Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Godzilla saves Tokyo from a flying saucer that transforms into the beast Orga.

Director:

Takao Okawara

Writers:

Hiroshi Kashiwabara, Wataru Mimura

Stars:

Takehiro Murata, Hiroshi Abe, Naomi Nishida

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Takehiro Murata	...	Prof. Yuji Shinoda
Hiroshi Abe	...	Mitsuo Katagiri
Naomi Nishida	...	Yuki Ichinose
Mayu Suzuki	...	Io Shinoda
Shirô Sano	...	Prof. Shiro Miyasaka
Takeshi Ôbayashi
Shirô Namiki
Sakae Kimura
Bengal	...	(as Bengaru)
Ken'ichi Nagira
Ken'ichi Ishii
Yoshimasa Kondô
Kôichi Ueda	...	Military Man
Yoshiyuki Omori
Masahiko Nishimura

Storyline

Godzilla returns in a brand-new movie that ignores all preceding movies except for the original with a brand new look and a powered up atomic ray. This time he battles a mysterious UFO that later transforms into a mysterious kaiju dubbed Orga. They meet up for the final showdown in the city of Shinjuku.

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Plot Keywords:

explosion | alien | rooftop | military | alien invasion | 

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Taglines:

Get ready to crumble.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for monster violence and mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Toho Co.

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

18 August 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Godzilla 2000

Filming Locations:

Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,407,720, 20 August 2000

Gross USA:

$10,037,390

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,924,063

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS (8 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The older monsters Anguirus and King Caesar were both considered as possible foes for the movie.

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Goofs

When we see Shinoda inspecting Godzilla's footprints on the beach, Godzilla's heavy tail dragging behind him seems to have not left a trail among the footprints. Even the very first Godzilla movie included a tail trail in between Godzilla's footprints in a similar scene.

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Quotes

[closing scene; Japanese Version]
Shiro Miyasaka: The recklessness of science gave birth to you, Godzilla. Why do you appear before us?
[Godzilla continues to trample through Shinjuku]
Yuki Ichinose: Because we humans gave birth to this monster.
Yuji Shinoda: Godzilla is... inside all of us!

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Crazy Credits

Godzilla's roar is heard right before the "A Tri-Star Release" credit at the end of the closing credits. (US version only)

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Alternate Versions

The US version takes out about 9 minutes of the film and changes a lot of the dialogue.

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Connections

Follows Godzilla 1985 (1985)

User Reviews

Ah, the old stomping grounds of Tokyo...

"Godzilla 2000," actually completed in 1999 (and was released during the summer of 2000 in America), was the first Toho-backed kaiju-eiga film to receive a major theatrical distribution in the U.S. since 1985. I saw "Godzilla 2000" at the theater and wasn't disappointed, even though a lot has changed since Toho killed off their iconic monster at the end of 1995's "Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah."

I'm 19; I've been a hardcore "G"-fan since I was four years-old and of course, I was quite hesitant about seeing a new "Godzilla" film, being that the Americanized 1998 version wasn't that good. The Toho logo that appears during the opening credits reassured me that "Godzilla 2000" was taking me back to the good old days when Godzilla wasn't afraid to knock down a building or stomp down the military when they threatened him.

With their third generation of "Godzilla" films being kicked off with this flashy new movie, Toho continued a trend that was seen in generation two, where they discard the events of the previous Godzilla incarnation and instead start with the original 1954 "Godzilla" and work from there.

Toho took full advantage of this new series by designing a distinctly reptilian Godzilla, who as the film opens, has already popped up on the radar of some brainy scientist who argues that Godzilla should be studied, instead of destroyed.

And Toho didn't skimp on creating a new monster either, which is a giant UFO that yields something a lot more than just martians. This new foe is actually a nasty little creature that's never given a name, though subsequent debate about the film has concluded that its name is "Orga," who proceeds to try to consume Godzilla and his powers, thus creating one powerful monster.

"Godzilla 2000" has a lot of problems too, which may or may not mar an otherwise decent stomping experience. Though on the whole, it's nice to see Godzilla back in form (somewhat) and this Toho production firmly returns their most beloved creation to dominance, it also suffers a lot from the problems that have plagued its predecessors, and some of those problems may have been due to Roland Emmerich's 1998 Americanized version of the big green guy.

Of course, since I never really cared for the people in a "Godzilla" movie and those feelings haven't changed, it must be pointed out here that the people have been drastically short-changed in favor of the all-out monster showdown that is the film's climax. You're really given a reason to not care about humans in this picture, whereas any previous "Godzilla" movie may have made you have an inkling of feeling for them.

Godzilla himself has changed a lot, with massive plates that line his back and he's also been given a pretty nifty set of fangs. But the thing is, this Godzilla looks and behaves quite... different. Though it's evident with this production that Godzilla is the bad guy (pending on your view), this was one of the things that really struck me as unique about the previous generation of kaiju-eiga films - in that you never really knew if he was the bad guy or not - this movie makes that pretty clear to you, even though the new monster Orga is clearly the bigger problem for the people of Japan.

The special effects in this third generation "Godzilla" film seem to actually be a step back too. The previous generation (the first two movies at least) had really beautiful and thoughtful effects that put you into wonder about how they were achieved. This series doesn't have that level of wonder for some reason. You'd expect their effects to improve over five years or so, but these effects look rushed and unrealistic.

Aside from these quibbles, "Godzilla 2000" doesn't suffer a whole lot, but I was glad to see that it firmly reestablished Godzilla back to his good old, stomping self.

7/10