Fixing Godzilla 1998

[KManX89]

I’d enjoy the monster stuff.

Actually, I'd wager the action scenes weren't even that good; he just constantly runs from the (grossly incompetent) military.

When a scene that was copy n' pasted from Jurassic Park shot-by-shot is the highlight of your movie, you know your movie is bad, even on its own terms.

[JAGzilla]

When a scene that was copy n' pasted from Jurassic Park shot-by-shot is the highlight of your movie, you know your movie is bad, even on its own terms.

Now, come on... I'm no defender of this movie, but shot-by-shot is a pretty serious exaggeration. I'm not sure whether you're referring to the Raptor-esque babies or the T-Rex-like car chase, but my point stands either way. There's some JP influence, maybe a couple stolen frames, but GINO's sequemces overall play out very differently from their counterparts.

[KManX89]

When a scene that was copy n' pasted from Jurassic Park shot-by-shot is the highlight of your movie, you know your movie is bad, even on its own terms.

Now, come on... I'm no defender of this movie, but shot-by-shot is a pretty serious exaggeration. I'm not sure whether you're referring to the Raptor-esque babies or the T-Rex-like car chase, but my point stands either way. There's some JP influence, maybe a couple stolen frames, but GINO's sequemces overall play out very differently from their counterparts.

I beg to differ.

The baby Zilla scene ripped off JP left and right, the proof is in the goddamn pudding. Hell, they forgot one more: the door closing scene(s).

When THAT'S the best scene in the whole movie, you know it sucks, with or without the Godzilla name.

[JAGzilla]

I guess I hadn't seen G98 in a while...

[AbelCesar]

Other than writing an entirely different film, if I was hired as a script doctor in 1997, I'd probably alter the story and characters to be more darkly humorous. Nick and Audrey might be the only likeable characters. She'd be more dunderheaded, and Nick's "nerdyness" would be amped to the max. Their relationship would come across as a light in the darkness. Most likely Godzilla would be the least of the problems to our protagonists. Audrey and Lucy would be more overtly harassed by Harry Shearer, so would Nick be by the military people. Also I'd leave the blame on Godzilla's creation ambiguous like in the Japanese films. A good director to handle the script would be Tom DiCillo.

[Gojira311999]

How to fix this film?
1) Remove all the cheesy scenes (I.E. Dock scene, all fish-related scenes, etc.)
2) Don't hire voice actors from the Simpsons and comedy actors in general to star in what should be a dark movie.
3) Make the overall tone darker.
4) Make Gojira a threat. It slowly goes from being on all fours to standing upright, going from primitive to modern, a little dose of symbolism re[resenting how man when from dwelling in the caves to standing upright, on the carcasses of life who stood in the way of man.
5) Give Gojira a devastating atomic breath.
6) Delve more into the politics.
7) Make Gojira have an origin from the Mariana Trench and have it go somewhere warm, not New York.
8) Better CGI
9) Remove the French Agent subplot
10) Re score the movie in a 1984 type style for the soundtrack
11) Remove the baby Gojira scenes
12) Don't have Gojira die at the hands of the military
13) Show the effects of radiation. People dying, children suffering, decaying bodies, dark scenes, gore.
14) Over an arc of three movies, have Gojira go from destroyer to protector to trauma
I am just throwing out little suggestions since these are off the top of my head.
This movie is so bad, it's best to just scrap it and start over.

[Jeff-Goldblum1]

You have two climaxes in the same movie. Remove the baby Godzilla scene, that way their destruction is no longer the first ending.

Now the taxi chase is no longer a secret ending but the proper ending of the movie.

With that time, add another Godzilla set piece to the lagging middle section of the film, possibly a military attempt to chase Godzilla out of New York and remove the hiding in the sewers part of Godzilla.

[GojiDog]

G98 is one of those movies that was doomed from the start based on who they put in charge of the project.

First thing I'd change, if I could, would be to not put Emmerich and Devlin in charge of the production. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but based on interviews I've seen with Emmerich, his heart clearly wasn't in it and it wasn't the movie he wanted to make, and if that's the case, then he shouldn't have been involved to begin with.

I would have leant more towards Spielberg, who at the very least, would have respected Godzilla and his history.

[KManX89]

How to fix this film?
1) Remove all the cheesy scenes (I.E. Dock scene, all fish-related scenes, etc.)
2) Don't hire voice actors from the Simpsons and comedy actors in general to star in what should be a dark movie.
3) Make the overall tone darker.
4) Make Gojira a threat. It slowly goes from being on all fours to standing upright, going from primitive to modern, a little dose of symbolism re[resenting how man when from dwelling in the caves to standing upright, on the carcasses of life who stood in the way of man.
5) Give Gojira a devastating atomic breath.
6) Delve more into the politics.
7) Make Gojira have an origin from the Mariana Trench and have it go somewhere warm, not New York.
8) Better CGI
9) Remove the French Agent subplot
10) Re score the movie in a 1984 type style for the soundtrack
11) Remove the baby Gojira scenes
12) Don't have Gojira die at the hands of the military
13) Show the effects of radiation. People dying, children suffering, decaying bodies, dark scenes, gore.
14) Over an arc of three movies, have Gojira go from destroyer to protector to trauma
I am just throwing out little suggestions since these are off the top of my head.
This movie is so bad, it's best to just scrap it and start over.

You forgot one more:

15)Don't make the military a bunch of incompetently -------- buffoons who can't hit a 300 foot tall iguana to save their life.

[Gojira311999]

How to fix this film?
1) Remove all the cheesy scenes (I.E. Dock scene, all fish-related scenes, etc.)
2) Don't hire voice actors from the Simpsons and comedy actors in general to star in what should be a dark movie.
3) Make the overall tone darker.
4) Make Gojira a threat. It slowly goes from being on all fours to standing upright, going from primitive to modern, a little dose of symbolism re[resenting how man when from dwelling in the caves to standing upright, on the carcasses of life who stood in the way of man.
5) Give Gojira a devastating atomic breath.
6) Delve more into the politics.
7) Make Gojira have an origin from the Mariana Trench and have it go somewhere warm, not New York.
8) Better CGI
9) Remove the French Agent subplot
10) Re score the movie in a 1984 type style for the soundtrack
11) Remove the baby Gojira scenes
12) Don't have Gojira die at the hands of the military
13) Show the effects of radiation. People dying, children suffering, decaying bodies, dark scenes, gore.
14) Over an arc of three movies, have Gojira go from destroyer to protector to trauma
I am just throwing out little suggestions since these are off the top of my head.
This movie is so bad, it's best to just scrap it and start over.

You forgot one more:

15)Don't make the military a bunch of incompetently -------- buffoons who can't hit a 300 foot tall iguana to save their life.

Yep, forgot that one. Felt like I was watchinf a Star Wars movie and the main target (protagonist) has plot armor. Maybe the worm man is the protagonist, but Zilla seems to be the protagonist of its own story.

Added in 3 minutes 25 seconds:

G98 is one of those movies that was doomed from the start based on who they put in charge of the project.

First thing I'd change, if I could, would be to not put Emmerich and Devlin in charge of the production. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but based on interviews I've seen with Emmerich, his heart clearly wasn't in it and it wasn't the movie he wanted to make, and if that's the case, then he shouldn't have been involved to begin with.

I would have leant more towards Spielberg, who at the very least, would have respected Godzilla and his history.

Spielberg hated Tokusatsu and would've made a mediocre Godzilla movie full of the usual feminist garbage and tropes found his films. May have been better than Zilla, but I would rather take a risk and hire a director with a unique vision, not a typical one like Spielberg. I mention feminist garbage because Spielberg butchered the first Jurassic Park by making the women own all the competent traits that the men had while making the men stupid. The book was better.

[LegendZilla]

Pardon me for going a bit off topic, but just thought I’d announce the 20th anniversary of this film.

[SonOfGorgo]

Spielberg hated Tokusatsu and would've made a mediocre Godzilla movie full of the usual feminist garbage and tropes found his films. May have been better than Zilla, but I would rather take a risk and hire a director with a unique vision, not a typical one like Spielberg. I mention feminist garbage because Spielberg butchered the first Jurassic Park by making the women own all the competent traits that the men had while making the men stupid. The book was better.

Really?

[Omegamorph]

Spielberg hated Tokusatsu and would've made a mediocre Godzilla movie full of the usual feminist garbage and tropes found his films. May have been better than Zilla, but I would rather take a risk and hire a director with a unique vision, not a typical one like Spielberg. I mention feminist garbage because Spielberg butchered the first Jurassic Park by making the women own all the competent traits that the men had while making the men stupid. The book was better.

Amazing. Every word of what you just said... is wrong.

[eabaker]

Spielberg hated Tokusatsu and would've made a mediocre Godzilla movie full of the usual feminist garbage and tropes found his films. May have been better than Zilla, but I would rather take a risk and hire a director with a unique vision, not a typical one like Spielberg. I mention feminist garbage because Spielberg butchered the first Jurassic Park by making the women own all the competent traits that the men had while making the men stupid. The book was better.

Amazing. Every word of what you just said... is wrong.

Including the "hated" (past tense? is he dead?) part. He's on record as saying, "Godzilla was the most masterful of all dinosaur movies because it made you believe it was really happening."

[AbelCesar]

If we're going to call Spielberg a feminist for the gender portrayal in Jurassic Park (I think it's quite balanced in both book and film) should we not call his "usual" tropes anti-feminist since:
-In Jaws the only women are a non-character that gets killed in the first sequence and a docile housewife (a portrayal entirely different from the novel).
-Comically stupid Teri Garr in Close Encounters.
-Trophy women from 1941.
-You have the objectified women in the Indiana Jones trilogy.
-There's useless Julianne Moore and Plot Device Daughter in The Lost World.
-There's Trophy Girl from Ready Player One.
But of course, with the right amount of cynism one can find hidden agendas and conspiracies in pretty much anything this day and age.

[Zarm]

Errr... not sure I'd call Marion objectified, or Elsa. Willie... maybe? I also wouldn't call Ellen Brody 'docile,' even before Jaws IV. She had a minor role, but not a lack of personality. I also wouldn't say bad screenwriting in The Lost World translates into any poor portrayal of women in The Lost World; yeah, having the daughter along was ridiculous, but neither she nor Sarah (that I can recall) were particularly anti-feminist, just as badly-written as everything else in the film.

Haven't seen the other films, so I can comment to those- so I think that case shouldn't be overstated.

In terms of the original Jurassic Park- I didn't real see a lack of competency or agency in the male characters; Muldoon knew what he was doing (but got outfoxed), Ian Malcolm and John Hammond were perfectly competent, and Alan Grant was practically an action hero in numerous scenes. I mean, sure, there was that one idiotic line where Ellie adds the whole 'woman inherits the earth' bit as if it's clever, despite the fact that 'man' was clearly referring to 'mankind,' which includes women... but that was more of clumsy early-90s 'trying to do gender politics better but hadn't quite got a handle on how to do that so let's just have the woman say 'girl power'' writing, rather than anything thematic to the script. But while Lex and Ellie were both given competencies, I don't think that either were unaturally strong, nor their male counterparts unnaturally weak.


All of which to say- I don't think there's a particular case for Spielberg either nerfing men for a 'feminist' agenda or nerfing women for reasons of sexism...

...And all of this is very off the topic of Godzilla 1998.

[Malchik]

Less cartoony characters and velociraptors.

[HillyHulk]

It's pretty simple to make a Godzilla movie. It's just as easy to fix this.
1. No baby Zilla. If it has to be there, make them bigger so they're more like kaiju and less like Jurassic Park.
2. Stop trying so hard to be funny. Humor is fine, but take the situation seriously like most Godzilla movies do.
3. Give him the atomic breath like the cartoon did and make him tougher. The military (without mecha or some kind of high-tech device) are usually defenseless against kaiju not just Godzilla. It makes us believe they're a menace.
4. Bring the Gryphon into the film. That's the main selling point of a Godzilla movie: kaiju fighting each other in intense and exciting battles.

[PitchBlackProgress]

Rework the ENTIRE plot, as in completely purge the human narrative and start from scratch, recast Nick Tatopolous and Audrey, beef up Godzilla a bit, as in make him impervious to weapons, give him an atomic breath, take away the asexual baby Godzilla subplot and BAM, got yourself a decent Godzilla movie.

[eabaker]

Rework the ENTIRE plot, as in completely purge the human narrative and start from scratch, recast Nick Tatopolous and Audrey, beef up Godzilla a bit, as in make him impervious to weapons, give him an atomic breath, take away the asexual baby Godzilla subplot and BAM, got yourself a decent Godzilla movie.

In other words, make a 100% different movie.