Very exciting and entertaining American perspective

This big budget big screen version of Japan's most famous lizard is a very Americanized version of the "Godzilla" story. The monster looks a lot like those that appeared in Steven Spielberg's famous dinosaur trilogy, and the assembled cast -- incluiding Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria and Kevin Dunn -- are neither sympathetic to nor seeking to destroy this monster.

This neutrality is what I found most entertaining in the movie. While all those monsters on Spielberg's island got to run around and eat people with little or no accountability, here the big guy finds his way across the ocean to the Big Apple and is clearly held accountable for his actions. When he meets his doom he leaves something behind that signals one or more sequels could be forthcoming.

I thought every moment of this special effects-driven adventure was exciting, involving and entertaining. The story was pure hokum -- right out of the legend of Japan's original monster -- but the views you get of the big guy and the destruction he delivers are always clearly detailed. There's never any monster lurking in the dark, so you can't see who's the star.

The acting, as if you can call it that in a movie like this, is OK. In particular, Azaria plays a photographer that takes the first picture of Godzilla in New York, which is, of course, the biggest story in creation when he arrives.

Broderick delivers a performance that bespeaks the neutrality with which everyone confronts the dinosaur. Neither is he driven to destroy the creature, as if Godzilla were Osama bin Laden incarnate, nor does he do anything idiotic to protect it even though its appearance represents a new species on earth.

I think this is a big screen film that delivers a lot of excitement on a topic you've seen countless times. It is clearly worth a night's rental and maybe worth purchasing. It is definitely a lot better than most films like this that are produced this century.

Above-average soundtrack

First of all, WHY IS EVERYONE REVIEWING THE MOVIE ON THIS THING? I'm baffled by the sheer volume of people discussing the movie rather than the soundtrack. Unbelievable.

The soundtrack is an excellent compliment to the predicted magnitude of the movie (although the movie faired much worse). Most of the tracks resemble a theme of an unsteady surface, complete with haymaker riffs out of Fuel, Days of the New, and Green Day (albeit a poor "remix"). Puff Daddy's "Come With Me" falls short of what we'd expect from such a collaboration, but it's suiting nonetheless.

Although it's yet another remake (again, fittingly so), The Wallflowers' "Heroes" does hit a stride here. This track was laid out in the pinnacle of their run on the market, and it works nicely. A humming guitar, markably Dylanesque vocals, and a smooth production of the song puts a cherry on this sorely neglected compilation.

The real piece of art, however, is Fuel's "Walk the Sky", not found anywhere else. It's not their best, but it's certainly the type of excellent work we'd expect from this band, unfortunately marked by their less-driven of songs, "Hemorrhage," fitted with blazing guitars and the trademark racuous vocals from Scallions. If my CD hadn't been crushed on the way to school one morning, I'd still be looping this track.

Don't bother unless you REALLY like Godzilla...

I was going through my old computer files and found this poem I wrote lo those many years after seeing this film in the theaters, so I'm copying it here for posterity:

Godzilla

A poem by John Switzer...

Aside from Godzilla's mighty roar,
The movie is a big fat bore.
Does Godzilla meet his match?
Do his babies ever hatch?
Does the Army get it right
And have one big Godzilla fight?
Does Matthew Broderick be a romeo
With his college sweetie Maria Pitillo?
Are the French guys really spies
Or just doofuses in disguise?
Does the sexist news anchor get his due
And get ground into Godzilla toe-goo?
I'm afraid that I can't say
Because, you see, it's this way:
After an hour I got out of there
Because I found I just didn't care.