‘Godzilla’ Impressive, But Uninspired
‘Godzilla” is going to make tons of money.
And this time it really will be a triumph of special effects. Because this newest look at the radiation-created creature who once razed Tokyo continues to advance the art of digital-efx to a jaw-dropping degree.
Yet it offers little else.
Think about it. What do “Batman,” “Jurassic Park,” “Star Wars,” “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Alien” and “Titanic” - just to name a few other special-effects extravaganzas - have in common?
Answer: Each bases its storyline on strong characterizations. And this is exactly where “Godzilla” is lacking.
Raymond Burr, the stolid American actor featured in the original Japanese film, “Godzilla, King of the Monsters” (1954), is a virtual Robin Williams compared to the open-mouthed character that Matthew Broderick plays here.
Broderick is the government scientist (once an anti-nuke demonstrator, he now works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) who is pulled off his pet project studying the worms of Chernobyl to help investigate a mysterious happening in the South Pacific.
It seems a Japanese trawler has been attacked, the lone survivor repeats the word “Gojira” over and over and large footprints are found leading away from the beached wreck.
Suddenly, New York is threatened.
New York?
Yes, the “city that never sleeps,” leveled by a comet-caused tidal wave already this summer, comes under attack by this building-size behemoth even though it is halfway around the world from the atomic-testing area that apparently spawned it.
This makes no sense, of course (San Francisco Bay or Tokyo harbor would seem to be more natural choices). But, then, not much about “Godzilla” does.
Not that meaning should matter all that much. Most films, but especially sci-fi thrillers, depend on our suspension of disbelief. And the makers of this film knew how to make the incredible seem credible in the vastly more entertaining 1996 summer blockbuster “Independence Day.”
But here … well, you may be too busy to wonder. Through the wonders of computer technology, Emmerich’s efx crew has us track the speedy, agile monster - who looks like a cross between a tyrannosaur and the creature from “Alien” - as he dodges his way around Manhattan just steps ahead of attacking helicopters. They put us on the street as he clomps by overhead. And they put us underground as he - well, let’s not even try to figure out how he manages to squeeze into Madison Square Garden, turning that sports center into a giant nursery.
If you do think about things, you may notice how little Broderick - to the film’s discredit - resembles Jeff Goldblum. You may recall that Goldblum played the “Jurassic Park” character who managed to tell us everything we need to know about himself merely by scraping an index finger across Laura Dern’s palm.
Broderick mostly looks befuddled while using words such as “incipient.”
The other characters - including a scrappy would-be television reporter played by Maria Pitillo (she’s the love interest), a street-wise television camera operator (Hank Azaria), intrepid but woefully overwhelmed military types (Kevin Dunn, Doug Savant) and a mysterious French “insurance agent” (Jean Reno) - fare little better. This just isn’t a film that values its human characters.
What’s worse, the monster suffers, too. We get to know the leaf-eating brachiosaurs from “Jurassic Park” better than we ever get to know this version of a monster that is a virtual hero to the Japanese. In this way most of all, “Godzilla” is a throwback to the whole genre of eco-disaster films of the 1950s.
Of course, this may be intentional. If so, director and co-screenwriter Emmerich has miscalculated. These days, we like to empathize with whatever’s on the screen.
Even the makers of “Free Willy” knew that.
“Godzilla” **-1/2 Locations: North Division, Spokane Valley Mall, Post Falls Cinema, Showboat Credits: Directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, Harry Shearer, Anabella Field, Doug Savant. Running time: 2:19 Rating: PG-13