films as King Kong vs. Godzilla. Audrey mispronounces the name when she says "It's Gojira, you moron!" slurring it from "Go-jee-ra" to "Go-jeer-uh". The r should be distinctly on the third syllable.
- The creature from this film was officially dubbed "Zilla" by Toho Studios in the film Godzilla: Final Wars. According to Ryuhei Kitamura, the monster was given this name because the American movie had taken the "God" out of "Godzilla". Zilla was annihilated in literally about forty-five seconds by the "true" Godzilla (many Godzilla fans that expressed their opinions that the monster fight scenes were too quick remarked that this battle was the only "realistically short" fight in the movie) and the commander of the alien invasion remarks upon his destruction, "I knew that tuna-eating monster was useless"; this is Toho getting back at TriStar for their perceived mistreatment of Godzilla.
- Before Toho studios officially named the creature Zilla, many fans created several nicknames to differentiate it from the original Godzilla. These nicknames included "American Godzilla", "zilla", "Deanzilla" (because of writer/producer Dean Devlin), and "G.I.N.O.", an acronym for "Godzilla In Name Only.".
- Barney from Barney & Friends can be seen in a T.V set.
- The Japanese freighter attacked and destroyed by Godzilla in the opening of the film is named Kobayashi Maru, in homage to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- The extra killed in his car when Godzilla first arrives in Manhattan was cast as a look-alike for J.D. Lees, editor of G-Fan Magazine, because he said disparaging remarks about the information that leaked out about the film prior to its release.
- The music that plays on an elevator in a scene with Matthew Broderick is "Danke Schoen", which Broderick lip-synchs in a memorable scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
- Matthew Broderick's character's last name is "Tatopoulos." Godzilla's designer and supervisor is Patrick Tatopoulos. A running gag in the movie is the characters mispronouncing his last name.
- Tomoyuki Tanaka, who produced all of the Japanese Godzilla movies, was going to be executive producer for the flim . But he died only a month before this film began actual production.
- The film's first teaser trailer began appearing in theaters a full year before the movie was released. The trailer featured a shot of Godzilla's foot coming through the roof of a museum and crushing a T-Rex skeleton as a tour guide gives a lecture saying that the T-rex was the biggest predator the world has ever seen.
- Dean Devlin maintains that the tagline for this movie, "Size Does Matter", was meant simply to differentiate the movie from Jurassic Park, hence the original "museum" trailer, but that the advertisers for the studio took it too far with their overzealous campaign (e.g. "His foot is as long as this bus"). The ads became the biggest focus of the backlash against the movie, especially considering that size was what ultimately ended up killing the monster.
- A small statue of an alien from Independence Day (1996) (also directed by Roland Emmerich) is visible in the broadcast booth at Madison Square Garden.
- The policeman seen during Godzilla's arrival is the same policeman (both played by same actor) seen suddenly leaving his patrol car in the middle of an intersection in Independence Day (1996).
- Three voice actors from the comedy series The Simpsons appear in the film: Harry Shearer, Nancy Cartwright and Hank Azaria.
The film was spoofed in the stop-motion show Robot Chicken from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. In the segment, producers Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich are given a chance to make a sequel, or rather a "remake of a remake"; they use the money to have the baby Zillas perform an ice skating number in a rink. Later, they congratulate themselves on making "another giant piece of crap."
References
 |
External links
- Barry's Temple of Godzilla
- Toho Kingdom
- Godzilla Stomp
- The Godzilla Shrine
- Godzilla at IMDb
- The 1998 Taco Bell commercial used to promote the film.
- A recent Doritos commercial featuring the creature (Under "ads")
- Godzilla vs. The Gryphon (the original Godzilla script)
