Godzilla 2000
Godzilla returns - destroying the city of Nemuro in Japan.
It’s time once again. In what now seems like forever ago, I hit my favorite arc of the classic suit monster series - but I also had the last two to another one of the series and it just doesn’t seem right to leave the rest of that set hanging. Yeah, you could say that I’m filling the time between now and the at the time of writing this upcoming “so many questions after the trailer” Godzilla versus Kong movie - but I do quite enjoy this franchise regardless. Hide your pet lizards so they don’t get ideas, tonight’s we step into the millennium series with Godzilla 2000.
Considering they are some of the most visited pages on the site, it’s fair to say that most visitors might be familiar with the fact that I love this franchise. The outrageous number of movies I’ve packed onto my belt over the years of doing weekly movies has only made it easier for me to find enjoyment in any movie - so it can be interesting to see just how my views might have changed as time goes on. That being said, we all know the generic plot of a Godzilla movie - Godzilla shows up, causes some carnage, then another thing (monster, alien, robot) shows up to make Godzilla angry and he lays the smack down. Of course, that’s the general plot to most the people who would watch this for just a guy in a suit and big monsters - there’s always more than that though - a critique on pollution, a musing about the dangers and powers of science, the morality of certain actions, a scathing review of the government - or sometimes it really does just feel like a love letter to giant monsters beating themselves up and a hearty slathering of grade A cheese.
For this one, Godzilla’s essentially a force of nature with how hes treated. You’ve got scientists tracking him through various readings, you’ve got the ones that want to study and the ones that simply want to erase it from existence. A clashing of scientific minds and military ones. You also have a reporter whose really just there along for the ride to take pictures, outside of a bit of teamwork she puts in later. What happens when science gets taken to another level though - like another planetary level? You’ll find out when a flying rock ends up turning out to be an extraterrestrial spaceship! It usually takes a bit longer in the run before the big G starts sticking to other planet creatures, but nature or science which will prevail?
I watched a dubbed version - something I’m more than happy to do because it means I don’t need to read the entire movie, and by the time you hit the later Godzilla films the edit’s between American and actual what-it-was-supposed-to-be versions aren’t quite as egregious. I mention this largely because it means that I can’t really account for how the original actors did when it comes to line delivery - which honestly I wouldn’t be able to do anyways because I don’t understand more than perhaps five words of Japanese anyways. The dub overs did a fine job of keeping what seems to be appropriate energy levels and emotional keys to their line reads though, and it doesn’t generally feel too out of place. The actors themselves do a fine job with things like body language and eye lines, although the “mass extras” scenes don’t necessarily fair quite as good - but hey, that’s what happens when you get a boat load of people (adults and kids) and expect them to deliver some high-grade reactions to a giant radioactive creature or spaceship that isn’t really there. Stand out humans are probably the man I’d consider the lead and his daughter, as their relationship and general interactions throughout the movie are entertaining and at times adorable.
Godzilla raids again, again.
It isn’t all humans though - although as with any G film there is quite a lot of time spent with them. Godzilla somehow manages to convey a large breadth of emotions or reactions with such a simplistic suit. You catch yourself just imagining him spinning around like “what did you say” or “alright, now you are going to get it” without any lines coming out of him. Heck, ninety five percent of the time there isn’t even any real eye movement or anything, what with it just being a dude in a suit - so the most animated thing coming out of it’s entire head is just the mouth flapping about - but somehow it still feels like there some good acting going on there. Maybe it’s just because I’m attached to the series, maybe it’s because I’ve been around animals most my life and as humans we just tend to attach human-like expressions and things to stuff that isn’t human, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just because the suit actor is doing a dang good job combined with how Godzilla is shot.
Unfortunately, it’s on that side of things I also have to get into some of the negatives here. Look, I get that the “man in a suit” isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. The Godzilla costume here is pretty good in my opinion. It looks good and detailed, even if not every part of it can be fancy animated or the likes. The monster villain and the various miniatures getting destroyed also all look quite good and fun as is known from the franchise. All of that is great, but… there’s a lot of CG in this one that doesn’t hold up. I mean, heck, there’s some practical compositing stuff that doesn’t look great either, but it’s quite noticeable when something - like that space ship- isn’t an actual prop moving around. I mean, I won’t fault it for looking aged, but it’s something that should be pointed out regardless, because most the people who would just want to jump into a giant monster movie from a series known for it’s practical man-in-a-suit deal might be a bit off put by the sudden CG alien ship, or that weird looking Godzilla close up eye blink. Mind you - not all the CG effects are bad, plenty of them look fine. Most everything else - explosions, splashes, little minis driving and flying about - look about as good as you expect. You won’t be fooled into thinking it’s not what it is, but it’s still dang fun to watch them getting broke.
Audio does it’s job here. As mentioned previous, the dubbing isn’t horrible which is always a nice bonus. Yeah, there’s some cheesy lines in there, but it all feels well enough done. Audio balance is also done great - no problems on my end for not being able to hear a line when something else was going on. Of course, you’ve got plenty of audio work in regards to lasers, nuclear breath, roars, explosions, and the various everyday sort of things like steps and general populace noise. It’s all well enough that I’m not finding much fault in it. The music does it’s job as well -although at one point it was a bit overly cheese even for me. When it really comes to it though, the only thing I tend to walk away from these with is the main themes - the few Godzilla ones in particular for this movie. Something about that theme - it’s like the Jaws theme or Predator them, it’s simple enough yet still kind of striking enough that it just never really leaves your head after you hear it.
It’s like that team from Twister, except for giant radioactive lizards.
So yes, it’s a no brainer that I’d enjoy a movie in the franchise that I’ve always enjoyed. You might too - although the “era” before this one is my own particular favorite, it’s still a good enough movie. Some of the effects work - particularly the digital stuff - doesn’t hold up as well as the suits do (which might be a surprise to some). It also might jump in with the aliens a little bit too quick for some folks to really get that interested in - but it’s still entertaining enough that the whole alien thing doesn’t even really come into play as much as how the people try to deal with it for most the movie. It’s a good time for it’s run, and it’s pretty cheap to rent off things like Vudu, so it’s certainly not something I feel a bunch of people who wanted to rent it would regret. This is just the start of a new run though, so stay tuned for next week when we see who that next mystery challenger is!