Review of Godzilla (1998) by Samuel F — 28 Jun 2013

Godzilla, the 1998 version, is an Americanized retelling of the Japanese mutant, that is mindless, dumb fun and a pretty average action flick from the 90s. There seemed to be an over abundance of these types of films. It's one of those movies that you love as a kid, but when you look back at it, you realize how stupid it was. As a kid, you would probably dismiss the flaws that this film is heavy with (let alone not even notice them) because they fall in love with the craziness that is resulted from a huge, mutant lizard that is terrorizing a city. However, when you grow up, you wonder about what you were thinking as a kid when you were watching this, because of how unintentionally silly it is. There's bad acting, an abysmal script, and tons of ridiculous, laughably stupid moments. That being said, this is cheesy, pointless fun with flashy, decent special effects that do serve as a somewhat guilty pleasure. It's not a particularly memorable film either, with tons of chaotic, generic action sequences that may or may not give you a headache. It feels way overlong, and the acting ranges from being overacted to underacted, like Matthew Broderick's role as Dr. Niko.

The characters feel very boring, shallow, and obnoxious, and we've seen them all hundreds of times before. The story is predictable and lazy, albeit some minor thrills at parts and some creative ways that the characters escape from the situations that they're in. Once Godzilla's eggs hatch and her babies attack Dr. Niko's crew, the film does become a tad more entertaining, but not enough to really care about what's going on. There's nothing very surprising about this movie, and is pretty much a bland, long, continuous special effect that gets boring and stale after a while, and does serve a small dose of entertainment and fun, but ultimately feels like an effortless, dumb, pointless action flick. I wouldn't be surprised if someone has a soft spot for this film because many people may have nostalgia from watching this as a child, but I couldn't help but to feel annoyed by its obnoxious, annoying, and stale quality on almost every level.