Review Godzilla 2000 film review by Jamaal
Written By Jamaal on 2015-02-03 10:00:00
Godzilla 2000 Millennium is Toho Studios' 'take that' to the 1998 film made by Centropolis/Tri-Star pictures. The film features a new Godzilla design. Known by fans as the 'Mire-Goji.' Godzilla's new look as well as the overall look and feel of Godzilla 2000 represent a departure from the previous series, the 'Heisei' films (1984-1995). There is more of a documentary feel here, a narrative of events that are unfolding in real time, that are actually happening. The classic Toho giant monster movie dynamic of science vs. the government/military, is presented in Godzilla 2000 Millennium in the form of the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) and the Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI). The two men at odds with each other as to what to do about Godzilla's return are Yuji Shinoda (Takehiro Murata) and Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe). Shinoda, the scientist, who wants to study Godzilla, heads up the GPN with his daughter Io. Katagiri, who leads CCI, wants to kill Godzilla at all costs. Abe's performance as the purse proud and arrogant Katagiri steals the show, as his dependence upon technology and the military only expose how helpless the government and military are in the face of a superior force discovered underwater in the Japan Trench. The alien craft was found in the course of CCI laying sensors on the ocean floor to track Godzilla's movements. It is determined that the craft is 6,000 years hold. When awakened by the light of the research ship, it becomes active, and begins its assault on Japan and its cyber and communication systems. The aliens need something in order to regenerate their physical bodies, discarded over the passage of time. Godzilla has that something: Organizer G-1, as named by Shinoda when discovered by him and a former colleague, Miyasaka, an old colege friend. This cell, sought after by the alien invaders, transforms the Millennial creature into something it did not want to become. The result is a climatic battle that decides the fate of Japan, and, ultimately, the world.
Godzilla 2000 Millennium features Japan as it is. The Self-Defense Forces use real, existing weaponry in their attempt to stop Godzilla at Tokai Mura, where a nuclear power plant is located. The human characters are engaging, with stories and lives that intertwine with the appearance of these two, great forces: one earthly; one from space. There is conflict here on several levels, along with resolution, peril, a willingess to sacrifice and unbelievable courage.
Godzilla 2000 Millennium is one of the better, more engaging entries in the series. Now that it's available, I recommend that you see the original, as-filmed-by-Toho, Japanese version. This version contains scenes not found in the Tri-Star edit, scenes that are cruciall to understanding the plot and the motives and objectives of the Millennial Aliens.
