Godzilla 2000
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| Godzilla 2000: Millennium | |
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 Official Japanese Poster |
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| Directed by | Takao Okawara |
| Produced by | Shogo Tomiyama |
| Written by | Hiroshi Kashiwabara Wataru Mimura (US Version)Michael Schlesinger |
| Starring | Takehiro Murata Hiroshi Abe Naomi Nishida Mayu Suzuki Shirô Sano |
| Music by | Takayuki Hattori J. Peter Robinson (additional music, US version) |
| Cinematography | Katsuhiro Kato |
| Editing by | Yoshiyuki Okuhara Michael Mahoney (US version) |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures (USA) |
| Release date(s) | December 11, 1999(Japan) |
| Running time | 107 min. (Japanese Version) 98 min. (US Version) |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | US $8,300,000 |
| Preceded by | Godzilla vs. Destoroyah |
| Followed by | Godzilla vs. Megaguirus |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Godzilla 2000: Millennium (ゴジラ2000 ミレニアム Gojira Nisen: Mireniamu?) was the first Godzilla film produced by Toho since the end of the VS Series with 1995's Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Toho released the film in Japan in 1999, less than two years after the release of TriStar Pictures's Godzilla, supposedly in response to poor fan output. TriStar released the film in the United States in 2000 under the truncated title Godzilla 2000, the last in the Godzilla series to make a U.S. theatrical run. This film effectively begins and sets the tone for the Millennium Series: It ignores continuity established by any previous films, instead preserving only the original Godzilla (1954) and working other appearances into the intervening years.
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[edit] Synopsis
Although not much about this Godzilla is known except for that he is still attacking nuclear powerplants. It is unknown if this is the same Godzilla from 1954 or a new one. Scientists find a 60,000,000 year old fossil in the ocean. Because the light from their submarine beams on it, it awakens. As they attempt to raise this rock, it takes off into the sky on its own. Godzilla arrives and battles the JSDF, a UFO searches for a strong type of DNA to replicate in order to create a physical body for itself. It and Godzilla fight, and Godzilla was knocked into the ocean and disappears.
Discovering the secret to Godzilla's regenerative properties (named Regenerator G1), the UFO, arrives on top of Tokyo tower and drains all the files about Godzilla from Tokyo's super computers. Godzilla arrives and again battles the alien invader. The UFO ties Godzilla in cables and stuns him long enough to extract some of his DNA resulting, in the creation of an octopus-like body. However, the alien is unable to control Godzilla's DNA and further mutates into a hideous monster. Godzilla recovers and battles with the monstrous alien, but Orga eventually gains the upper hand, and drains more of Godzilla's Regenerator G1, trying to convert himself into a Godzilla clone. He then attempts to swallow Godzilla whole. Godzilla's entire body lights up, and he unleashes his Atomic Breath inside the alien invader's throat, destroying it from within. Then Godzilla attacks and kills the antagonist Katigiri, and the movie ends as Godzilla rampages through the ruins of Tokyo.
[edit] Titles
- Godzilla 2000: Millennium
- Godzilla 2000 (USA)
- G2K
[edit] Cast
- Takehiro Murata ......... Yuji Shinoda
- Naomi Nishida ......... Yuki Ichinose
- Mayu Suzuki ......... Io Shinoda
- Hiroshi Abe ......... Mitsuo Katagiri
- Shiro Sano ......... Shiro Miyasaka
- Godzilla ......... Tsutomu Kitagawa
- Orga ......... Makoto Ito
[edit] Box Office
Godzilla 2000 was produced on a budget of approximately $8,300,000.[1]
It opened in Japan on December 11th, 1999 and grossed roughly $15,000,000 during its box office run, with approximately 2,000,000 admissions.[2] The film was a moderate box office success, and was Japan's highest-grossing domestic release of the 1999 holiday season. Between its Japanese and American theatrical releases, Godzilla 2000 was the highest grossing film of the millennium series.
[edit] U.S. Release
Tristar, a division of Sony Pictures, picked up Godzilla 2000 for theatrical distribution in North America. It would be the first Japanese Godzilla movie since Godzilla 1985 to be released in North American theatres. Mike Schlesinger, who supervised the North American release, said, "It [Godzilla 2000] was such a spectacular success in Japan, we decided it was worth taking a shot, maybe the time was right for Godzilla to come back to theaters."[3]
Sony spent approximately $1 million to re-edit and dub the movie, and an addition $10-12 million to market.[4]
[edit] Alterations
Godzilla 2000 was changed somewhat in the process of Americanisation. The U.S. version of the film runs 99 minutes - 8 minutes shorter than the 107-minute Japanese version. Most of these were minor edits done to improve the pacing, and the sound effects and music were also improved and enhanced. The dubbing has a somewhat humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone to it, apparently in homage to Godzilla dubs of the 60s and 70s, with lines such as "Great Caesar's Ghost!", "Bite me!" and "these missiles will go through Godzilla like crap through a goose!". Some fans have criticised the American version of Godzilla 2000 for "camping up" what they perceive as a "serious" movie; however, Toho and Takao Okawara approved all the changes to the film in advance, and various amusing events throughout the story (such as people comically surviving Godzilla's rampage early in the film) make it evident that it wasn't meant to be taken too seriously.
Among the other alterations:[5]
- Some new music and sound effects were added.
- Shortened: the scene where Yuki seeks membership for the Godzilla prediction unit.
- Added: A few more traditional Ifukube themes.
- Shortened: Godzilla's destruction of Tokaimura
- Orga was given a deeper, meaner and more menacing roar.
- The translation team changed "Organiser G1" to "Regenerator G1", on the basis that the word "Organiser" made no sense within the context it was being used.
- Shortened: the scene where a bewildered taxi driver sees the UFO.
- Deleted: before escaping the building where the aliens are draining the information (just before the building is detonated), Shinoda sees the word "Millennium" on all the computer screens.
- Re-arranged: The scene where Shinoda goes down the elevator shaft while the building explodes.
In the North American theatrical version, the film ended with the words, "The End?", in very cartoonish lettering. On his DVD commentary, Michael Schlesinger said it looked too goofy, and Toho was equally underwhelmed. "The End?" was deleted from subsequent home video and television releases. (However, the Out of Print Spanish-subtitled VHS of the film still contains it.)
[edit] Critical Reception
The American release of Godzilla 2000 met with mixed to positive critical reaction. It currently has a "Rotten" rating of 57% at Rotten Tomatoes among all critics, however it also has a "Ceritfied Fresh" of 71% among the top critics on the site.'[6].
Owen Glieberman, who gave the film a B grade in Entertainment Weekly, said:
"Make all the cheesy-giant-monster-movie jokes you want. At a matinee of Godzilla 2000, I listened as the audience cheered the Toho Pictures logo, and the movie stays true, with a kind of demented affection, to the atomic age pop that inspired those cheers. Once again, the image of a man in a rubbery, barnacle-skinned dinosaur suit stomping an insanely detailed miniature Tokyo lands on an imaginative fault line somewhere between tackiness and awe."[7]
Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post was among the most negative reviewers:
"There are some indicators that Sony intended to release this literal monstrosity as a camp item. For one thing, when the Japanese actors--all trying very hard, no doubt--speak at around 340 mph (based on lip movements) the English soundtrack produces guttural utterances at about 7 mph. In other words, he's probably saying something like, "Sir, the space monster's genetic structure is changing owing to its absorption of Godzilla's rapid-regeneration DNA, which we have code-named 'G-1'!" which is translated, for our ears, as something like, "Sir, that monster is a crazy goofed-up idiot!" Somewhere around the 750th repetition, this irony-free deadpan loses its humorous content. Sony would have been better advised to hire some smart young American comics and let them riff into a mike for a soundtrack, after the fashion of Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? of all those years back. Godzilla, go home."[8]
[edit] Box Office
Tristar Pictures released Godzilla 2000 in 2,111 North American theatres on August 18, 2000. It grossed $4,407,720 ($2,087 per screen) in its opening weekend, on its way to a $10,037,390 final gross [9]. Future Millennium Godzilla films would be released direct-to-DVD in North America.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The first of the Toho Godzilla films to feature a full CGI Godzilla, particularly in the scene where Godzilla swims underwater.
- This and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus are the only films where Godzilla's atomic ray is orange instead of blue.
- The first film in which Godzilla is actually green.
- The older monsters Anguirus , King Caesar and Kumonga were all considered as possible foes for the movie. Note:-Kumonga had a new design different from the Showa and Final Wars designs
- Contrary to popular belief, the additional Godzilla roars added in the American version were not reused from the 1998 film; they were newly made roars.
- According to books and press material, the squid-like alien that became Orga is called the "Millennian". However, neither monster was referred to by name in either version.
- On 15 July 1999, Toho broadcast two hours of the film's production on the Internet. The scene being prepared and filmed was where Godzilla smashes his way through Shinjuku (probably in the scene where he prepares to fight the Gigantic UFO).
- The song "Superbeast" from Rob Zombie was played in the trailer.
- At the 56.30 mark of the DVD it is possible to see the text on the screens of the computers being absorbed by the UFO. The text is the whatsnew file for the seminal arcade machine emulator M.A.M.E, version .35.
- The scene when Orga begins to swallow Godzilla, you can clearly see a wire hanging from Orga's back.
- The English dubbing for the army general's dialogue contains a tribute to American actor George C. Scott's portrayal of different generals in past films. When the general declares "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but I can promise no more than two [or] three hundred, tops", the line is taken almost word-for-word from Scott's character, General Buck Turgidson, in Dr. Strangelove. Moments later, the general declares they also have a weapon that will cut through Godzilla "like crap through a goose", a line uttered by Scott in his Academy Award-winning film portrayal of General George S. Patton.
[edit] DVD Releases
Sony Pictures
- Released: December 26, 2000
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic
- Sound: English (5.1), English (2.0), French (2.0)
- Supplements: Commentary by the U.S. release crew; Biographies; Behind-the-Scenes footage; Liner notes; Theatrical trailers
- Region 1
- Note: Contains the U.S. release version
- MPAA Rating: PG for monster violence and mild language
[edit] External links
- Godzilla 2000 at the Internet Movie Database
- Godzilla 2000 at Allmovie
- Godzilla 2000 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Godzilla 2000 at Box Office Mojo
- ゴジラ2000 ミレニアム (Gojira Nisen: Mireniamu) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
