This was the first Godzilla movie I ever watched. I remember my Dad taking us to see it. He was really excited, turned out that he absolutely loved Godzilla and he was eager to share it with us. What I remember most about watching the movie was when they killed Godzilla and I cried (I was pretty young). I asked my Dad why did Godzilla have to die when they just wanted to get food for their babies. I don't think that I'll ever the look on his face when he told me that sometimes people do bad things to innocent people. He was in the Navy during Vietnam (he didn't have kids until later in life). So...yeah still like this movie. It's not perfect but I don't think it deserved the level of hate it got.
"Do Not Fear Godzilla, He Loves You Like A Child" immediately being followed by "Fear Godzilla, He Is Coming To Eat You. Get In Your Car And Run" has a powerful whiplash to it.
I will never understand people who disdain the worth of a film based on the perceived intelligence of the audience. As if the film is a both a sign and reflection of the audience's lack thereof, and doesn't actually have anything to say in the wider discourse surrounding filmmaking. And lets face it, a lot of people bring up things like this in movies in an effort to make themselves seem more clever than other viewers.
I was a fan of Godzilla as a kid when the toho films were re-running on TV in the 70's. I never understood the hate for this film, and at the time thought it was quite entertaining. "There's a big monster - he attacks the city! That's enough Godzilla for me!"
honestly, i like the depiction of godzilla as just an animal. hell it even makes the thing scarier in my opinion: malicious is understandable, it'll come after you to kill you. vs an animal. you don't know what an animal will do. an animal will hide, strike from the shadows, and hell, even if they like you they can kill you (giant cats are always dangerous, even when they are as tame as they get and like you, just because you are too frail). i know what classic evil godzilla will do: walk towards the largest population of humans and kill them and destroy their buildings. i don't know what 1998 godzilla will do, hide? retaliate? just disappear? you don't know what an animal will do, and we fear that which we don't know.
Godzilla 98 was the first Godzilla film I ever saw, after all the shit that G98 has received since, it’s refreshing to see a really interesting reappraisal of the film. A terrific video, and one that’s making me want to rewatch the film ASAP. Well done. 💜
I watched the 1998 movie when it came out. I was 4. It was absolutely terrifying, but more than anything I felt bad for Godzilla and his babies. This was a very interesting and informative look at the Godzilla/Gojira "franchise" in general 👍
This is the whole reason why I love Monsterverse’s King Of The Monsters because the whole point is about Gojira representing nature and what happens when YOU FUCK WITH IT. Also Shin Gojira is FUCKED UP and I love it! Lol Also that one guy who conviced Toho to not have Gojira represent the horrors of war is just… wow.
The new ones are quite good. If you liked 1998 (like me) chances are youll love the new ones It’s mindless disaster porn but damn if it doesnt do an ace job at it
I loved this movie as a kid and got so disappointed when we never got the sequel! It was the first time I really waited for something to be released and followed news on it. And I was raised watching the Japanese originals, tokusatsu and Ultraman. I think my biggest gripe nowadays is the dialogue. There's some really awkward plot points and lines, but that's it. It's a really fun blockbuster with some really nice setpieces!
@@DavidJBradley totally. No idea why people destroyed it to pieces while contemporary disaster movies were all beloved by the public while doing for the most part, the same thing.
Same on not getting the sequels. Almost every time I watch this movie I'm reminded of the lost proposed trilogy this was to spawn. There were some interesting ideas. Sure, they may not have panned out in the exact way they were presented, but I'm sure a lot of fun, regardless, was to come. I get angry that we never got to see that.
discovering this video makes me so happy. godzilla '98 kicked off a major obsession of mine as a kid, and i've always had a soft spot for it. and exploring its depiction of the military, especially in contrast to other american godzilla movies? so good.
I wrote a long comment about how I watched and really enjoyed the '98 movie as a kid and still appreciate it today for the reasons you've mentioned, but then my computer crashed, I lost the will to rewrite it and can't remember exactly what I wrote to begin with so this will have to do. Thank you for putting more effort into discussing a (mistakenly) maligned monster movie than I have into this comment.
Yo this video was PHENOMENAL. This film was my first introduction to Godzilla and it remains a personal favorite of mine. I think you did a great job covering what Godzilla means and his context with the nuclear message and American culture. I'll definitely be sharing this around.
The iguazilla is intersex, also. To anyone saying, " THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WASN'T MALE " 😐 male lizards have hidden " parts "........ That only come out in, " specific situations ". So, that excuse to hate the film makes 0 sense. As for the other things, it's an old film. Not alot of things made sense in films back then. As for the, " size " issue with tunnels, if I remember correctly iguazilla dug the tunnels to be big enough to hide it......
I watched this in theaters when I was 10, and this and the Hannah Barbera cartoons, plus some large scale action figures my uncle had based on the Toho movies devoid of context, were my first introductions to Godzilla. I heavily agree with all points, and I noticed the military stuff even if I couldn't articulate it at the time. 1998 was a weird time cinematically where a filmmaker could let the military look incompetent and not immediately get called anti-American
Honestly surprised you didn't play "antidepressants are so not a big deal" over that footage, but was glad to see a Crazy Ex Girlfriend reference regardless. I really enjoyed this video on the big chonky lizard boi
Hmmm yes, I suppose this fun movie that I thoroughly enjoyed as a child is in fact pretty good and not the worst thing ever. Honestly though I never really thought about the political dimension of this film and now I'm thinking about it, so nice going.
woah, i honestly didn't know people hated it that much. as an eight-year-old watching it in theater, i was totally engrossed. we definitely bought that tape and it watched it a lot. oh, and the bit where no one can say niko's name was as someone with an eleven letter polish last name.
yes, thank you for this! as a godzilla fan myself, i think this movie gets a little too much bad rep, while i can understand why many fans disliked this movie i still felt they were a bit too harsh on it. i liked this movie just fine when it came out. sure, it's no true godzilla movie, but i thought it was decent as a monster movie in of itself and thought the monster design itself is pretty good if you don't think of it as godzilla. however, gonna have disagree with on the godzilla the series, to me the cartoon series was sort of a redemption for this Americanized version of godzilla because it better represented on what godzilla truly was, zilla was stronger and take on more punishment, fought monsters and actually had an atomic breath and had some really unique monster designs. sure, some of the stuff with the human characters was kind of awkward and cringe, but really just a minor nitpick to an over decent show.
Ngl I was super happy when I saw this video pop in my notifications because this was my first Godzilla movie (must have been between 6 and 8) and I actually really love it. I found this big lizard fascinating and was genuinely sad to see him die at the end. Also the phrase "he's pregnant" has had a huge impact on me, you got no idea.
Just wanna say the idea of an American, deciding the nuke allegory was good actually and then through money managed to change how the nuke allegory was portrayed is one of the most American things I have ever heard.
I honestly cannot understand why Roger Ebert was ever a respected film critic. Yeah, he has some good takes, but that's because he talked about so many movies and by virtue of math he was bound to get something right eventually.
Ha! Just started the video. Thank you, I forgot to take my citalopram today and you reminded me. Thanks for that! I really need to program a reminder into my phone or something.
You're an aroace enby, you have a wonderful cat called Frank *and* you're a Godzilla fan who enjoys Godzilla 1998? Instantly subbed, you have my total respect. I would love to have the '98 Godzilla tattooed on my inner left arm, I just love him so much!
Going by the small amount of knowledge from my one biology class in university - Ebert's dick joke doesn't work. I remember that there is some species of lizard that are all born female, and in a colony of them, one or two will turn male as needed for reproduction. I'm guessing there's not a lot to see there. There are amphibians (many frogs, for example), that have all their reproductive organs internally. This did bring back memories, though. I went to see this Godzilla with a friend who was a huge fan because he asked me to come with him. I think he did mostly enjoy it. Good job. There was some things about Godzilla as a whole that I was aware of but not others. I also did a double-take with "more radioactive than Chernobyl to this day".
For me, Godzilla 2014 might be my most disappointing movie ever. Not so much because it was actively bad, but because the trailer so brilliantly conveyed such a sense of existential dread against a threat we could not stand against. Then it turned out to be a monster fight movie that was barely fun. I had fun with Roland’s version.
My guy the trailers for godzilla 2014 clearly showed the male muto as the advertising went on. The only thing the trailers were misleading about is how often you see Joe throughout the trailers only for him to die 35 minutes into the movie. G98 is more entertaining but is objectively bad compared to g14
@@Kaiju-bm4ts Yes, the later trailers were a bit more honest at what kind of movie this was, though I was perhaps foolishly holding out hope that it could capture what it showed in the first teaser. Which it did not. Thus disappointment. For me, g14 commits perhaps the greatest sin a movie can commit: excelling at nothing. Too boring characters to care about. Too dark to have much fun. Too silly to take seriously. An absolute waste of a Bryan Cranston. So, yeah I'm doubling down. G98 is better than G14 in almost every way that matters
@@sramspoker The movie was still dark and the first teaser only had a darker tone, that's it. There was nothing to capture when the first teaser (either you're reffering to the 2012 or 2013 one) didn't show anything to give off what the premise of the movie would be. Exaggerating much?. The DVD transfer made the movie darker than what it should with the 4k release fixing that problem so.....how is that a issue? How was it silly when it wasn't making the tons of jokes the next MV movies would make?. It doesn't/didn't need to match the darker tone of the trailers to be dark/serious. Any humor the movie had was ridiculously subtle. The only justifiable flaws that are unavoidable is the movie has boring characters and wasted Joe as a character. Other than that entertainment and quality are 2 different things. G14 gets godzilla correct, g98 does not. G98 is more entertaining, g14 is the better movie overall.
@@sramspoker look I like G98 but I will NOT let you disrespect G14 like that. 98 is good as a monster movie but it’s not Godzilla, 2014 gets Godzilla right, and “too silly to take seriously” 98 literally has so many comic relief characters with misplaced humor, 2014 felt realistic and had suspense and wasn’t too goofy. I’m glad you like 98 but 2014 was objectively the better movie and I’m saying this as someone who likes 98 (as a monster film, not a Godzilla movie)
I thought I never even heard of this one but I have vague memories of watching maybe the last half a few years ago and got sucked into it without even knowing what it was lol I just looked over while walking through the living room where my dad was watching it and ended up standing there watching it for 10 minutes until I just sat down to finish it. I liked what I watched at least.
I remember being very neutral when I watched this from TV years ago. Can't remember much though. Could be that it was a late night movie and I was sleepy :D
I have had this video in my “watch later” list for months now, finally watched it today. I don’t particularly like Godzilla 98 like, at all but I still think it’s extremely interesting and I still watch it semi regularly just to think about so I’m always excited to see people giving it another chance critically and you did a good job at that, nice little summarization of Godzilla’s history in America too. *However* I was a wee bit frustrated with how you chose to characterize the monsterverse movies to be honest because the idea that they just have nothing to say other than “Godzilla’s cool lol” is just, kind of untrue? Sure the literal military propaganda is super annoying but if you’re able to look beyond that the monsterverse *especially* the 2014 movie has a pretty smart story with some good commentary and even some decent symbolism from time to time. See for example how the male MUTO spore is dealt with by setting up an elaborate containment site to study it and keep it from the outside world, and yet they are unable to notice that the spore is producing a consistently growing EMP until it’s too late and ultimately end up feeding the MUTO and making it more powerful, the government and it’s own incompetence there is what lead to the MUTO being released despite their attempt to do the opposite. In the case of the female MUTO’s spore an attempt wasn’t even made, as the US government just tossed the spore in a nuclear waste containment facility which once again only served to feed it and make it even more powerful. The governments desire to hoard radioactive material without any sort of proper regulation or conduct is what lead to the MUTO’s escape, so once again G2014 isn’t afraid to point fingers. One could even make a case that the movie itself is all about the goods and bads of nuclear energy, since Godzilla too is a nuclear powered being who ends up fighting other nuclear beings; I always interpreted that as a message for how nuclear *energy* can be good even if it’s scary.
👍🏼👍🏼 You have definitely swayed my view of the movie. Though I was never so anti the movie as everyone else seemed to be. Was just sort of 'meh' about it. Did really like the soundtrack though.
BIG , DUMB , FUN . I think that’s the major thing people miss about this , it’s like a cartoon, the giant hole in the MetLife building should have been the big give away on this point 🤷♂️
I can make a big fun movie about batman , but if I presents batman as a facist that gets cucked by batgirl it doesn't matter that my movie is fun , a good portion of people who would have seen it for batman wouldn't have liked it and that would be understandable.
Bravo, David! I level-headed approach. So many of the fans that hate on this to no end don't realize their hypocrisy. I've attempted to engage with some of these fellow fans over the years, but their blind anger and ignorance refuses them to see the hypocrisy and to open their eyes to new interpretations of the character. Such interpretations have allowed so many other characters to survive over the decades...including Godzilla. Fans are unwilling to have anything but the Godzilla that is "monster-smash-building-and-punch-other-monsters" type that the series ends up becoming one long remake after a while. It's nearly unanimous that they hate the recent anime trilogy as well, which is a shame considering I thought it was a well-written story that brought fresh ideas to the series. Alas, fans don't want new ideas nor do they really wish to think in a Godzilla movie (or a trilogy more specifically). It saddens, frustrates, and angers me that, because of fans, we're not going to get anything that deviates much from a run-of-the-mill monster movie. I don't mind those, but the Godzilla series has more than enough. I want to have something new. Godzilla 1998 provided that and I absolutely love it! It reminds me of a time when I was still in my early fan phase with this character and his series. It reminds me of all the merchandising of one of my favorite characters. It nearly broke me when I found out most of the fandom hated it and without any real good reason. Nevertheless, I still watch it and thoroughly enjoy it. Cheers!
Yk I actually really like the design of the 98 Godzilla I think it was different and that is what its strength is you can definitely say that it is the most unique of them all and is very memorable. Just thought I’d give this design the love it deserved.
Regarding Godzilla versus Kong - you said it better than I've managed to, in saying that the film seems scared of saying anything. What made that frustrating is that it brushed against so many possible themes and ideas, that it became really obvious when it was actively avoiding them. As for Godzilla takes Manhattan, comma, I think what made it not work for me is that I just didn't like the characters. I could live with a lot of the rest. I think whether you mesh with character personalities is one of the more subjective things in media.
I don't really have a radiologically mutated equine in this race beyond "toku shows and giant monsters are really cool", and I never saw the flick in question, but this was a delightful viewing. Shoutout to Wib for pointing me this way.
This was my first and only venture into Godzilla movies, but I really enjoyed it. Classic late 90's monster movie in my opinion. Of course, I also enjoy the Tremors movies, so maybe take my opinions with a grain of salt.
Saw the original imported Godzilla movie. Hated it. Saw the 1998 Godzilla. Still one of my favorite movies. The "radiation makes things bigger" angle is painfully stupid non-science at the beginning of the movie that everyone knows isn't real, but that's the real test of the audience: "Can you put up with obviously dumb, bad science for a few minutes? Because there's more underneath the surface of this movie than you realize." For example, this movie points out that the U.S. military only ever gets things done in just one way: Dumping 10 times the amount of resources into a bloated solution primarily for precision strikes. That is, the U.S. has the unfortunate tendency to spend a boatload of money, time, and resources to take out one person or thing just to attempt to minimize collateral damage. However, when faced with a limited timetable and a shifting situation, the U.S. military just throws its already gargantuan weight around to blindly stomp on the problem: Because it can. The "10x resource usage to solve problems" approach is both the U.S. military's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. (Footnote: Russia knows this and regularly goads the U.S. on many occasions with the goal of running the U.S. out of money.) 1998 Godzilla depicts this fact perfectly and is why everyone should own a copy of and watch this movie on repeat until you can answer the question of: What would you do if a giant monster showed up on your doorstep? Because one of these days, the U.S. government will run out of money and real monsters will literally show up on our doorsteps. Part Four of this video review should be titled "Accurate U.S. Roast."
My only experience with this movie is the nostalgia critic review from a few years back soooo I’m gonna go ahead and say that didn’t give me a complete impression of this movie and this video will probably be a bit better
every time i've watched this movie, my blood has run cold and my skin crawled during the opening montage of nuclear tests (the horrible details of which i was somewhat aware of by the first watching, from reading a national geographic article about them as a kid), so i guess at least some of the politics was never lost on me (probably a lot of the politics, TBH; emmerich ain't subtle lol (and this is probably a good thing)) though, honestly, i'm not sure how much i could trust someone who wasn't at least a _little_ unnerved by the dreadful power of a fusion explosion
Finally actually getting a chance to watch through, and, as an osomatsu aficionado, the way you pronounced sheeh! Killed me. (I love the video by the way, I just thought she hay was funny)
… I didn’t even know this movie was hated so much. I laughed at the duck, too. I was disappointed at the end with even the scientist cheering. Thanks for the history of Gojira lessons! I actually wanted to start watching them more intentionally after your last video, but was overwhelmed with how many there are. This helped me narrow down where I want to start my viewing. Thanks!
I think I like the 90s show a bit more then you do that's probably just nostalgia though. Personally I remember most episodes as having anti-military messages? The one that comes immediently to mind is the one where the military get Zilla Jr's girlfriend and stepchild killed.
Great video. Never Been good at articulating what i didn't like about this movie but "The film builds quite solid message and tragedy but fails the delivery" resonates instantly better than thousand fanboys yelling "That's not *MY* Godzilla!" Also, oh god those letterboxed reviews. The hyperbole was painful. These people sound like they haven't seen an actually Bad movie in their life.
Idk how but I kinda just always thought of Godzilla being the bad guy and a Japanese political statement and thought the more recent movies with Godzilla being a hero was new. I especially don’t know why I knew about his original plot and political statement history given the last half or so of the 1998 Godzilla film was the first time I have ever watched a Godzilla movie before and that was maybe 5 or 6 years ago. And it has nothing to do with me being younger either, I was born in 1992 so I’m a 90s kid.
It wouldn't me easy to tell if godzilla was male because they're a lizard and REPTILES KEEP THEIR HEMIPENES INSIDE THEIR CLOACHA if you want to be smug you need to be right
Something that really is confusing to me is how people don't like this Godzilla because it's really different But then don't mind when toho makes Godzilla the souls of vengeful world war II spirits or whatever the heck that creature from shin Godzilla was
How is that confusing when you can change a character and keep the main aspects of said character intact. Gmk still represented godzilla as Japan's greatest fear despite being a manifestation of dead souls. Shin gojira represented the only other nuclear disaster Japan has faced which lines up with godzilla's original message as a being represented as the nuclear bombs that were dropped in 1945. Godzilla 1998 doesn't represent a force of nature nor does he represent a nuclear disaster. He's just a product of man misusing nuclear power while simultaneously missing alot of godzilla's other core aspects. He comes off as his own kaiju than as a legitimate godzilla.
@@Kaiju-bm4ts To be fair g98 can be argued to be a force of nature....but when your force of nature can be defeated with a couple of jets then it still fails at the allegory
@@spinosaurusstriker I don't consider g98 a force of nature, just a byproduct of man's mistakes which is a good message if this thing wasn't godzilla and was just a remake of beast from 20,000 fathoms.
I haven’t seen this video yet, but I really hope that this is one of those videos I have always been waiting for because for some weird reason I still really, really like that movie!
First interesting note: I always thought of Godzilla with the pronouns she/her. Always seemed the obvious choice 🤔 Wonder whether that is also connected to having watched it in German originally…?
Thank you for this video. The themes you mentioned throughout very much resonated with me when I first saw this movie as a child already, and I still appreciate them today. It’s nice to see someone else pick up on them, narrow in on it and appreciate the movie ❤️ Also, as someone who didn’t (and still doesn’t really) know much about Godzilla, I always appreciated the 1998 depiction of it. I thought the way Godzilla was shown was incredibly beautiful, I appreciated the movement and the way it tried to find its path, the way it sniffed the fish and started to eat it, and just how it was trying to navigate the “big city jungle” in the maze of high rise buildings and all. Maybe it was the dinosaur obsessed child in me, but I appreciate the grace I found in the clumsiness of a creature that wasn’t meant to be this size, didn’t mean to “cause harm” but simply tried to make the best of its circumstances, and a part of me was hoping we would get to see a continuation of that. Also, the fact that a lot of the destruction was caused by the military trying to “fix the problem” wasn’t lost on me (and it also caused me to really just feel sorry for Godzilla all movie because she must have been scared af because of all the loud noise and constant danger). Thank you for this video ❤️
I remember growing up and having this movie on vhs, it's fun and I would be lying if this and power rangers didn't spark my interest in giant monsters. But I do enjoy that this version of godzilla sorta became canon with the Japanese one calling it zilla instead of gojira. Many would be lying if they don't say that this movie had a influence of making godzilla a more famous ip for people outside of Japan
Godzilla was already somewhat popular in America prior to 1998 but this film on the other hand....while it did make people more aware of godzilla, it didn't represent him properly and whenever people thought of godzilla they immediately thought back to this one
For some reason I always remembered the Godzilla of the 1998 movie as female. A mother. I'm kind of bummed that wasn't the case - who wouldn't love trans/gender-bent godzilla? The representation of mother nature, against the largely male US military apparatus? Not that a loving father isn't also wholesome. Either way, I now want fan art of Godzilla and the Xenomorph sitting at a bench in a park watching their kids playing together.
It's sad you make it seem like the monsterverse movies are pro nuke when godzilla is a force of nature in those films. A concept toho already established for godzilla's character decades prior. The only movie that can be argued as pro nuke was kotm and even then nuclear power is used in beneficial ways while simultaneously being the most dangerous power man can have.
A HAPPY MOMENT
*does a shie dance harder*
This was the first Godzilla movie I ever watched. I remember my Dad taking us to see it. He was really excited, turned out that he absolutely loved Godzilla and he was eager to share it with us. What I remember most about watching the movie was when they killed Godzilla and I cried (I was pretty young). I asked my Dad why did Godzilla have to die when they just wanted to get food for their babies. I don't think that I'll ever the look on his face when he told me that sometimes people do bad things to innocent people. He was in the Navy during Vietnam (he didn't have kids until later in life). So...yeah still like this movie. It's not perfect but I don't think it deserved the level of hate it got.
"No giant lizards in real life" Komodo Dragons are like, am I a joke to you?
"Do Not Fear Godzilla, He Loves You Like A Child" immediately being followed by "Fear Godzilla, He Is Coming To Eat You. Get In Your Car And Run" has a powerful whiplash to it.
This was amazing
aww shucks, thanks, LK
Because its stuck into my head and a thing we should mention more often.
"Anti-depression are so not a big deal!"
I will never understand people who disdain the worth of a film based on the perceived intelligence of the audience. As if the film is a both a sign and reflection of the audience's lack thereof, and doesn't actually have anything to say in the wider discourse surrounding filmmaking.
And lets face it, a lot of people bring up things like this in movies in an effort to make themselves seem more clever than other viewers.
It's a problem of people seeing their subjective opinions as objective truths
I was a fan of Godzilla as a kid when the toho films were re-running on TV in the 70's. I never understood the hate for this film, and at the time thought it was quite entertaining. "There's a big monster - he attacks the city! That's enough Godzilla for me!"
honestly, i like the depiction of godzilla as just an animal. hell it even makes the thing scarier in my opinion: malicious is understandable, it'll come after you to kill you. vs an animal. you don't know what an animal will do. an animal will hide, strike from the shadows, and hell, even if they like you they can kill you (giant cats are always dangerous, even when they are as tame as they get and like you, just because you are too frail). i know what classic evil godzilla will do: walk towards the largest population of humans and kill them and destroy their buildings. i don't know what 1998 godzilla will do, hide? retaliate? just disappear? you don't know what an animal will do, and we fear that which we don't know.
Classic Godzilla wasn’t evil. He normally saves the world. He was just the bad guy in the first movie.
Godzilla 98 was the first Godzilla film I ever saw, after all the shit that G98 has received since, it’s refreshing to see a really interesting reappraisal of the film. A terrific video, and one that’s making me want to rewatch the film ASAP. Well done. 💜
I watched the 1998 movie when it came out. I was 4. It was absolutely terrifying, but more than anything I felt bad for Godzilla and his babies.
This was a very interesting and informative look at the Godzilla/Gojira "franchise" in general 👍
This is the whole reason why I love Monsterverse’s King Of The Monsters because the whole point is about Gojira representing nature and what happens when YOU FUCK WITH IT. Also Shin Gojira is FUCKED UP and I love it! Lol
Also that one guy who conviced Toho to not have Gojira represent the horrors of war is just… wow.
I think this is still the only Godzilla movie I've ever seen lol
The new ones are quite good. If you liked 1998 (like me) chances are youll love the new ones
It’s mindless disaster porn but damn if it doesnt do an ace job at it
I loved this movie as a kid and got so disappointed when we never got the sequel! It was the first time I really waited for something to be released and followed news on it. And I was raised watching the Japanese originals, tokusatsu and Ultraman. I think my biggest gripe nowadays is the dialogue. There's some really awkward plot points and lines, but that's it. It's a really fun blockbuster with some really nice setpieces!
Yeah, I agree that not everything about it lands, but it's definitely not so bad as people say
@@DavidJBradley totally. No idea why people destroyed it to pieces while contemporary disaster movies were all beloved by the public while doing for the most part, the same thing.
Yeah but the 40 episode cartoon series was awesome
Same on not getting the sequels. Almost every time I watch this movie I'm reminded of the lost proposed trilogy this was to spawn. There were some interesting ideas. Sure, they may not have panned out in the exact way they were presented, but I'm sure a lot of fun, regardless, was to come. I get angry that we never got to see that.
Behind Godzilla vs Kong and king of the monsters this is my favorite Godzilla movie
discovering this video makes me so happy. godzilla '98 kicked off a major obsession of mine as a kid, and i've always had a soft spot for it. and exploring its depiction of the military, especially in contrast to other american godzilla movies? so good.
Those bumpers are incredible "he loves you. He told me so." Amazing
Am I the only person that adores the movie???? 🙇🏻
Nope, I adore it too👍
I've always liked Godzilla 19 98.
I think the design of Godzilla is is actually well-made.
I wrote a long comment about how I watched and really enjoyed the '98 movie as a kid and still appreciate it today for the reasons you've mentioned, but then my computer crashed, I lost the will to rewrite it and can't remember exactly what I wrote to begin with so this will have to do.
Thank you for putting more effort into discussing a (mistakenly) maligned monster movie than I have into this comment.
This movie is half the reason I have seen the original Godzilla movie. I loved both, and this is my favorite for nostalgia's sake.
Well done!
I've always been fond of this movie, it's nice to hear someone take the time to appreciate it.
I've long held that while it's not a good Godzilla movie, it's still a very fun kaiju movie in its own right. Also Jean Reno is always a delight.
Yo this video was PHENOMENAL. This film was my first introduction to Godzilla and it remains a personal favorite of mine. I think you did a great job covering what Godzilla means and his context with the nuclear message and American culture. I'll definitely be sharing this around.
I saw this movie 24 times in theaters. I paid to see this movie in theaters 24 times. Nuff said
So, you said you don't actually expect to change anyone's mind- you definitely changed mine. This was really well made.
The iguazilla is intersex, also. To anyone saying, " THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WASN'T MALE " 😐 male lizards have hidden " parts "........ That only come out in, " specific situations ". So, that excuse to hate the film makes 0 sense.
As for the other things, it's an old film. Not alot of things made sense in films back then.
As for the, " size " issue with tunnels, if I remember correctly iguazilla dug the tunnels to be big enough to hide it......
"Not a lot of things made sense in films back then" in reference to 1999. Sweet jesus. It wasn't 60 years ago, it was 22.
@@boarpsimson8675 back then refers to anything In the past. 22yrs ago is the past. 😐
Technically yesterday is also the past
Finaly, some good fucking Godzilla 98 content
me 60 minutes ago: wat why r u doin this
me now: ok yeah sorry should not have doubted you
I watched this in theaters when I was 10, and this and the Hannah Barbera cartoons, plus some large scale action figures my uncle had based on the Toho movies devoid of context, were my first introductions to Godzilla. I heavily agree with all points, and I noticed the military stuff even if I couldn't articulate it at the time. 1998 was a weird time cinematically where a filmmaker could let the military look incompetent and not immediately get called anti-American
This movie introduced me to Godzilla and was my first kaiju movie, it holds a special place in my heart.
Honestly surprised you didn't play "antidepressants are so not a big deal" over that footage, but was glad to see a Crazy Ex Girlfriend reference regardless. I really enjoyed this video on the big chonky lizard boi
Hmmm yes, I suppose this fun movie that I thoroughly enjoyed as a child is in fact pretty good and not the worst thing ever.
Honestly though I never really thought about the political dimension of this film and now I'm thinking about it, so nice going.
oh no, thinking
woah, i honestly didn't know people hated it that much. as an eight-year-old watching it in theater, i was totally engrossed. we definitely bought that tape and it watched it a lot.
oh, and the bit where no one can say niko's name was as someone with an eleven letter polish last name.
THANK YOU for defending this movie!!! My family loved it when it first came out and I have an extreme fondness for it till this day!
My fav guy!
Doing his fav thing!
My Saturday is saved!
HUZZAH!
Really well made analysis. I never really hated this film despite people’s general dismissal of it. It’s nice to see it praised for what it is.
yes, thank you for this! as a godzilla fan myself, i think this movie gets a little too much bad rep, while i can understand why many fans disliked this movie i still felt they were a bit too harsh on it. i liked this movie just fine when it came out. sure, it's no true godzilla movie, but i thought it was decent as a monster movie in of itself and thought the monster design itself is pretty good if you don't think of it as godzilla.
however, gonna have disagree with on the godzilla the series, to me the cartoon series was sort of a redemption for this Americanized version of godzilla because it better represented on what godzilla truly was, zilla was stronger and take on more punishment, fought monsters and actually had an atomic breath and had some really unique monster designs. sure, some of the stuff with the human characters was kind of awkward and cringe, but really just a minor nitpick to an over decent show.
I cried when iguazilla died 😟 I wanted it to win......
Ngl I was super happy when I saw this video pop in my notifications because this was my first Godzilla movie (must have been between 6 and 8) and I actually really love it. I found this big lizard fascinating and was genuinely sad to see him die at the end. Also the phrase "he's pregnant" has had a huge impact on me, you got no idea.
Just wanna say the idea of an American, deciding the nuke allegory was good actually and then through money managed to change how the nuke allegory was portrayed is one of the most American things I have ever heard.
I honestly cannot understand why Roger Ebert was ever a respected film critic. Yeah, he has some good takes, but that's because he talked about so many movies and by virtue of math he was bound to get something right eventually.
You're right and you should say it
Ha! Just started the video. Thank you, I forgot to take my citalopram today and you reminded me. Thanks for that! I really need to program a reminder into my phone or something.
Alternatively, just watch this video every morning 🤔
@@DavidJBradley I take them in the evening to help me wake up for my morning shifts, but good idea! Haha :) Great video. :)
This is an awesome video and I love your outfits😍
This was the first movie I ever watched in a theatre. So I kinda have a soft spot for it.
You're an aroace enby, you have a wonderful cat called Frank *and* you're a Godzilla fan who enjoys Godzilla 1998? Instantly subbed, you have my total respect. I would love to have the '98 Godzilla tattooed on my inner left arm, I just love him so much!
7:15 i and my entire family have always legitimately loved this line
Got here from Kyle's recommendation, good to have followed it.
Going by the small amount of knowledge from my one biology class in university - Ebert's dick joke doesn't work. I remember that there is some species of lizard that are all born female, and in a colony of them, one or two will turn male as needed for reproduction. I'm guessing there's not a lot to see there. There are amphibians (many frogs, for example), that have all their reproductive organs internally.
This did bring back memories, though. I went to see this Godzilla with a friend who was a huge fan because he asked me to come with him. I think he did mostly enjoy it.
Good job. There was some things about Godzilla as a whole that I was aware of but not others. I also did a double-take with "more radioactive than Chernobyl to this day".
Every one of your shirts? Amazing. Every one of your points? Well made and all well spoken. I too will protect himbo cousin
For me, Godzilla 2014 might be my most disappointing movie ever. Not so much because it was actively bad, but because the trailer so brilliantly conveyed such a sense of existential dread against a threat we could not stand against. Then it turned out to be a monster fight movie that was barely fun. I had fun with Roland’s version.
My guy the trailers for godzilla 2014 clearly showed the male muto as the advertising went on. The only thing the trailers were misleading about is how often you see Joe throughout the trailers only for him to die 35 minutes into the movie. G98 is more entertaining but is objectively bad compared to g14
@@Kaiju-bm4ts Yes, the later trailers were a bit more honest at what kind of movie this was, though I was perhaps foolishly holding out hope that it could capture what it showed in the first teaser. Which it did not. Thus disappointment. For me, g14 commits perhaps the greatest sin a movie can commit: excelling at nothing. Too boring characters to care about. Too dark to have much fun. Too silly to take seriously. An absolute waste of a Bryan Cranston. So, yeah I'm doubling down. G98 is better than G14 in almost every way that matters
@@sramspoker The movie was still dark and the first teaser only had a darker tone, that's it. There was nothing to capture when the first teaser (either you're reffering to the 2012 or 2013 one) didn't show anything to give off what the premise of the movie would be. Exaggerating much?.
The DVD transfer made the movie darker than what it should with the 4k release fixing that problem so.....how is that a issue?
How was it silly when it wasn't making the tons of jokes the next MV movies would make?. It doesn't/didn't need to match the darker tone of the trailers to be dark/serious. Any humor the movie had was ridiculously subtle.
The only justifiable flaws that are unavoidable is the movie has boring characters and wasted Joe as a character. Other than that entertainment and quality are 2 different things. G14 gets godzilla correct, g98 does not. G98 is more entertaining, g14 is the better movie overall.
@@sramspoker look I like G98 but I will NOT let you disrespect G14 like that. 98 is good as a monster movie but it’s not Godzilla, 2014 gets Godzilla right, and “too silly to take seriously” 98 literally has so many comic relief characters with misplaced humor, 2014 felt realistic and had suspense and wasn’t too goofy. I’m glad you like 98 but 2014 was objectively the better movie and I’m saying this as someone who likes 98 (as a monster film, not a Godzilla movie)
I thought I never even heard of this one but I have vague memories of watching maybe the last half a few years ago and got sucked into it without even knowing what it was lol I just looked over while walking through the living room where my dad was watching it and ended up standing there watching it for 10 minutes until I just sat down to finish it. I liked what I watched at least.
I remember being very neutral when I watched this from TV years ago. Can't remember much though. Could be that it was a late night movie and I was sleepy :D
I have had this video in my “watch later” list for months now, finally watched it today. I don’t particularly like Godzilla 98 like, at all but I still think it’s extremely interesting and I still watch it semi regularly just to think about so I’m always excited to see people giving it another chance critically and you did a good job at that, nice little summarization of Godzilla’s history in America too.
*However* I was a wee bit frustrated with how you chose to characterize the monsterverse movies to be honest because the idea that they just have nothing to say other than “Godzilla’s cool lol” is just, kind of untrue? Sure the literal military propaganda is super annoying but if you’re able to look beyond that the monsterverse *especially* the 2014 movie has a pretty smart story with some good commentary and even some decent symbolism from time to time. See for example how the male MUTO spore is dealt with by setting up an elaborate containment site to study it and keep it from the outside world, and yet they are unable to notice that the spore is producing a consistently growing EMP until it’s too late and ultimately end up feeding the MUTO and making it more powerful, the government and it’s own incompetence there is what lead to the MUTO being released despite their attempt to do the opposite. In the case of the female MUTO’s spore an attempt wasn’t even made, as the US government just tossed the spore in a nuclear waste containment facility which once again only served to feed it and make it even more powerful. The governments desire to hoard radioactive material without any sort of proper regulation or conduct is what lead to the MUTO’s escape, so once again G2014 isn’t afraid to point fingers. One could even make a case that the movie itself is all about the goods and bads of nuclear energy, since Godzilla too is a nuclear powered being who ends up fighting other nuclear beings; I always interpreted that as a message for how nuclear *energy* can be good even if it’s scary.
bless you for adding those CN bumpers. What a great find
👍🏼👍🏼
You have definitely swayed my view of the movie. Though I was never so anti the movie as everyone else seemed to be. Was just sort of 'meh' about it. Did really like the soundtrack though.
BIG , DUMB , FUN . I think that’s the major thing people miss about this , it’s like a cartoon, the giant hole in the MetLife building should have been the big give away on this point 🤷♂️
I can make a big fun movie about batman , but if I presents batman as a facist that gets cucked by batgirl it doesn't matter that my movie is fun , a good portion of people who would have seen it for batman wouldn't have liked it and that would be understandable.
Bravo, David! I level-headed approach. So many of the fans that hate on this to no end don't realize their hypocrisy. I've attempted to engage with some of these fellow fans over the years, but their blind anger and ignorance refuses them to see the hypocrisy and to open their eyes to new interpretations of the character. Such interpretations have allowed so many other characters to survive over the decades...including Godzilla.
Fans are unwilling to have anything but the Godzilla that is "monster-smash-building-and-punch-other-monsters" type that the series ends up becoming one long remake after a while. It's nearly unanimous that they hate the recent anime trilogy as well, which is a shame considering I thought it was a well-written story that brought fresh ideas to the series. Alas, fans don't want new ideas nor do they really wish to think in a Godzilla movie (or a trilogy more specifically).
It saddens, frustrates, and angers me that, because of fans, we're not going to get anything that deviates much from a run-of-the-mill monster movie. I don't mind those, but the Godzilla series has more than enough. I want to have something new. Godzilla 1998 provided that and I absolutely love it! It reminds me of a time when I was still in my early fan phase with this character and his series. It reminds me of all the merchandising of one of my favorite characters. It nearly broke me when I found out most of the fandom hated it and without any real good reason. Nevertheless, I still watch it and thoroughly enjoy it.
Cheers!
Yk I actually really like the design of the 98 Godzilla I think it was different and that is what its strength is you can definitely say that it is the most unique of them all and is very memorable. Just thought I’d give this design the love it deserved.
29:15 Me about Jar Jar.
It would have been a lot more work, but if you'd gotten someone who obviously isn't you to do the dubbed part I would have died laughing.
Regarding Godzilla versus Kong - you said it better than I've managed to, in saying that the film seems scared of saying anything. What made that frustrating is that it brushed against so many possible themes and ideas, that it became really obvious when it was actively avoiding them.
As for Godzilla takes Manhattan, comma, I think what made it not work for me is that I just didn't like the characters. I could live with a lot of the rest. I think whether you mesh with character personalities is one of the more subjective things in media.
I still enjoy this film, even if I much prefer classic Godzilla way more!
I don't really have a radiologically mutated equine in this race beyond "toku shows and giant monsters are really cool", and I never saw the flick in question, but this was a delightful viewing.
Shoutout to Wib for pointing me this way.
So, a Lizard as big as Godzilla gets fat from eating creatures as small as the Smurfs...he has to have some serious digestive disorder.
This was my first and only venture into Godzilla movies, but I really enjoyed it. Classic late 90's monster movie in my opinion. Of course, I also enjoy the Tremors movies, so maybe take my opinions with a grain of salt.
Hey yo it's godzilla, you ripped me off your hand and stuff, eh I'll forgive ya cause the video is great! (Love ya David glad I could help)
Well you were about to reveal how much Godzilla 98 merchandise I bought...
@@DavidJBradley 😁
This was the frist Godzilla movie I've ever seen, and atlest we got the fairly decent cartoon series out of it
Saw the original imported Godzilla movie. Hated it. Saw the 1998 Godzilla. Still one of my favorite movies. The "radiation makes things bigger" angle is painfully stupid non-science at the beginning of the movie that everyone knows isn't real, but that's the real test of the audience: "Can you put up with obviously dumb, bad science for a few minutes? Because there's more underneath the surface of this movie than you realize." For example, this movie points out that the U.S. military only ever gets things done in just one way: Dumping 10 times the amount of resources into a bloated solution primarily for precision strikes. That is, the U.S. has the unfortunate tendency to spend a boatload of money, time, and resources to take out one person or thing just to attempt to minimize collateral damage. However, when faced with a limited timetable and a shifting situation, the U.S. military just throws its already gargantuan weight around to blindly stomp on the problem: Because it can. The "10x resource usage to solve problems" approach is both the U.S. military's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. (Footnote: Russia knows this and regularly goads the U.S. on many occasions with the goal of running the U.S. out of money.) 1998 Godzilla depicts this fact perfectly and is why everyone should own a copy of and watch this movie on repeat until you can answer the question of: What would you do if a giant monster showed up on your doorstep? Because one of these days, the U.S. government will run out of money and real monsters will literally show up on our doorsteps. Part Four of this video review should be titled "Accurate U.S. Roast."
Hour-long video? He'll yeah!
any intelligent comment i could have made vanished from my brain when i saw the kingdom hearts figures in front of your tv 👀
I am a trash human fool who loves that nonsense series
My only experience with this movie is the nostalgia critic review from a few years back soooo I’m gonna go ahead and say that didn’t give me a complete impression of this movie and this video will probably be a bit better
This video is in part me working through my demons of watching NC for too many years
@@DavidJBradley lol yeah I thought as much with the “that’s a lot of fish” bit
There's an implied ", Doug"
What the actual hell were the people who wrote those CN ad breaks on lol
WE STAN GODZUKI
Comment to feed the algorithm gods. Love the video!
every time i've watched this movie, my blood has run cold and my skin crawled during the opening montage of nuclear tests (the horrible details of which i was somewhat aware of by the first watching, from reading a national geographic article about them as a kid), so i guess at least some of the politics was never lost on me (probably a lot of the politics, TBH; emmerich ain't subtle lol (and this is probably a good thing))
though, honestly, i'm not sure how much i could trust someone who wasn't at least a _little_ unnerved by the dreadful power of a fusion explosion
Finally actually getting a chance to watch through, and, as an osomatsu aficionado, the way you pronounced sheeh! Killed me. (I love the video by the way, I just thought she hay was funny)
I’m happy u enjoyed it I just don’t
… I didn’t even know this movie was hated so much. I laughed at the duck, too. I was disappointed at the end with even the scientist cheering.
Thanks for the history of Gojira lessons! I actually wanted to start watching them more intentionally after your last video, but was overwhelmed with how many there are. This helped me narrow down where I want to start my viewing. Thanks!
I think I like the 90s show a bit more then you do that's probably just nostalgia though. Personally I remember most episodes as having anti-military messages? The one that comes immediently to mind is the one where the military get Zilla Jr's girlfriend and stepchild killed.
46:47-47:00
Easily my favorite moment.
Sucks that you didn't have fun watching the 2000's animated series, but heh great video.
Shockingly great guest cast.
Bringing your A+ game.
Dang but this whole video is top notch,
you've surpassed yourself again.
Great video. Never Been good at articulating what i didn't like about this movie but "The film builds quite solid message and tragedy but fails the delivery" resonates instantly better than thousand fanboys yelling "That's not *MY* Godzilla!"
Also, oh god those letterboxed reviews. The hyperbole was painful. These people sound like they haven't seen an actually Bad movie in their life.
Idk how but I kinda just always thought of Godzilla being the bad guy and a Japanese political statement and thought the more recent movies with Godzilla being a hero was new. I especially don’t know why I knew about his original plot and political statement history given the last half or so of the 1998 Godzilla film was the first time I have ever watched a Godzilla movie before and that was maybe 5 or 6 years ago. And it has nothing to do with me being younger either, I was born in 1992 so I’m a 90s kid.
OH MY FUCK! DID YOU HEAR THEY CONFIRMED GODZILLA 1998 FOR SMASH? GODZILLA IS THE LAST SMASH CHARACTER!
It wouldn't me easy to tell if godzilla was male because they're a lizard and REPTILES KEEP THEIR HEMIPENES INSIDE THEIR CLOACHA if you want to be smug you need to be right
Well, that was magnificent.
By the gods(zilla), I love this movie.
love the hegwig ref
Ouh, the colours ;)
Missles have oxygen Destroyer
Something that really is confusing to me is how people don't like this Godzilla because it's really different
But then don't mind when toho makes Godzilla the souls of vengeful world war II spirits or whatever the heck that creature from shin Godzilla was
How is that confusing when you can change a character and keep the main aspects of said character intact. Gmk still represented godzilla as Japan's greatest fear despite being a manifestation of dead souls. Shin gojira represented the only other nuclear disaster Japan has faced which lines up with godzilla's original message as a being represented as the nuclear bombs that were dropped in 1945.
Godzilla 1998 doesn't represent a force of nature nor does he represent a nuclear disaster. He's just a product of man misusing nuclear power while simultaneously missing alot of godzilla's other core aspects. He comes off as his own kaiju than as a legitimate godzilla.
@@Kaiju-bm4ts To be fair g98 can be argued to be a force of nature....but when your force of nature can be defeated with a couple of jets then it still fails at the allegory
@@spinosaurusstriker I don't consider g98 a force of nature, just a byproduct of man's mistakes which is a good message if this thing wasn't godzilla and was just a remake of beast from 20,000 fathoms.
I legit still like this movie. Thank you for making me feel seen.
is godzilla a close personal friend of bobby duke by any chance?
I haven’t seen this video yet, but I really hope that this is one of those videos I have always been waiting for because for some weird reason I still really, really like that movie!
First interesting note: I always thought of Godzilla with the pronouns she/her. Always seemed the obvious choice 🤔
Wonder whether that is also connected to having watched it in German originally…?
Thank you for this video. The themes you mentioned throughout very much resonated with me when I first saw this movie as a child already, and I still appreciate them today. It’s nice to see someone else pick up on them, narrow in on it and appreciate the movie ❤️
Also, as someone who didn’t (and still doesn’t really) know much about Godzilla, I always appreciated the 1998 depiction of it. I thought the way Godzilla was shown was incredibly beautiful, I appreciated the movement and the way it tried to find its path, the way it sniffed the fish and started to eat it, and just how it was trying to navigate the “big city jungle” in the maze of high rise buildings and all. Maybe it was the dinosaur obsessed child in me, but I appreciate the grace I found in the clumsiness of a creature that wasn’t meant to be this size, didn’t mean to “cause harm” but simply tried to make the best of its circumstances, and a part of me was hoping we would get to see a continuation of that.
Also, the fact that a lot of the destruction was caused by the military trying to “fix the problem” wasn’t lost on me (and it also caused me to really just feel sorry for Godzilla all movie because she must have been scared af because of all the loud noise and constant danger).
Thank you for this video ❤️
I remember growing up and having this movie on vhs, it's fun and I would be lying if this and power rangers didn't spark my interest in giant monsters. But I do enjoy that this version of godzilla sorta became canon with the Japanese one calling it zilla instead of gojira.
Many would be lying if they don't say that this movie had a influence of making godzilla a more famous ip for people outside of Japan
Godzilla was already somewhat popular in America prior to 1998 but this film on the other hand....while it did make people more aware of godzilla, it didn't represent him properly and whenever people thought of godzilla they immediately thought back to this one
That nail polish might be the reason your wife left you. Good editing and content on video!
For some reason I always remembered the Godzilla of the 1998 movie as female. A mother. I'm kind of bummed that wasn't the case - who wouldn't love trans/gender-bent godzilla? The representation of mother nature, against the largely male US military apparatus? Not that a loving father isn't also wholesome. Either way, I now want fan art of Godzilla and the Xenomorph sitting at a bench in a park watching their kids playing together.
Well, I do actually have a soft spot for this movie, but I highly disagree that King of the Monsters is worse. I think KotM was really, really good.
It’s sad that the 1998 Godzilla movie is the least whitewashed, least pro-nuke American Godzilla movie ever made.
It's sad you make it seem like the monsterverse movies are pro nuke when godzilla is a force of nature in those films. A concept toho already established for godzilla's character decades prior. The only movie that can be argued as pro nuke was kotm and even then nuclear power is used in beneficial ways while simultaneously being the most dangerous power man can have.
Its no ,but you would need to not be that mentally online to realize that.
...also whitewashed? how
Wait...was that an Ashens joke?