With the news that we are getting two new Godzilla films, one from Toho and the other from Legendary, I felt it could be a fun idea to rewatch every single movie and review them all for you individually. I am going to follow my ranking from Worst to Best, since for me I’d rather get the bad movies out of the way first. Saying that, I do have the utter misfortune of watching the one movie in the series that I absolutely despise and wish was never made in the first place. That is the 1998 attempt from Tristar Pictures, Godzilla (1998).
Forewarning now — there will be a lot of colourful language and my opinion on this movie may upset some people. Remember, it is my opinion and respect that. If you don’t like it then… too bad.
The Film and Its Origins
Godzilla is a 1998 American monster film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. A reboot of Toho Co., Ltd.’s Godzilla franchise, it is the 23rd film in the franchise and the first Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio.
The film stars Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, and Harry Shearer. The film was dedicated to Tomoyuki Tanaka, the co-creator and producer of various Godzilla films, who died in April 1997. In the film, authorities investigate and battle a giant monster who migrates to New York City to nest its young.
In October 1992, TriStar Pictures announced plans to produce a trilogy of Godzilla films. In May 1993, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write the script. In July 1994, Jan de Bont was announced as the director. De Bont left the project in December 1994 due to budget disputes and Emmerich was hired in May 1996 to direct and co-write a new script with producer Dean Devlin. Principal photography began in May 1997 and ended in September 1997.
Release and Reaction
Godzilla was theatrically released on May 20, 1998, to negative reviews and grossed $379 million worldwide against a production budget between $130–150 million and marketing costs of $80 million. Despite turning a profit, it was considered a box-office disappointment.
Planned sequels were cancelled and an animated series was produced instead. TriStar let their remake/sequel rights expire on May 20, 2003. In 2004, Toho began trademarking new iterations of TriStar’s Godzilla as “Zilla,” with only the incarnations from the 1998 film and animated show retaining the Godzilla copyright/trademark.
Critics panned this film and it holds a meagre 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even this film’s director didn’t like it. They rushed production, cut all sorts of corners, and gave us one of the worst scripts imaginable for a giant monster movie. When some of the most prominent figureheads in the Japanese versions of the films are extremely critical of the movie, you know it’s a horrible experience.
The Backlash from Japan
Veteran Godzilla actors Haruo Nakajima and Kenpachiro Satsuma, as well as Shusuke Kaneko (who would later direct Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack), were also critical of the film and its character.
- Nakajima stated: “Its face looks like an iguana and its body and limbs look like a frog.”
- Satsuma walked out of a screening of the film at fan convention G-Con ’98 in Chicago, stating: “It’s not Godzilla, it doesn’t have his spirit.”
- Toho publicist Yosuke Ogura later called TriStar’s design a “disaster.”
TriStar’s Godzilla was considered so different that the term GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) was coined by critic and Godzilla fan Richard Pusateri to distinguish the character apart from Toho’s Godzilla.
Kaneko also commented: “It is interesting [that] the US version of Godzilla runs about trying to escape missiles… Americans seem unable to accept a creature that cannot be put down by their arms.”
This is why, in 2004, Toho trademarked future incarnations of TriStar’s Godzilla as “Zilla.” Producer Shōgo Tomiyama and Final Wars director Ryuhei Kitamura said Emmerich’s film “took the God out of Godzilla.” The name “Zilla” was even chosen as a jab at counterfeit Godzilla knock-offs.
Nicholas Raymond of Screen Rant summed it up best: Toho doesn’t regard the 1998 Godzilla as the King of the Monsters. To them, he’s just a giant lizard.
Why It Fails
The film has its fans and plenty of detractors, as you can see. For one, the CGI of this film is disgustingly bad. I know it was a film from 1997/1998 but come the hell on, it could have looked a lot better.
Godzilla looks so fucking bad that I wanted to throw up. A giant, mutated iguana that doesn’t even have the staple of true fire breath — and what it does have looks even worse than Toho’s product.
TriStar clearly wanted to capitalize on the success of Jurassic Park. Zilla’s design is ripped straight from the T-Rex with a bit of iguana sprinkled in.
I was thirteen when I first watched this. I’ve loved Godzilla since I was five — and even back then, I despised it. Nearly 30 years later? It still sucks. Rewatching it with fresh eyes only confirmed it. This movie is a deformed monstrosity. It should have been aborted before release.
The acting is bad, not offensively so but still bad. The studio forced in an unnecessary love story and made the creature weak to missiles and gunfire. What the actual fuck were they thinking?
They literally stripped everything that made Godzilla special, mutated it into a disgrace, and Toho had to rectify it by letting the real Godzilla kill Zilla in seconds in Final Wars.
Yes, that actually happened.
Planned Sequels
TriStar originally intended to produce a trilogy. Emmerich even considered using Monster Island and introducing six or seven monsters.
Sony felt so confident they paid Toho $5 million for sequel rights before the film’s release. Dean Devlin confirmed plans: “We have a Godzilla trilogy in mind. The second one is remarkably different from the first one, and if it’s embraced, a third one would make a whole lot of sense.”
Emmerich and Devlin commissioned a treatment by Tab Murphy titled Godzilla 2, which would have seen the surviving offspring battle a giant insect in Sydney. But sequels were abandoned due to lack of enthusiasm, weak reception, and budget disputes. Devlin admitted: “They wanted to tailor it budget-wise, so it didn’t make sense for us creatively.”
Even Emmerich later revealed he advised Sony against making a sequel: “People expected it to be the biggest thing ever. Then it only did well. They were disappointed, and you have to defend yourself.”
By 2003, the rights expired. Thank God.
Other Problems
Jesus, can you imagine a trilogy of this shit? I can’t. The idea is appalling. And the changes… oh boy. They made the creature pregnant. Not only that, but it reproduced asexually. Hundreds of eggs. Baby Zillas swarming Madison Square Garden, only to get blown up by the army.
I’m sorry but no. That’s just another dumb plot device in a movie that should have been about Godzilla terrorising Manhattan.
The biggest sin? They called it Godzilla at all. If TriStar had named it something else, it might have been fine. But they slapped “Godzilla” on it and disrespected the history. Same problem as Halloween III: Season of the Witch. If it was standalone, it could’ve worked. Attach it to the brand, and you’re doomed.
Final Thoughts
Like I said, I forced myself to rewatch this garbage. I can’t give it more than one or two positives. Maybe the roar (when it worked). That’s it. Every close-up looks awful. The CGI is among the worst ever in a kaiju movie. Practical effects? Forget it. Just a schlock of mistakes and bad decisions. For me, this is the worst Godzilla film ever made.
Score: 0.5 / 5 stars. And that’s just me being generous for the attempt.
Fuck this movie. Fuck Sony and TriStar for making it. And fuck everything about this god-awful attempt to bring Godzilla to the US. If I never have to watch this piece of shit again, I’ll die happy. But knowing myself? I’ll probably force it on again one day — because I’m a masochist for Godzilla movies.