Hey folks, Harry here... Ya know... yesterday I posted as an Easter Egg on the site, the trailer for GODZILLA 2000, and today Father Geek has been running around the house chanting, "MAN IN SUIT, MAN IN SUIT, MAN IN SUIT, MAN IN SUIT!!!" Yup, this is no ordinary Father, this is... Father Geek. His eyes bug out, and he starts doing ballet and tap moves while chanting! He loves "MAN IN SUIT!" And I have to say... right now, I'm excited as all hell to see the utter brilliance and simplicity of... MAN IN SUIT! Why does GODZILLA need to move fast. What's the rush? He's just out for a stroll. Below is a review of the American print of the film... which is DUBBED! This is essential for any and all GODZILLA MOVIES! Spielberg got this part right at the end of THE LOST WORLD... Personally, I can not wait to assemble the entire geek contingent here in Austin... Get as fucked up as possible, and descend upon the theater to see.... MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUIT! Beware of spoilers... They might tell you that Godzilla attacks, goes away, scientific shit ensues, bad guy appears, and Godzilla kicks ass! I mean... OH NOOOOO I SPOILED IT! It's not like that isn't the plot to EVERY single one of the MAN IN SUIT flicks... MAN IN SUIT MAN IN SUIT MAN IN SUIT MAN IN SUIT!!!
Hey Harry:
Saw Godzilla 2000 recently and I finally had a chance to sit down and write what I thought.
I wasn't really sure what to expect going into the Godzilla 2000 screening. My only real exposure to the Godzillas (before the disastrous 1998 version) was the "Million Dollar Movie" airing at weird times on local TV. Thankfully Godzilla 2000 is a throwback to the original Godzilla in the pre-CGI and Roland Emmerich days.
The plot (which can always be difficult to discern from Japanese movies) has Godzilla showing up on the Japanese mainland because...well, that's a bit of a mystery. Anyway, the remarkably young Minister of Japan's Central Agency for Disaster Control (a sinister-sounding name if I ever heard one)efficiently deploys the Japanese Army (who knew they had so many tanks?) and Air Force to repel Godzilla by shooting lots of missles at him. Godzilla is missle-proof but all the shooting is such a hassle that he smashes a few bridges and leaves.
Meanwhile a Young Scientist and his precocious daughter along with a whiny female journalist/love interest cruise around in a tiny iMac-equipped Honda hatchback in a pursuit to better "study" Godzilla. Apparently this man is part of "The Syndicate", a group of underground scientists (whose labs always seem to be above fish canneries)who only want to better "understand" Godzilla and don't want to see him killed. This puts them at odds with the Central Agency for Disaster Control.
But then, in the film's most beautiful sequence, another group of scientists are raising a meteorite from the ocean bottom. I'm not sure if this is possible, but attaching a few "balloons" to the giant rock enables it to gently float to the surface. However, once it reaches the surface, IT ISN'T AN ORDINARY ROCK. It is a spacecraft of some kind which is powered by sunlight. (The unseen aliens are fans of solar power.)
Meanwhile The Syndicate, examining a slab of Godzilla's skin which fell off during the missle attack, discover its amazing healing properties. Apparently, Godzilla's skin heals instantly (which is helpful in missle attacks) and has amazing implications for human medicine. But, the Syndicate fails to persuade the Disaster Minister of Godzilla's value. He still wants him dead.
Coincidentally, the rock/spaceship arrives on the scene when Godzilla emerges from the sea to have another go at the mainland. Godzilla and the spaceship have a brief tussle before both retire for the night.
The spaceship perches itself upon the central telephone exchange skyscraper for the night. Here, the Disaster Minister decides to get rid of one of his problems. Really large bombs are placed in the building and they're going to blow it and the spaceship sky high.
The whiny journalist however has other ideas and sneaks into the telephone exchange for a story. Our hero scientist races against time to save her before the building blows. He saves her in the nick of time and discovers that the spaceship is actually searching through all of Japans computers (web-savvy aliens) looking for biological information about earth. Apparently it wants to know what earthly form would be best to take.
The building blows, but not the ship, and it survives to the next morning when it dukes it out with Godzilla again. Then it figures out what earthly form would be best: Godzilla. And Godzilla now has to face a creature with his own incredible healing skin in the FIGHT OF HIS LIFE.
I'll spare you the twists and turns of the climax since, after all, intricate plots are the reason to see Godzilla movies. Actually the reason to see Godzilla movies is the bad dubbing which is quite effective. Combine that with the plodding terror of a man in a rubber suit as Godzilla and you've got enough to carry the first part of the film. He's sooo slow--it's hilarious! Then however the film slows down. There are some CGI effects which aren't up to Hollywood standards but don't have the low-budget appeal of a man in a rubber suit either. But if you can hold on until the final reel where Godzilla dukes it out in the streets with his alien adversary you'll laugh for 20 straight minutes. It's freaking hilarious. Seeing two ridiculous creatures brawling, rubber suits and all, is really what it is all about. And the Disaster Minister's comeuppance--priceless! Don't miss the last 20 minutes of this one.
Mas Grande Hermano
