GODZILLA 2000: MILLENNIUM
(Gojira Nisen Mireniamu)
December 11, 1999
As Godzilla continually rampages across Japan, the government seeks to destroy him while a research team attempts to study him. Soon a bigger threat emerges after a floating rock emerges from the sea, reveals itself as an alien spacecraft and takes a particularly dangerous interest in Godzilla.
Despite being a box office success, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla received overwhelming scorn from critics and fans alike.
With Tomoyuki Tanaka's death in 1998, Shogo Tomiyama took over his duties as executive producer at Toho Studios. Their original plan was to end the Godzilla series after 1995's Godzilla vs. Destoroyah and keep the series dormant for about 10 years. But now, their star's reputation had been damaged and Toho had to act quickly.
Thus a new series of films began that would come to be known as the Millennium Series.
What's unique about the films in the Millennium Series is that each entry (with one exception) takes place in its own separate continuity only following the original 1954 Godzilla, making it essentially a "What If...?" style series. Godzilla 2000: Millennium is probably the most basic "a second Godzilla appears after the original died in 1954" set-up. Several crew members from the Heisei films would return to work on this movie, including director Takao Okawara and special effects director, Kenji Suzuki.
But an even more dramatic change came with the skin color. Instead of the traditional charcoal grey, Godzilla is now colored dark green. After many years of Godzilla being colored green in US marketing and the Hanna Barbara cartoon, it's crazy to see Japan officially make Godzilla green and on top of that, his Atomic Breath is now orange, another staple of Godzilla marketing now made official.
Also, Godzilla's dorsal fins are tinted purple. An odd choice, but it complements the green very well. Overall I love this Godzilla design very much, it easily fits in my top 5.
Stepping into the new suit was stunt actor, Tsutomu Kitagawa, who spent most of his career acting in various Super Sentai shows and playing his fair share of monsters before taking on the mantle of the King of the Monsters. Kitagawa does an great job in his first outing as Godzilla, doing his best to give him unique personality traits such as him flinging his head back before unleashing his Atomic Breath and despite the face being mostly expressionless, you can still tell what Godzilla is thinking through subtle movements.
Our main characters consist of Shinoda and his daughter Io (Takehiro Murata & Mayu Suzuki), who head the Godzilla Prediction Network. Accompanying them is the whiny but endearing photographer Yuki (Naomi Nishida)
It's quite interesting to have a group that essentially act like storm chasers, but instead of a tornado, they chase Godzilla. Shinoda also makes an interesting discovery regarding Godzilla's invulnerability. In addition to his thick skin, he also possesses a rapid healing factor, which is named Organizer G1 (Regenerator G1 in the English dub.)
An interesting concept of this film is the dynamic philosophy it presents. In many ways it feels like a continuation of those seen in the first Godzilla, the study vs. destroy debate. Shinoda and the Godzilla Prediction Network is on the study side, while the government agency, Crisis Control Intelligence led by Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe) is on the destroy side. Katagiri both looks and talks like he's one bad day away from becoming a super villain. In the middle of the conflict is the character of Miyasaka (Shiro Sano), Shinoda's old friend who works for the CCI tasked with studying the UFO.
This new film sees a warm return to suits and miniature sets, along with the addition of several CGI effects. Most of the time they're fine but other uses can be quite noticeable. The worst effect in the movie by far is a green screen shot of Godzilla walking out of the ocean and onto the shore with superimposed helicopters.
The new score by Takayuki Hattori while good in it's own right, doesn't always lend itself well to the action scenes and can feel a bit too repetitive.
For the first films of the past series, Godzilla would always be solo. This time, Godzilla would face a foe. Not just a spacecraft, but a new alien creature named Orga (Makoto Ito). Orga is an attempt to produce a duplicate of Godzilla gone horribly wrong ending up more like a hulking, Xenomorph-like, brute. I don't know if there was any talks or pressure to use an established monster, but I'm personally glad they went with an original creation. Orga is a fine addition to Toho's roster.
Orga was designed in part to resemble the 1998 Godzilla.
This would not be last time these movies would have a dig at that tuna eating monster.
After fans were robbed of a monster clash due to the hypocritical cheapness of studio heads, it must have been refreshing to see Godzilla and Orga go head to head with each other. The fight isn't a fast paced one, it's a wrestling match with biting, clawing and atomic blasting. Orga having absorbed Godzilla's DNA with his healing factor makes him a formidable opponent and actually forces Godzilla to use a rather unconventional method of attack by round 3.
"...there was a great fear in the fandom that we were going to treat this the way some of the Jackie Chan movies have been treated. Ya know, rip out half an hour and slap some rap and metal onto the soundtrack and I said 'No, we're going to respect the integrity of this movie as much as we can.' We really didn't cut any major scenes out we really just tightened it..."
-Michael Schlesinger, head writer/producer for "Godzilla 2000"
Godzilla 2000: Millennium would be picked up by Sony for distribution in the United States, with the title shortened to simply "Godzilla 2000." This led to unintentional confusion among moviegoers who thought it was a sequel to the 1998 film. Even more maddening is the fact that whenever the subject of Godzilla 2000 gets brought up, many will assume I'm talking about the 1998 film. I have to correct people every time and I have to wonder if it's ever going to end...
The changes made to Godzilla 2000 were not as drastic as the films distributed in the past.
The changes that stand out the most have to do with the sound of the movie. Much of the score and sound effects were redone. The new music pieces by J. Peter Robinson are quite good and in some cases actually enhance the movie, he even included some classic Akira Ifukube scores for good measure. The added/enhanced sound effects are good, but just like most US reedits of Godzilla films, they always have to have him constantly roaring. It wouldn't be so bad if they at least kept the roars consistent. Along with the new roar created by Toho, samples of the 1998 roar were inserted in, despite Schlesinger's claims that they didn't...sure Jan.
Implementing an English language dub was obvious, most of the voice actors do a great job and don't sound too over the top. There are a few lines thrown in just for a fun campy value, in particular the heavy metal missile scene where one of the generals states: "I guarantee it'll go through Godzilla like crap through a goose!" Good stuff.
Also 9 minutes of more or less establishing shots were removed for the film to help speed up the pace.
Godzilla 2000 was the last Godzilla film released theatrically in the United States to be substantially edited on August 17, 2000. I didn't even know about it until one of my classmates came up to me knowing how much of a fan I was and asking me "Hey are you going to see Godzilla 2000?" I was confused, until he showed me a full page advertisement for it in one of his gaming magazines. Then trailers started playing on TV complete with Don Lafontaine narration, Rob Zombie music and even Michael Buffer shouting: "GET READY TO CRUMBLE!!!"
Implementing an English language dub was obvious, most of the voice actors do a great job and don't sound too over the top. There are a few lines thrown in just for a fun campy value, in particular the heavy metal missile scene where one of the generals states: "I guarantee it'll go through Godzilla like crap through a goose!" Good stuff.
Also 9 minutes of more or less establishing shots were removed for the film to help speed up the pace.
Godzilla 2000 was the last Godzilla film released theatrically in the United States to be substantially edited on August 17, 2000. I didn't even know about it until one of my classmates came up to me knowing how much of a fan I was and asking me "Hey are you going to see Godzilla 2000?" I was confused, until he showed me a full page advertisement for it in one of his gaming magazines. Then trailers started playing on TV complete with Don Lafontaine narration, Rob Zombie music and even Michael Buffer shouting: "GET READY TO CRUMBLE!!!"
It was one of the few Godzilla movies released stateside in my lifetime and sadly, I never got to see it. No theater close to my vicinity was showing it.
Then one day, my parents came home with a bunch of movies on DVD from the Walmart $5 movie bin and one of them was Godzilla 2000. 10 year old me was ecstatic beyond belief. The DVD was also the first time I discovered the wonderful world of DVD audio commentaries. I actually really like the English dubbed version of Godzilla 2000. This is actually one of the odd rare cases where many fans prefer the dub to the original version, I don't know if I'd place myself in that camp. But I will say both versions have their merit and deserve to coexist as watchable options.
Godzilla 2000: Millennium isn't the best film of the Millennium series and overall it probably ranks as one of the mid-tier films for a lot of fans. But I find it to be a good comfort movie, to me it's the equivalent of eating McDonald's fries, you know there are better options, but on the right day it slaps like nothing else.
Back then, this movie was needed after so many were disappointed by how the 1998 film turned out. Toho came and patted us on the shoulder saying it was gonna be alright, this was only the start of the new and interesting direction Godzilla would go in the following years.
Back then, this movie was needed after so many were disappointed by how the 1998 film turned out. Toho came and patted us on the shoulder saying it was gonna be alright, this was only the start of the new and interesting direction Godzilla would go in the following years.
Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and thank you for joining me here in my lair.
So long...
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