Fixing Godzilla 1998

[Maritonic]

I would keep the 1998 movie the same, but with some changers.

-Replace Zilla with Shin Godzilla.
-Replace the Baby Zillas with Godzilla breaking down into Human Size Godzillas.
-Have a fight between the military and the Human Size Godzillas.
-Have the Godzillas merge back into one big Godzilla again.
-Instead of having Godzilla killed, the military find away to freeze him in ice.

I respect your opinion but I feel this would take away so much away from the film Shin Godzilla itself. Even if you put Shin in place of Zilla there would still be the same annoying human characters.

And the same terrible acting.

[eabaker]

I mean, you can't just change everything about the monster side of a movie, while leaving the human side unaltered. That would destroy whatever thematic an tonal unity exists.

Not that there's a lot going on with G'98 thematically, I suppose. In there any kind of meaningful connection/parallel between the Godzilla plot line and the Audrey/Nick romance? Maybe something about family, or... I dunno. Something?

Next time I watch the movie (it will happen again, but probably not for a long time), I'll try to keep that question in mind.

[Maritonic]

I mean, you can't just change everything about the monster side of a movie, while leaving the human side unaltered. That would destroy whatever thematic an tonal unity exists.

Not that there's a lot going on with G'98 thematically, I suppose. In there any kind of meaningful connection/parallel between the Godzilla plot line and the Audrey/Nick romance? Maybe something about family, or... I dunno. Something?

Next time I watch the movie (it will happen again, but probably not for a long time), I'll try to keep that question in mind.

I'm going to watch it for the anniversary, unfortunately for me. This and Godzilla's Revenge are my least watched of the franchise.

[eabaker]

I'm going to watch it for the anniversary, unfortunately for me. This and Godzilla's Revenge are my least watched of the franchise.

How long has it been since the last time you watched it?

Mine would have been late 2013 or early 2014, as the wife and I were working on finishing our gradual series watch-through in time for the Legendary flick.

[Maritonic]

I'm going to watch it for the anniversary, unfortunately for me. This and Godzilla's Revenge are my least watched of the franchise.

How long has it been since the last time you watched it?

Mine would have been late 2013 or early 2014, as the wife and I were working on finishing our gradual series watch-through in time for the Legendary flick.

Probably late 2015, as I was introducing my wife to the entire franchise in order. My wife was so excited to see it because she LOVED the cast, and the idea of a Godzilla film with a higher budget etc. But like 20 minutes into it she turned to me and asked how much was left because she realized that everything I said about it was true.

It's problems are spread all over. I would honestly argue that Godzilla, himself, is actually the smallest problem this film has.

[eabaker]

It's problems are spread all over. I would honestly argue that Godzilla, himself, is actually the smallest problem this film has.

I'm telling this story from memory, not having read the specifics in years, so hopefully I get it right. Basically, as I recall, when Akira Kurosawa first applied to train at Toho, he was asked to write an essay identifying the fundamental problems with Japanese cinema, and suggesting how to rectify them. He wrote that, if the problems are fundamental, then there is no way to rectify them.

I feel like that applies to G'98. Godzilla is the smallest problem that the film has, in part because none of the specifics about Godzilla really matter to the story. Godzilla serves a plot function, but Devlin and Emmerich never really approached the movie as being about the monster; it's a disaster movie, and Godzilla could easily be swapped out for just about any kind of danger.

And therein lies the fundamental problem with G'98; at no stage was it really about Godzilla.

[TheSecondComing]

The OP sure has a lot of same-y stuff in his "what'd you do different" post, lol.

Personally if I were running the show, almost nothing about GINO would've remained there. Almost the entire thing is grade-A shitshow. Tomorrow I'll be at a convention where Dean Devlin is supposed to appear, and I'll be there for a full-throated booing.

[Relair]

Recast Audrey. ASAP. Or do away with her and that whole plotline and have Elsie be the love interest. Animal can be upgraded to reporter. Axe the stupid nest and raptor babies. Make the car chase shorter. Have Godzilla breath real fire not that ignited breath thing. Have a few more skirmishes with the military. I'm fine with the burrowing and the running away, but make it for a reason, for a plan. Only run away to regroup and attack from another angle. And for god's sake get rid of the stupid statue falling comedy moment, I always hate that part. Alot of the movie is very serviceable and fun, if they just had more faith in Godzilla to carry it and not try to make it goofy rom-com crap. The opening half of the movie all the way through the helicopter destruction and him jumping on the building and roaring is well done minus any second Andrey is on screen.

[Omegamorph]

the main script issue the film has is leaving Godzilla's 'stealth' unexplained. It disappears and the film questions it but never does give a concrete answer as to how it can do such things -- or why the military (or Nick) doesn't consider using seismic tracking. It gives a nice veil of mystery sure, but a factual explanation would have been better (it was originally conceived to have Godzilla actually blend with the buildings, but still not enough of an explanation)

on a personal side I would deminish Audrey's role or at least her importance and definitely not have Nick end up with her at the end, I get the whole intention behind it but it just seems unfair. Having Godzilla swim away at the end would be nifty too, though it would rob the film of its most poignant and emotional sequence

[SonOfGorgo]

My solution is simple: Use the original script by Rossio & Elliott instead.

[eabaker]

the main script issue the film has is leaving Godzilla's 'stealth' unexplained.

Really? Not the poor structure, or the shallow characterizations, or the failure to follow through on any themes it might hint at?

[KingKaiju]

If I would've directed this film, I would've just made the 1994 film.

[Venom 2009]

I would keep the 1998 movie the same, but with some changers.

-Replace Zilla with Shin Godzilla.
-Replace the Baby Zillas with Godzilla breaking down into Human Size Godzillas.
-Have a fight between the military and the Human Size Godzillas.
-Have the Godzillas merge back into one big Godzilla again.
-Instead of having Godzilla killed, the military find away to freeze him in ice.

I respect your opinion but I feel this would take away so much away from the film Shin Godzilla itself. Even if you put Shin in place of Zilla there would still be the same annoying human characters.

And the same terrible acting.

At least the acting in the 1998 movie is better than the ones in the Twilight movies and the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Aside from the human characters, I think the 1998 movie would have been better if the film had Shin Godzilla instead of Zilla. I wonder how this would effect the cartoon and the Millennium films?

[Maritonic]

I respect your opinion but I feel this would take away so much away from the film Shin Godzilla itself. Even if you put Shin in place of Zilla there would still be the same annoying human characters.

And the same terrible acting.

At least the acting in the 1998 movie is better than the ones in the Twilight movies and the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

How is this relevant?

[miguelnuva]

I would add

Atomic breath and regeneration(I'll let the army wound Godzilla only for the wounds to close soon after. Godzilla goes on the attack against the military as she regenerates.

Godzilla is also revealed Female, she was pregnant before mutation and the mate didn't survive the blast. When the adult needs to be removed from the plot it is because she is tired from giving birth and just sleeping.

Godzilla is killed only when a new experimental missile is discovered that uses cadium to completely shut down Godzilla's nuclear power.

The human plot never bothered me too much.

[eabaker]

The human plot never bothered me too much.

Did it excite you? Engage you? Interest you?

If the best you can say about 75% of a movie is that it didn't bother you too much, that's still a lousy movie in need of a massive overhaul.

[miguelnuva]

The human plot never bothered me too much.

Did it excite you? Engage you? Interest you?

If the best you can say about 75% of a movie is that it didn't bother you too much, that's still a lousy movie in need of a massive overhaul.

I wouldn't argue that human plot could be better, G14 and a lot of other Godzilla movies suffer as well, I could get through the plot of G98 if the monster action was better.

[tbeasley]

I always felt the acting wasn't bad so much as the actors were working with bad material. Place them in a totally different movie and they would be more than serviceable. They've done good work in other films and there are quite a few good character actors scattered throughout. It's just that everyone feels like comic relief for some reason, and they're trying to sell the idea of Godzilla being dangerous, but when everyone's comic relief no one is and the film comes across goofier.

[KManX89]

I would keep the 1998 movie the same, but with some changers.

-Replace Zilla with Shin Godzilla.
-Replace the Baby Zillas with Godzilla breaking down into Human Size Godzillas.
-Have a fight between the military and the Human Size Godzillas.
-Have the Godzillas merge back into one big Godzilla again.
-Instead of having Godzilla killed, the military find away to freeze him in ice.

I respect your opinion but I feel this would take away so much away from the film Shin Godzilla itself. Even if you put Shin in place of Zilla there would still be the same annoying human characters.

And the same terrible acting.

And the same gaping plot holes.

Like I said, it's not just a bad Godzilla movie, it's a bad movie on its own terms.

[KaijuCanuck]

If it just wasn’t called Godzilla, so much about this movie would immedietly become less offensive. The monster design is cool, it’s just not Godzilla. It would still be a bad movie, but that’s all. Considering how many bad movies get made every year, that’s not something that’s exactly a crime. I’d enjoy the monster stuff, enjoy the cheesiness and cringiness of the human stuff, and it would just live on as this weird 90s time capsule where the most popular filmmakers of the period made a 50s esque nuclear menace monster b-movie using all the cliche tropes of then contemporary blockbusters. It would maybe verge on good-bad movie territory generally, and for kaiju fans specifically it would find a comfortable place in the canon of giant monster films. Not great, but kind of crazy and neat that it exists.

Of course, the only reason it exists in the first place is because they had the Godzilla license, so my point is kind of moot. Still, as bad as it is as a movie generally, not even just as a Godzilla movie, if it was officially branded as just an original giant monster then it would be so much less controversial. It would just be this dumb loud Emmerich movie that genre-geeks like us could still have fun with. Change that one thinng, and I wouldn’t care about the rest.