Roland Emmerich's Godzilla:

           

    The first attempt of an American Godzilla film to get any progress was in 1983. Director Steve Miner of Friday the 13th fame struck a deal with TOHO for an American adaptation of Godzilla.

The film would have been called Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 3D. According to the screenplay, The plot would have Godzilla chasing after a baby Godzilla concluding with a fight on Alcatraz on which he is defeated by the military.  This Godzilla resembled a T-rex, but still retained the atomic breath, Miner shopped the idea to the studios, but none went for it.

     In 1992, TriStar announced their acquisition of the rights to produce an trilogy of films. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write the film with Jan De Bont,director of Speed, set to direct. Stan Winston was even brought on for creature design.

The script had Godzilla battle a new monster called the Gryphon. Their battle concluding in New York with Godzilla using the same finisher featured in Godzilla(2014) Unfortunately the script was deemed too costly. Interesting to note, the released film cost around the same amount to produce. De Bont left the project, and TriStar approached Director Roland Emmerich and  Producer Dean Devlin the duo behind Independence Day to pick up the project. This original script has been adapted into a graphic novel free to read online.

   Emmerich and Devlin agreed to do the project under the condition they do it their way. Both were not fans of Godzilla.  In fact, Emmerich complained about the original script ending with two monsters going at it.  Being a fan isn't necessarily required for adapting a established property, but respect is. That seems to be lacking with Devlin, describing the TOHO films as "a fat guy in rubber suit". 

Patrick Tatopoulos completely redesigned Godzilla from Winston. TOHO executives were skeptical, but eventually approved it. The goal was to make this Godzilla fast and agile. As expected, the primary method to bring Godzilla to life was CGI with suits and models used for select shots.  Emmerich and Devlin rewrote the script, although Elliott and Rossio still got writing credit. 

  The script actually starts out promising depicting nuclear test in  French Polynesia. Originally, I thought the blame of Godzilla's creation was shifted from the U.S. in order to get military assistance for the film. That may possibly be a secondary reason, but the primary reason was due to France conducting tests up to 1996. The following scene depicts an attack on a Japanese fishing vessel which is also shot very well, and is followed by Jean Reno's character Philippe Roaché questioning the only survivor who only utters the word. "Gojira".  Now we're introduced to the protagonist, Nick Tatopoulos played by Matthew Broderick. Name obviously taken from creature designer, Patrick Tatopoulos, his name is used for comic relief being that everyone mispronounces his name. He's a NRC scientist studying Chernobyl earthworms. He is recruited by the U.S. military to investigate the aftermath of Godzilla's appearance. I personally don't mind his character. The moment  I pinpoint when the film starts going downhill is the introduction of Audrey, Nick's love interest, and her friends Animal and Lucy. It just marks when a bunch of bullshit subplots are introduced.  Godzilla introduction in New York is actually pretty great.  We only see parts of him which is effective. All of Sudden, Godzilla disappears.  Fish is used to lure him out.

Here we officially see they got Godzilla wrong. He runs from the military, and they're the ones causing most of the destruction. Godzilla disappears again. Nick discovers the creature reproduces asexually, but is kicked off the team due to a information leak thanks to his former girlfriend. The military performs "operation fish fetish" a second time, but Godzilla doesn't fall for it. They do incapacitate him with submarines. Nick meets up with Philippe, and they hunt for the nest. I do like Reno's character, although his group of Frenchmen are pretty much stereotypes. They discover hundreds of eggs in Madison Square Garden, and they all start to hatch. Here the film feels more like Jurassic Park with all the Baby Godzillas behaving like raptors. They run into Audrey and Animal.  Together they get a message out for the military to blow up the building.

All seems well, but Godzilla is still alive and pissed due to his slaughtered young. A chase ensues. Funny, that they outrun Godzilla when the filmmakers stated Godzilla can run up to 300 mph. Godzilla gets tangled up in the Brooklyn Bridge where the military takes him down. The final shot of the film is the lone surviving egg finally hatching. That's cute. they thought there was going to be a sequel.

  Now, a major thing missing is Godzilla's atomic breath. They replaced it with what they called power breath which is just combustible fish breath. The design is not necessarily bad, but signature aspects of the character are not present mainly him being  impervious to traditional firepower.  Seriously, the military kills him. Godzilla has had two deaths in his filmography. The most notable being a top secret super weapon in the original. Here, it's just tradition missiles. Someone at TOHO stated, " Guess the U.S. couldn't deal with the idea of a foe who bests their military".  TOHO and fan reception of the film was one of disappointment. Kenpachiro Satsuma, who played Godzilla throughout the 90s (or just some fat guy according to Devlin), walked out saying " It lacked the spirit".  Due to the drastic difference with this Godzilla fans have coined the term GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) to refer to the creature. It would eventually be named Zilla by TOHO due to the God being taken out of Godzilla. This creature would even go onto appear in the 2004 film Godzilla Final Wars. 

   The characters in this are pretty generic.

Like I said, I do like Reno in this, but most others are just okay or one dimensional  caricatures.  A couple characters to note are Mayer Ebert and his assistant, Gene. A reference to film critics Siskel and Ebert. Probably a jab at them by Emmerich for their negative reviews of his previous films.  For some reason, there's a handful of Simpsons cast members in this. Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer have significant roles, and Nancy Cartwright with a cameo. 

   Despite a poor critical reception, the film was still a box office success.  A sequel really was planned with Godzilla's offspring fighting a giant insect in Sydney. But Emmerich and Devlin left due to budget disputes. Eventually, the film was cancelled. In the years since, Emmerich and Devlin have considered it a mistake taking on this project. Emmerich said he never took the original film's seriously. 

What did come out of it was an animated series which I have not seen, but I hear it's actually pretty good and more faithful to the character. It features Godzilla's offspring who has imprinted itself onto Nick. This one is gentle and can be communicated with. Plus it actually has an atomic breathe. The series ran for two seasons.

      This film does have some nostalgia for me. I remember it coming out. The marketing campaign, the toys, and the hype. I wasn't into Godzilla yet, and this was my introduction. While not a true Godzilla movie, it at least opened that door. There's a stupid, small line from this movie that has stayed with me. 555-7600. For some reason, these numbers are cemented in my brain due to the multiple times this line is spoken in the film. Then there's lines that are frowned upon today like,"Get back here, you retard", which dates the film a little.  Now, Initially I liked this film, but it has lost favor over the years. On the technical level, the CGI is a little dated. The story feels like a typical Emmerich disaster film.  The truth is I consider the film a generic monster movie in which there is enjoyment to be had. The problem is it's called Godzilla.  To sum it up, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla is an enjoyable monster movie, but a terrible Godzilla film.