It’s hugging time!
Perhaps the theme of Godzilla 2000 (1999) is Your friends sometimes lurk in wolves’ clothing.
Seems a bit weak.
Or maybe it’s Sometimes you’re just the audience at the heavyweight fight. That might be more accurate, because this time it’s Godzilla, who’s been raiding the Japanese power grid, up against a flying saucer that’s thought to be 60 million years old. Somehow, the Japanese Crisis Control team has deduced that Godzilla’s secret is that his cells regenerate very, very quickly – sort of like the Borg in Star Trek, come to think of it. And, again, somehow, the Crisis Control team, or maybe it’s their rival, the guy with the smart kid and the broken windshield, has figured out that the creatures in the flying saucer want to harvest Godzilla for his secret. Oh, and somehow someone figures out the aliens in the spacecraft want to radically modify Earth’s atmosphere for their own comfort.
Well.
Eventually, there’s a second monster on the ground, and the Big G and the new guy have a rock ’em sock ’em time of it in the heart of Tokyo. Perhaps the best moment comes in the climactic fight when the new monster has a go at swallowing Godzilla whole, and Godzilla’s response is, well, let’s just say that was innovative.
Otherwise, though, it’s some rather awful special effects, some rudimentary plotting for the human characters, and some sort of muddled moral at the end. And definitely the feeling that Godzilla is just defending his territory and doesn’t give much of a crap about the humans, reinforced by some freeform arson at the end.
Definitely only watch at the end of a long day, waiting for the spouse to get home before you can go to bed. Or not at all.
While discussing this with my Arts Editor (she only viewed part of the movie), it occurred to me to consider whether or not Godzilla represents the United States, at least in this movie. After all, for all their efforts, the Crisis Control Team, the standin for the Japanese nation, are basically powerless to affect the behavior of the entity defending them. While they may be grateful that the attacking aliens are defeated, they are also trampled underfoot by a defender who really has his own concerns at heart – much like the Americans in post World War II East Asia. The entire nuclear thing may just be a decoy for the real message of the movie – Americans, get out!
