GODZILLA 2000: MILLENNIUM (1999)
So with the end of the Heisei era things were finally over for Godzilla series. The big guy took a nap after one last hurrah in 1995. For a short spell at least, since in the meantime the likes of Roland Emmerich and TriStar had their hands on the property. Did this attempt to Westernise the Godzilla brand call the Japanese film studio back into action as a course correction? Probably. Although it's notable that in the meantime there was a revived Gamera trilogy threatening to take the Kaiju crown while at Toho the Rebirth of Mothra series had brought things back to a child friendly tone. Perhaps they thought it was best to get their house back in order... even if it's not an ideal start.
The main issue here is the overall direction things are being taken in. Just look at the title; is it necessary to call it Godzilla '2000' and 'Millennium'? Somebody couldn't decide which sounded better so they just went with both at the same time. It's also clear that the film-makers weren't sure on whether to make things dark and moody, or whether some of the popcorn fun from the US version might actually be a good idea. Things are never that silly of course (if you avoid the dubbed version that is) but it's noticeable that it has a gritty tone in one scene and some kind of bonkers UFO scenario in the next. Even Godzilla himself is both hero and villain; force of nature and alien wrestling action star.
The opening of the story sets the stage for this overall tone. There's a fun nod to the lighthouse scene from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, while any moments of destruction are relatively light-hearted. Nobody gets brutally killed (ala GMK two years later) until near the end of the story. It wastes no time as Dr. Shinoda (Takehiro Murata) and his daughter Io (Mayu Suzuki) are forced to work with hapless reporter Yuki (Naomi Nishida) and the trio have to escape death by monster in a highway tunnel. Bar patrons narrowly escape as the 'Godzilla Prediction Network' team (of one man and a child) comment on the nature of Godzilla as a force opposing mankind's power station technology.
Still, it's a moody opening that showcases the newer more limber creature design. Was this intended as a younger version of Godzilla to continue the story from last time around? It's hard to say for sure but they've kept the orange heat beam instead of going back to the blue one. They've also kept the conflicting opinions on whether it's best to 'study or kill' the monster, in this case Shinoda and his rival Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe) at the Crisis Intelligence agency. The title characters flexible, occasionally cat-like, appearance is debatable as a change for better or worse, but the rest of these elements are about as boilerplate as it gets. Perhaps taking it back to basics was a necessity, but it's never totally engaging.
The newest inclusion is the villain Orga; (though it's never named on screen) a kind of formless alien inside a Flight of the Navigator style ship. But after a lot of intriguing moments involving computers being hacked (so a lot of clipart and the word Millennium can appear on them) it turns out to be a derivative of 1989's Biollante. It might have some nifty technology based tricks and a shape-shifting ability, but it's defeated fast when the time comes. The story should really have focused on the two organisations and the personal history of the men involved, but instead it's all pretty brief. Even obvious ideas like having Yuki become a surrogate mother or potential romantic interest are barely touched on.
Still, while it's frustrating to see the idiotic central trio escape so many near-death experiences (because this isn't a harrowing thriller) the film is entertaining. While the underdogs treat Godzilla like an earthquake the military treat him like a threat to be eliminated. 'Full Metal Missiles' and other gadgets are used as things progress, although nothing that interesting is ever deployed. Luckily the suit-mation and miniature cities are good, although they're backed by a lot of questionable optical effects and some ropey CGI in many instances. Computers should have only been used for things like Godzilla's 'Regenerator-G1' cells and Orga's x-ray vision, but it was the late '90s after all.
The results are pretty forgettable overall (I actually thought this film was already part of this review series but it was Godzilla vs. Megaguirus I was thinking of) but it's a course-correction that needed to happen to keep the series alive. In an ideal world the story would continue so that the camaraderie between Shinoda and company could be expanded, but this is the period where each sequel was a reboot (until 2003). There are some notable moments, most of them in the closing minutes, but in the end it's just a straightforward Godzilla story without too much depth. The alien battle is fun, the Ifukube tunes arrive at the right moments, and the broad strokes of the plot are intriguing if not overly compelling.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
THE WAR IN SPACE (1977)
Meanwhile there are no new ideas at all to be found in this would-be Star Wars knock-off. Which is to say that the contents are in fact all from earlier Toho films like Atragon and various alien invader stories like The Mysterians. The flying ship Gotengo is replaced by the spaceship 'Gohten', but it still looks exactly like the earlier submarine. Even the giant drill on the front is still present and correct despite a lot of new laser cannons being added. Which wouldn't be so much of a problem if the rest of the story wasn't so lethargic, often feeling like the first act of a larger movie stretched over a very long ninety minutes.
The so-called 'war in space' is in fact more of a skirmish between Earth and an alien base on Venus which launches a few flying saucers the attack in the opening. A space station is destroyed by something that looks like 'a Roman ship'. It's up to Professor Takigawa (Ryo Ikebe) to restart the Gohten program, something which was abandoned several years early... but sits waiting to be quickly finished on a hidden island. There are some good destruction scenes as saucers attack, and moments involving alien spies are pretty spooky. However, the bulk of the story is taken up by love triangles and threads about the tragic losses of fighter pilot Jimmy (David Palen) which is all soap opera level stuff.
Some fun model sequences and action set pieces do eventually arrive when the Gohten gets to its destination, but again it feels like the first act of a larger story that never arrives. There are only so many laser gun battles and spaceship dogfights that are fun before it starts to become repetitive. Interesting alien designs (some part Roman Empire others part Wookie) and a great scene involving a ship infiltration aren't enough to keep it moving forward. Atragon worked because there was a more straightforward spy element, a lost kingdom, and a finale involving a dragon, but here it's all a bit too drab and un-involving. There are moments where it shows potential but it never quite gets there.
2/5
