(2 of 4)
So they reinvented Godzilla. Instead of barrel legs that galumph through the Ginza, Godzilla now has runner's calves to sprint down Broadway. The lumpy, rubberized-corduroy look has given way to the towering if scaly athleticism pioneered by H.R. Giger's mantid man-eaters in the Alien series. And while the snub-nosed, micro-eared Godzilla of the '60s and '70s had a vaguely mammalian mien--appropriate for a creature whose Japanese name, Gojira, is an amalgam of kujira (whale) and gorira (gorilla)--the fin-de-siecle Godzilla has a crocodilian brow, iguana affectations, a T. Rex crouch and a noble if dragonish chin instead of an avuncular Adam's apple. As for the radioactive breath, well, it was hard for Tatopoulos to justify, so don't expect it. No lizard does that in nature, he argues. "We were creating an animal. We weren't creating a monster."
Nearly 95% of the lizard's effects were created through computer graphics, and Tatopoulos' creature shop was twice the size of Jurassic Park's. But Godzilla isn't his old self: gone, for example, are his trademark maple-leaf dorsal spines, now a forest of thorns. All that really remains is the Godzillic roar, pitched higher than a foghorn but just as resonant, sort of like a herd of elephants on methamphetamines. And that's by default. A whole audio team was given the task of duplicating the sound but couldn't. And so Devlin and Emmerich simply picked up the beast's original "yell" from Toho's sound library.
For all the care lavished on re-creating the monster, the new plot is somewhat less revolutionary. As in 1954, Godzilla is the spawn of nuclear tests in the Pacific, and this time he makes his way quickly to New York City. Matthew Broderick plays an American scientist, Dr. Nick Tatopoulos (a nod to the new creator); Jean Reno is a mysterious agent for the French; Maria Pitillo is a newscaster wannabe; and Hank Azaria is a TV cameraman. Together they battle not just Godzilla but a teeming snake pit of little Godzillas. Though referred to as "he," the monster belongs to transgender studies, reproducing by parthenogenesis. How does it all end? Well, even Toho has broken the rule about Godzilla's not dying--and resurrected him in a score of installments. Broderick has already signed for two.
Cinematic homages abound in the new Godzilla. There are obvious ones to King Kong (with Broderick as the Fay Wray equivalent); then there is the constant damp a la Blade Runner and Alien; an extended attempt to outdo the Jurassic Park raptors; even a wink at the Coneheads ("Where'd you find that guy?" "He's from France"). Critical reaction at early screenings has been mixed. But for a surefire blockbuster like this, reviewers be damned! The film even taunts the critics with a brazen in-joke: the mayor of New York City is a hothead named Ebert, whose campaign symbol is a big thumbs-up.