Some corny parts and bad acting but still pretty zalama overall. lots of great action throughout and Godzilla is a beast (about 3 viewings)

I thought the movie was OK when it first came out and thought the same after watching it again a little while ago. Funny how you can't please some folks; the picture took it's fair share of hits by the fan-boys who slammed it for one reason or another back in the day. As a dinosaur loving kid growing up in the Fifties I got hooked on these flicks with the original 1954 "Godzilla", or "Gojira" if you will going with the Japanese translation.

Watching today however brings an entirely new perspective to the story. The first view one has of the Manhattan skyline with a clear image of the Twin Towers only three years before it was brought down by terrorists got a sobering response from this viewer. The destruction wrought by the monster on the streets of New York was in it's own way oddly prescient of the calamity brought to bear on the city on 9/11. One of the characters even references the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to bring that arc full circle.

I recall thinking at the time of the movie's release that Matthew Broderick was the wrong choice to play the lead here, but once again, time has mellowed out my reaction to that. He did a credible job along with the supporting cast, and the minor twist with Jean Reno's character was handled cleverly. What I had a little trouble processing though was how a lot of the characters in the story had a tough time making a phone call a mere eighteen years ago, when today the ubiquitous presence of cell phones makes it possible to communicate at a second's notice. Not to mention citizen journalists posting videos on youtube; it really makes you think.

In deference to the film's critics, I do realize there was some extraordinarily goofy stuff going on in the picture along with the mayhem. Gunning the taxi out of the mouth of the resurrected Godzilla was a stretch by anyone's estimation, but hey, when it comes to monsters, action and big guns, I guess anything is to be expected. Even if you have to blow up Madison Square Garden to save the day.

Director Roland Emmerich brings us the legendary lizard. Godzilla rises from a South Pacific atomic bomb test, walks across Panama, and attacks New York City.

Dr. Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) is studying worms after Chernobyl disaster. Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo) is his college sweetheart and lowly assistant at a TV station. Hank Azaria is the cameraman, and Jean Reno is French secret service. Together they battle the big lizard and a whole lot of less-big lizards.

First off the location is too ridiculous. Godzilla start from the South Pacific and cross oceans just to go to NY. I didn't know he had relatives there.

The action is pretty good. It's definitely Godzilla size. But a lot of little things are annoying like the miniature building background. I don't think they could make them any faker than when the helicopters were chasing Godzilla.

Most importantly, they did a double climax. Basically they killed all the lizards in Madison Square Gardens. That's the climax. They need to wrap things up and send everybody home. Instead they resurrect Godzilla to tack on another 30 minutes of action where they have to kill him again. It destroyed the tension and that's so important in an action movie. That 30 minutes at the end is completely self-defeating.