Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews: GODZILLA 1998 

When’s the next Godzilla review?

I think it's good at being it's own thing, but not as a Godzilla movie

Nice review

I don’t know I’ve watched it a few times bUt zilla Jr is better

If it wasn’t marketed as Godzilla, and be it’s only franchise, it would have been good

Probably helps that the Design itself isn't bad it just is nowhere near an actual Godzilla design so i think the "new" names are warranted. Give this guy some kind of power and he could be some Godzilla Sidekick like Anguirus was from time to time.

@@shinrailp1416 Zilla makes no sense as Godzilla, but perfect sense as a foil to Godzilla. I like to think that in such a situation Zilla learns to imitate Godzilla's roar as a means of scaring more powerful monsters.

@@alexanderharoldsen4178 I kinda like to think of him as a subspecies or related species from Godzilla’s species, like how Hippos are related to Dolphins. They’re both different and similar, with them having many different biological and design things but also have some similar features and functions, as well as their use of radiation and breath attacks

He was also greatly redeemed in Rulers of Earth the comic.

@@shinrailp1416wym Zilla has the best Godzilla design next to Godzilla 2000.

that's fucking hilarious

It was such a petty move by Roland Emmerich because Siskel & Ebert had given his previous films bad reviews. But he couldn’t even go all the way with it. 🤦‍♂️

​@@michaelsinger4638 yeah, instead they just sorta....existed.

They even said something along the lines of "if you're going to put us in it, at least have G kill us or do something interesting"

From Ebert's review: "These characters are a reaction by Emmerich and Devlin to negative Siskel and Ebert reviews of their earlier movies ("Stargate," "Independence Day"), but they let us off lightly; I fully expected to be squished like a bug by Godzilla. Now that I've inspired a character in a Godzilla movie, all I really still desire is for several Ingmar Bergman characters to sit in a circle and read my reviews to one another in hushed tones."

I've heard people say that 2014 was the better Godzilla movie. But 1998 was the better monster movie.

​@@Chaos-Zakai64mmhmm I wouldnt say so even ig Zilla herself is kinda cool the 2014 characters are a bit better (which isnt saying that much honestly)

​@@lmaurexzilla is a he

@@THE_DARK_RAYZilla dosen’t have a gender it reproduces asexually

​@@THE_DARK_RAY he was pregnant

Except Taco Bell released their junk early

Bet those campaigns failed.

Tbh it's not a bad design, it's just not Godzilla. Like if the design had been used in a non Godzilla film it'd be fine.

​@@rheahorvath9274 nope, it worked out amazing for them, they made a boat load of money from just the merch

@@c.d.rstudios4691 Interesting to know!! Good thing I didn't put my money down on the table. Thanks for letting me know 😊!!!!

Isn't he Canadian?

@@mitchellulrich930 Yes but the joke is that British people love making fun of the French

@@kneeofjustice9619 It's OK. Western Canadians feel the same way about the Québecois.

Or any non Québécois Canadian.

I'm French and I agree.

When people you’re making fun of didn’t think you went far enough. You know you screwed up!

@@michaelnally2841 " When people you’re making fun of didn’t think you went far enough. You know you screwed up! " As a British person, I see Americans make fun of us all the time and they *NEVER* do it right. They get too mean spirited and showing their mommy issues for a country not even we call the Mother Country!

You are aware that Siskel and Ebert played those characters, right?

@@nomadmarauder-dw9re Not really. Those actors just happened to look like Siskel and Ebert.

@@marygonzalez2472 Well, Doggies, you're right! They should've been nominated!

Wait actually? Bruh

Toes and hands were also kinda cool

He did have 3 rows of dorsal plates and could technically stand upright

And he had a power breath which was also a fire breath

​@@keytendegraef4332 shut up lol😂😂😂 that was just fish breath 😂 if you liked that garbage go on

Tbh that sounds ALOT cooler than zilla lol

@@VintageNarwhal Dang right! LOL

@@gen-xnerdcouch7627I’m the only one with pictures of the filming of this movie

@@elitepanda3000 I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean that you have pics from the G-Con I was talking about or pics of the movie's production?

There's nothing wrong with a non fan director. Kazuki Omori who wrote/directed Godzilla vs Biollante and Godzilla vs King Ghidorah was not a Godzilla fan (neither was Jun Fukuda). Same for Shasuke Kaneko who did the Heisei Gamera films, he was not a fan of Gamera and look how those films turned out. It was Emmerich's general disdain and contempt for the franchise that was the problem not the fact he wasn't a fan.

@@dinosoid2000 hollywood looks for directors who actively disdain the source material, apparently.

@@dinosoid2000 That was the biggest problem: not being a gushing fanboy of the property you're adapting isn't necessarily a problem, but having open contempt for it definitely is!

See, this is why I am a HUGE FAN of Prince Planet to make my adaptation.

@@TheBrandonTenoldthat is a very good point. If you actively hate the thing you are adapting, you shouldn’t adapt it.

I remember watching the animated series and loving it so much. And, quite honestly, I wish Brandon had given it a bit more extra attention in the video.

The cartoon made me sort of like this film despite it's many problems.

Yeh but in that series that monster is called Zilla Jr and he actually breathes atomic breath but its green instead of blue and is more faithful to the Godzilla we know and luv.

Kinda like how ''''The Clone Wars'''' vindicated the whole SW Prequels

This movie flopped so that show could run. The writing staff also seemed to know exactly what they were doing most of the time, mad men even snuck in a mechani-kong episode, and a full destroy all monsters 3 parter.

I thought that was as cheesy as the Ice puns in Batman and Robin.

Ya, its super accurate

​@@Lee-Darin"What killed the dinosaurs? THE ICE AGE!!!"

yeah. as somebody with an unusual and tricky to spell name, this was basically my childhood.

Given this film is canon in "Giant Monster All Out Attack" and "Final Wars", your theory might be true

In my head canon, the old Japanese sailor was fearfully talking about the real Godzilla and the rest of the characters mistakenly thinks he's talking about Zilla.

Nice train of thought!

As much as I admit that it’s a guilty pleasure of mine, it is a genuinely good, suspenseful scene.

The scene was a holdover from the Elliot and Rosso script where there was a legendary monster known as "Gojira."

A child's intuition is keen.

Haruo Nakajima had a similar reaction. When he saw the movie, he got about halfway through it, jumped to his feet, pointed accusingly at the screen, and shouted in English, "That no Gojira! That iguana!" and stormed out of the theater. Kenpachiro Satsuma would also leave the theater, but he just shook his head and said "It's not Godzilla." Later on, Satsuma would remark "Even Pulgasari was better!" There is actually a great photograph of Nakajima in a theater watching the 2014 film with visible reverence on his face.

@@ConstantineFurman I'd watch Pulgasari over this tripe any day of the week.

Pulgasari is fucking great tbh.

@@ConstantineFurmanwasn’t Satsuma kidnapped in order to film Pulgassari?

I’m from Iowa and I approve this message 👍🏽

​@@veramanuel55me too.

Monster Mayhem

@@DavidDrouant Or "Gigantis". And yes, I'm aware that the American re-edit of Godzilla Raids Again is called that, but that name makes it seem like a Godzilla rip-off, and honestly, it fits ol' Zilla a bit better. At least he gets have a different name that no one at the time remembered (Cause let's face it, Gigantis the Fire Monster was a bad re-edit, and that's saying something because Raids Again wasn't particularity good).

I feel the same way about the Starship Troopers movie.

Like Rian Johnson and The Last Jedi

that's based when you look at cinema nowdays

Wrong choice! Jan debont should had said no to speed 2 and did Godzilla

“Those guys at Toho may be smart, but I'm sure they couldn't see that far into the future. If they could, they never would have gave Roland Emmerich the rights to make a Godzilla movie.” - NES Godzilla creepypasta

Agreed. Zilla Jr was Toho Godzilla worthy.

Took the Toho monster and made them into animated form

Personal opinion but damn that original ending sounds even worse than the one we got.

Don't forget the cameos of the Simpsons voice actors( there are 3 of them)

True animated series of this was better than the movie in so many ways even replacing the fire breath with plasma fire breath

That was such a great show!

And the Millennium Series!

I would argue that the soundtrack had some good tunes, but I was only 16 back then.

And Godzilla 2000, and The MonsterVerse, and Shin Godzilla!

They also made it super fast. So while it can't take hits it rarely does. Like imagine that monster outrunning a bullet train and there are hundreds of them.

Although come to think of it, having some babies surviving the explosion and scattering around out of sight would’ve make the movie better, even if adult Zilla survives missile strikes and escape.

@@prehistorichero2755 eh, the animated show made the best of a bad movie

@@MenxiGoblinQueen Well, yeah, this show is good enough.

What’s monster apocalypse? This is the first time I’m hearing of it

"Give me a Gremlins 2 treatment you German Michael Bay Spielberg wannabe wuss!"

You be surprised how common of a mindset some people have 😅 in relation to your theory

GMK was the film we should've gotten instead of both 98 and 2000 imo

Same.

Glad to see that I wasn’t the only one to think that as a kid

So did I.

May I ask how old you were? Cause I was 9 at the time and didn't think that but I actively was paying attention to plot (my dumb 9yo brain had no reference point to the real Godzilla so I enjoyed big Dino and explosions) Just wanted to see if there was an age cut off where as a kid you'd just watch but didn't care for the story.

@@TheTerribleToph I was 8 at the time.

Now in my head

So, I wasn’t the only one who noticed this lol.

It was both the most awesome thing ever, and the most traumatizing thing ever. Mostly the latter for those in the skyscraper i imagine.

It ain't the size that matters, it's what you do with it!

I pity the outside window washing crew, next morning

Didn't TOHO do that already in 2001 titled Godzilla: GMK (real title is long BTW) near the beginning of that very film?

That happened at the beginning and end of 1998? No you’re thinking about dialogue from other Godzilla films. Cuz I don’t remember anything of what you just said being present in the 1998 film itself.

@@anonymousgoblin792 Read my comment again. I didn't say those lines were in the film, I said the film can be redeemed by the inclusion of those lines of dalog. That's why I said "CAN be redeemed", not "IS redeemed."

​@@zz3167 yes, tye G-Force stand-ins (not sure if they have a different name, oh well) say there was an incident in New York the Americans claimed is Godzilla, but they have their doubts. I wanna say its in Godzilla vs Megagirus

Honestly I agree, coulda been a fun teaser

Yeah, I like that he has kept his formula true to its origins. Its obvious that he isn't playing a character and it's just basically him being himself in front of a camera

🚩Comment Flagged by Toho🚩

Dude, don't jinx it!

I'll stand with ya. It's not the absolute best, but it's sure not the worst.

I was 10 when this came out and I really enjoyed it, same with The Lost World when I saw that the year before. I still have a soft spot for both films to this day.

@@user-rs4gr9yq4u 😀 same age as well

This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine

The movies biggest crime is being title Godzilla. Outside that it is a fun and great Kaiju film.

Well, yeah

to be fair I don't think we wish having to watch that movie on anybody.

Honestly that movie is bad but I won’t let my worst enemy watch it. It is that bad

He already did Gamera Super Monster. So doing Godzilla revenge is kinda tame in comparison.

Actually Toho is doing everything they can to make sure I don't cover that one.

I have stood in that footprint! Kualoa ranch

Not me no way lol. Godzilla should at least stay the same. No need to turn him into some stupid iguana looking dino crap nonsense that runs away from the military and gets killed by them too

@@ayiogojo5642 okay.

Yeah. Like the comparison's Brandon frequently made here, if this had just been a remake of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, it would have been much better. It still would have had boring acting and whatnot, but at least it wouldn't be pretending to be something it's not.

Yeah, if it was a remake of 20,000 Fathoms or a original monster like Cloverfield, it’d be better.

No , it wouldn't, lol.

@@kingkold Perhaps...less sucky would be more accurate.

I'm shocked she came to that mindset on her own! But it's probably from you telling her it's not that good prior and that lowered her expectations a bit and allowed her to see it differently. Unfortunately too many people (who aren't fans) happen to see this godzilla movie think this is what godzilla is supposed to be

I don't think most people hate the design . It's just that this design was used for Godzilla which made people hate it . This design would've been successful if it was it's own thing .

The animated series carried this movie HARD. Hence why fans of Zilla when name comes up, the animated series always front and center.

Same here! I've watched quite a few of the movies he goes over now! Especially the Asian ones that were never on my radar

In the 1954 film Godzilla's death is tragic because he was ultimately a scared animal, plus Dr Serizawa killed himself as well, and while the crowd cheers Dr Yamane warns that further nuclear testing can create more Godzillas. But in this film it seems like it's gonna treat Zilla's death as a sad momment but then it turns into a triumphant one with the characters cheering. If it really wanted to treat Zilla's death like that then Zilla should have been portrayed as a evil sadistic monster, like Spacegodzilla or Destoroyah. Or what they really should have done is have only the crowd cheer while the characters responsible for killing Zilla's children feel bad about what they did

@@jackhamilton9604nah bro 1954 actually wanted destruction on Japan, 1998 only went there for the food and to give birth

@@ekris5072 yeah because they attacked first, that film runs with the idea that Godzilla is a tragic character, the 1998 film dosen't seem to know what it wants to do

@@jackhamilton9604 bro 1954 is supposed to be about the destruction of a nuclear bomb. 1954’s godzilla is literally supposed to be a nuclear bomb. I dont think a nuclear bomb can exactly be classified as tragic

@@jackhamilton9604 either that or you have way too much sympathy for pure evil characters

The vinyl for it looks really nice.

@@NeroAngelo616 Been tempted to get it, but I'd never play the damn thing lol.

And tell me, dear viewer, what do any of those songs have to do with the movie?

@@randomguy6679 Apart from the fact that many of these songs were written for the movie and a few even mention/include Godzilla in the track?

@@DokkaChapman yeah, mention him once, I guess

I concur. This film was dope, and that ending was tragic! I loved that they had a serious scientist as the lead too, rather than some musclehead or some guy in a leather jacket. the subplots were great.

What I have to say is that it's easy to say when that is your first experience. The problem is that for most G-fans, this is not. Most are used to the nuclear war incarnation monster that started as a villain, then to anti-hero, then to hero, and now back to anti-hero again. It certainly didn't help that Emmerich took the role when he has no respect for the source material. Then again, this is becoming more common among Hollywood directors. They are more taking up roles or projects to take a jab at a franchise or it's fanbase.

And the most expensive (apart from the Legendary Pictures)

Wtf is that logic ofcourse they will earn more since they are released worldwide unlike japanese movies which were only released in Japan

The truth. Best Godzilla design also.

@@NeroAngelo616 Nah. I get some people prefer a realistic appearance, but it's really not very good.

@@TKDragon75 1998 design mogs most of the safe boring ass conventional designs to Pluto and back. It's got Gigachad basis.

​​@@NeroAngelo616lol buddy every godzilla design is different but still familiar, different 100% from top to bottom doesn't automatically mean better. That's just changing something for the sake of changing it because reasons. When people think of godzilla, they think of a upright standing dinosaur looking creature, not what g98 did. G98 stans truly don't know what godzilla is 😅

​@@Kaiju-bm4ts EvErY GoDzIlLa DesIgN Is DiFfErENT.

Sorry to hear that