Godzilla 2000 (1999)
Produced and Released by: Toho Co. Ltd.
Director: Takao Okawara
Images: Some images come from Monster Zero (check them out!)
By Dr Kain

Introduction

Toho killed Godzilla off in 1995 with the final movie of the Heisei series, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Originally they were not going to make a movie until his 50th anniversary, but they changed their minds after seeing Emerich’s and Devlin’s take on Godzilla. In December of 1999, he returned to the big screen in Godzilla 2000 Millennium. The movie retained the man in the rubber suit, but added CGI for some of the special effects. It also introduced a cool, but unpopular monster named Orga.

The Story

For years Godzilla has attacked Japan and the military has been unable to stop him completely. Yuji Shinoda (Takehiro Murata) created the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) to study Godzilla and find out what makes him unstoppable. His daughter Io (Mayu Suzuki) and a journalist named Yuki Ichinose (Naomi Nishida) are chasing after Godzilla when they get a little too close to him. They manage to get away with only a broken windshield.

In the meantime, the Crisis Control Institute (CCI) finds a weird looking rock in the ocean, and when they begin to bring it to the surface, it starts to float on its own. Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe) is in charge of the CCI, and his assistant is Shiro Miyasaka (Shirô Sano), former colleagues of Shinoda. The CCI wants to destroy Godzilla for the better of mankind, so Katagiri and Shinoda do not get along.

Godzilla rises from the oceans and is greeted by the Japanese Special Defense Force (JSDF) with missiles plummeted into his body. The giant rock in the ocean starts to move and appears to follow the movement of the sun until it flies away. It makes its way to Godzilla, scans his cells, and then it attacks him. Godzilla retaliates with his breath, which blows some chunks off, but underneath the rock, is a spaceship. The UFO defeats Godzilla and crashes into the ocean. Shinoda finds some of Godzilla’s cells from the battle, but needs the help of the CCI to study them, so he makes a bargain. Miyasaka and Shinoda discover the cells are able to heal themselves in just hours, and decide to call the discovery Organizer G-1.

The JSDF locks the UFO into the place, it is settled in wires that create an invisible shield. They figure it must have crashed on Earth millions of years ago, but landed so deep in the ocean it was unable to receive any sunlight. The UFO breaks from its bindings the moment the sun comes up and takes off until it lands above the building Yuki works in. After the building has been abandoned, she discovers what the UFO is after, the files on Godzilla. She calls Shinoda just after Katagiri has sent soldiers to place bombs in the building because it will infect all of Japan’s computers by morning. Shinoda and Io come to her rescue, but he stays to finish getting the information on the UFO. Io and Yuki are forced to leave the area because Katagiri does not care someone is still in the building, and blows the top floor. It does not destroy the UFO, and the UFO blows up the rest of the building. Io and Yuki find Shinoda alive, he has her laptop with all the information needed, and they return to the CCI headquarters.

Godzilla returns to avenge his defeat by the UFO, and manages to destroy it. An alien being is created using Godzilla’s cells, and the two monsters battle each other. In the end Godzilla reigns supreme, walks over to the CCI building, and destroys the part Katagiri was standing on, and he falls to his death. Godzilla turns around and begins to blast some buildings as the screen goes black.

Review

I saw Godzilla 2000 in theaters when Sony released it here in America the first day it came out. I have always loved this movie, and I have yet to change my mind. While the movie is no longer in the ranks as my top favorite (partially due to GMK and GxMG), I still find the film very entertaining. It seems to be a little light on Godzilla action, but when I spent one day just watching the parts with Godzilla, I sat there for nearly an hour. There are a few oddities about the movie, like the whole Organizer G-1 bit, but it worked out, sort of. I am glad you never get to actually see the aliens except for Orga, who for some reason, went unnamed in the movie

The costume design for Godzilla was awesome. I love Godzilla’s look in this movie with his huge spikes. I know many people don't care for those, but I'm glad they kept them in every movie but GMK (although I like that design best) for the Millennium saga. Orga’s design was cool too, but he didn't do that much but throw in some punches and try to steal Godzilla’s cells through his mouth.

The soundtrack was really good, it was done by Takayuki Hattori, who did the very disappointing soundtrack for Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Fortunately, this one seemed to fit perfectly well with the movie. Akira Ifukube’s theme was also used in the movie, which was a nice addition.

The special effects were good too, especially since I believe this is the first Godzilla movie Toho used CGI in. The UFO was simple, but looked cool. One thing I have to say, for some reason Sony gave the UFO some annoying flying sounds when they released it in the US. Sony also added sound effects, music, and gave Orga a new roar, which I think takes away from what it was meant to me. Not to mention they took about 9 minutes out, and some of those scenes would have made others make more sense.

The characters were somewhat stupid. I think Yuki was the only one that matured throughout the movie. She started out as some snotty stuck-up bitch and turned into a caring person, especially to Shinoda and Io. Katagiri was funny, and the “villain” of the movie, but he was very stupid. In addition, the actor who played Shinoda, Takehiro Murata, played a few roles in the movies from the Heisei series like Godzilla vs. Mothra and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.

Conclusion

As I said, I found Godzilla 2000 Millennium to be a really enjoyable movie, and it should not be missed by anyone, even if you don’t enjoy it that much. It was the first movie to the new Millennium movies, which has been an excellent set of movies.

I give it a 3.5-4/5

Dr Kain