Wednesday, October 25, 2017

31 Days of Halloween 2017: Godzilla

1998, Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) -- Netflix

Another cheat, but not because we watched it prior, but because its not horror in the least -- but it IS a monster movie!

I hated this movie when I first saw it. They so quickly went from doing a nouveau Godzilla movie into doing a Jurassic Park ripoff when the newly hatched Godzooky's chase Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno around Madison Square Garden. But the early scenes of the mutated Gila Monster, if you take the opening sequence with any credence, are rather awe-inspiring. You can so easily see the inspirational bits used later for Cloverfield, especially with the idea that a 400' monster can hide & sneak up on you.

But I have warmed to the movie, in the way I have warmed to Independence Day. The lunacy of it is heart-warming, which is probably exactly how it was intended. And its a Emmerich movie, so his style which I love when applied to disaster movies, is apparent. But migawd, is it bad. Even less than the oft whinged about new Godzilla movie, they barely use the titular monster. He should be the front & center man, but they keep on hiding him and distracting us with eggs and screaming reporters. If the bad Japanese movies taught us anything, its that we have to bring the monster to the forefront -- he is the leading man. I look forward to the sequel of the current franchise, to see this done.

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