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Yes indeed, it appears as though all those "unfounded rumors" were true! In all their incompetence, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich had given all us G-Fans the exact OPPOSITE of what we wanted, which was a GOOD Godzilla film. I went to see this opening night, and let me tell you, I made sure that every person in the theater knew how disgusted I was with this horrible piece of crap!
Now, just to show that I'm not completely one-sided on this topic, I will acknowledge that the special effects in this (dare I say) film are very, very impressive. But it's not Godzilla. The attention to detail was amazing, and the ability to create an entire being in just cgi was astounding. But it's not godzilla. Throughout most of the film, the creature is blended splendidly with it's human counterparts, giving the impression that it is right there interacting with the people. But did I mention that it's not Godzilla?
Now onto the dissapointing aspects of the film. Perhaps I could go into the many things aboput the film that say Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich were dying to make Jurassic Park 3? But I digress, and will try to limit myself to a couple of copmplaints. Where shall I begin? For starters, the intro. Yes, we all love giant mushroom clouds that herald the creation of Godzilla, but why is his name only three or four inches when it appears on the screen? But this is a trivial complaint, let us delve into the (snicker) story- oops, wait, I forgot...there wasn't one!
Did Devlin and Emmerich really believe that they could create a decent script after spending a total of two to three weeks on their little island working on it? I sincerely hoped not, but apparently they did, because not only was that how long they spent writing it, but the final script had virtually no changes from the original rough draft! Not a one of the characters have depth, nor are played convincingly by the actors and actresses. Everyone is merely a two dimensional character, as if added as an afterthought in a sad attempt to keep the film moving. This attempt by Devlin and Emmerich fails miserably, since none of the characters are ever deeply affected by the damage that "Deanzilla" causes. In the '54 original, the scope of Godzilla's destructive power is a major part of the film, and how could it not be, as you are looking at a creature that defies the very laws of nature itself. The military, who up until now has fought only human foes, now find themselves as helpless as the people they are supposed to protect. How do you fight a foe that tumbles skyscrapers as if they were nothing, and on top of that, can merely ABSORB the most powerful weapon known to man, the Atomic Bomb? These are questions that should have been dealt with in this film. Hey, there's nothing wrong with a little slapstick now and then, heck, even the '90's Godzilla films had their moments of humor, but at the same time, the characters never lost sight of how devastating a force godzilla is. They never stopped thinking about the countless lives that were lost and lives that would be taken if Godzilla was not stopped.
We see nothing of the sort in this film, and instead are given trivial problems for trivial characters. The typical nerd who studies worms, the regained love interest who grows a conscience, the Indiana Jones wannabe of a cameraman. Did anyone really care about what happened to them in the end? I certainly didn't. But let me tell you, when Dr. Serizawa, in the '54 classic, lowered himself into the watery depths to face Godzilla with the Oxygen Destroyer, I cared. I actually WANTED him to make it out of there alive, and felt sorry for those who mourned but respected his self sacrifice. Nothing of this magnitude is even happened upon by CHANCE in Devlin and Emmerich's film. Instead, we end up watching a grown up Ferris Bueller(can't spell it, I know.) and his cast of cronies getting into all kinds of kooky trouble with that silly saurod, Fraudzilla!
But never fear my fellow G-Fans, there IS a light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel. Toho has taken up a new Godzilla project, Godzilla Millenium. I, for one, am very glad about this. We G-Fans are long overdue for an apology for Devlin and Emmerich's incompetence!
