Godzilla [Blu-ray]
Starring: Matthew BroderickStudio: Sony Pictures
Running Time: 139 minutes
DVD Release: November 3rd 2009
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DVD Review
As "gigantic monster reptile attacks New York" movies go, you've got to admit that Godzilla delivers the goods, although its critical drubbing and box-office disappointment were arguably deserved. It's a shameless, uninspired crowd pleaser that's content to serve up familiar action with the advantage of really fantastic special effects, and if you expect nothing more you'll be one among millions of satisfied customers. There's really no other way to approach it--you just have to accept the fact that Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are unapologetic plagiarists, incapable of anything more than mindless spectacle that can play in any cinema in the world without dubbing or subtitles. The whole movie plays out like a series of highlights stolen from previous blockbusters of the 1990s; it's little more than a rehash of the Jurassic Park movies. The derivative script is so trivial that it's unworthy of comment, apart from a few choice laughs and the casting of Michael Lerner as New York's mayor, whose name is Ebert and who closely resembles a certain well-known movie critic. Perhaps that's a clever hint that this movie's essentially critic-proof. It's stupid but it's fun, and for most audiences that's a fitting definition of mainstream Hollywood entertainment. --Jeff Shannon
User Reviews
Whoa, wait up! - Rating: 5/5
What's with all the bad reviews? I would have seen it in its theatrical run if not for all the tepid reviews by the "professionals". Saw it first on VHS, then DVD (which I bought). The fakes in the Japanese movies, well, let's just say, not my cup of tea. Roland Emmerich does nice work and this one is real fun, complete with a dynamite sound track! Oh well, to each his own, I have pre-ordered by BD copy, and look forward to more fun!
NOT A REAL GODZILLA MOVIE - Rating: 1/5
This is NOT the Godzilla we know and love, this is a feeble Hollywood fabrication. Godzilla is invincible and canot be killed by wimpy human armaments of any kind & has laser vision eyes. Hollywood mooks think he's a fish eating, fire breathing lizard that can be killed with torpedoes & heat-seaking missiles. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME. I'M PISSED!
Cool CG graphics, reminiscent of Jurassic Park... Watch the old Godzilla, or give him his real powers back!
Forget the title- watch the movie - Rating: 3/5
I'm sorry that all the people who love the Japanese Godzilla should dislike this movie so much. It's a good, fast-paced monster flick; nothing particularly original, but it moves right along and has great special effects. It's nothing like the Japanese Godzilla and I have a suspicion that if the producers had called it something else the reviews would have been a lot more positive. Once you treat it as just a sci fi action pic, it works quite well.
Is it painful to Godzilla fans? Yes. But necessary? Yes. - Rating: 4/5
I can understand the hatred for this film, giving that they took one of the most powerful monsters to ever grace the big screens and turned him into a giant bag of lizardy cowardice. Ok, the wuss factor was upped from 0-10 on Godzilla's part. That was a mistake. We all agree.
Or have we also considered that after decades of films starring a grossly UN-dinosaurian lump of scales (rather a guy in a rubber suit) stomping rather un-convincingly around miniature sets, all the while reminding us of how unrealistic he is, especially as no theropod dinosaurs had plates on their back, and none stood fully erect and dragged their tail, or had dumpy fat legs and a pot belly... HAVE we considered... that it was inevitable that Godzilla be re-envisioned for the modern audience?
No, he shouldn't be a big Iguana- but the design WAS, you have to admit, superior to the lumbering, jiggling mass of latex in the japanese films who for some reason couldn't stop wiggling his arms and making movements that no animal would ever find it necessary to make (who stands there and flails their arms for three minutes and roars while swaying from side to side?).
The HEART of the symbolism was still intact, with him being the product of nuclear technology, but lost it's way before the first act was through.
I think most of us can agree that an exploration of a more realistic godzilla WAS something that needed to be done- though we may not LIKE the outcome, someone somewhere along the line was going to pose the question: "What if Godzilla were real? How would a theropod build look in movement? If a 300 foot lizard were stomping around, why would it be immune to powerful military weaponry? If Godzilla were a real creature, what would it DO, stomp around and breath fire, or look for what we all do- food and shelter?" Size alone wont save you from missiles, nor will thick skin.
That's not to say that they couldn't have at least made him more imposing and given him his regeneration abilities, which would GREATLY increase the amount of missile strikes he could sustain, even as a 'real' animal. On the bright side, the egg that hatched at the end, in the animated series, turns out to become a much stronger Godzilla who CAN use his nuclear breath (which, by the way, he DID use in the movie, just wasn't nearly as powerful OR explained as to how it functions biologically, but then if Godzilla were chasing me, I don't think I'd be asking questions ).
So, in summary:
Pros: **A servicable cast, better actors than most Toho films save the original 1954 Gojira. Jean reno is always a good thing.
**FAR more convincing as a creature than a man in a rubber suit will ever be thanks to great special effects- some of the best CG creature work of the 90's next to Jurassic park/Dragonheart, not to mention behaviorally and locomotion for a large biped.
**Has the guts to re-imagine Godzilla while at least TRYING to pay homage to the originals at times.
**A memorable entrance, though I wish he had the grand walking-out-of-the-ocean entrance**
Cons:
**Though he LOOKs a heck of a lot better than the Japanese suits (no offense to the classics, love them, but by better I mean more REAL and functional as a life form), this Godzilla is a pale imitation of the power of the original, who would often walk into a hail of missiles and bombs to virtually no effect- this one is killed by two rounds of missiles.
**Nobody outside of the entrance scene seems remotely intimidated by Godzilla. There should be mass panic and chaos throughout the film with the military's best efforts being in vain. A little odd, a Godzilla that RUNS AWAY FROM THE ARMY.
**Sort of insults Japan by ignoring Godzilla's relationship with the country for the most part (sinking a japanese fishing ship aside) and his origins FROM there (he should have landed at Tokyo first THEN maybe New York). Kudos for throwing in 'It's GOJIRA you moron', though!
Overall, a pretty good MONSTER movie. As a GODZILLA movie, it drops a load of bricks on it's own foot. BUT, if you are WILLING to ALLOW Godzilla to be re-imagined as a real animal grounded in physics (ignoring the one problem, being that we don't think a 300 foot tall biped would be structurally possible, but then 50 years ago we didn't think a 190 foot, 200 ton Dinosaur like Amphicoelias was possible either)... IF you are willing to let it be it's OWN Godzilla, it's own VERSION of it, it's actually enjoyable.
Butchered..... - Rating: 1/5
This movie was only seen because of its title and nothing else. This is a classic example of how executives can be so greedy that they would butcher the most famous monster movie just to make a quick buck. The whole time i watched this movie i just wanted the monster to bite someones head off. And it never happened.
