He was a huge monster from across the ocean that was born to be a badass. How he evolved into a giant was a mystery. He seemed to be born from a nuclear blast that made him radiate coolness. After dozens of great film where he terrorized the world, he was finally coming to America to make Manhattan his new conquest. Thus Jean Reno star of Leon was cast as the mysterious Frenchman in 1998’s Godzilla. Jean Reno Vs. Godzilla should have been an international sensation.


What went wrong with this duo facing off? The blame can be laid at the creative tandem of director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin. They want to make a film bigger than Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. They wanted a bigger reptile than his T-Rex. So they went old school and hired Godzilla. They spent more money on this single film than Toho collectively budgeted to make all their rubber suit monster epics. Emmerich and Devlin’s goal was to create the most important and advanced Godzilla film. But they forgot that one important element: a Godzilla that people could embrace. The new Godzilla is more evolutionary correct, but has zero charm. It’s just a big creepy vermin roaming New York City like a radioactive reptilian relative of Donald Trump.

Godzilla doesn’t just start in Manhattan. He has to try out his devastation out of town before hitting Broadway. In this case it’s French Polynesia and Panama that get a minor stomping. A fishing boat gets torn apart in a scale that hadn’t been seen in a Toho film. The hero of the story is supposed to be the nebbish Matthew Broderick. He’s whisked away from his gig investigating radioactive worm to check out the mega-footprints in Panama. He also gets a minor flirt from Vicki Lewis. Where does Jean Reno come into this? He’s a mysterious insurance investigator from France. He’s kinda like Slugworth in Willy Wonka. Broderick is such an utter dweeb, it’s hard to believe he’s supposed to carry the film instead of Reno.

Godzilla finally arrives in New York City and takes that town like Cher at Fleet Week. The local talent includes Michael Lerner (Barton Fink) as a Roger Ebert mayor. He even has an assistant named Gene (Lorry Goldman). They do comic bits about thumbs. It gets old fast. Maria Pitillo is Broderick’s old girlfriend. She stuck working as the assistant to Ted Baxter-esque anchorman (Harry Shearer). Her major pal is a jerkish cameraman (Hank Azaria). They cover Godzilla’s arrival. Later she uses her relationship with Broderick to score exclusives about the big lizard stomping. She wants a career boost in the havoc.

Compared to a majority of Toho’s Godzilla movies, this Godzilla is a masterpiece. The CGI effects are stunning as downtown Manhattan gets torn apart during chases. It has almost everything. This mega-budget entry lacks what made Godzilla enduring to generations of kids watching the Creature Double Feature: a rubber suit and a model train set. The playfulness of the rubber suit fighting is lost on Emmerich and Devlin. There was a joy in seeing the meticulously built model houses getting smashed up by the monsters. At least they chose the right opponent to battle Godzilla with Jean Reno. Just a shame they couldn’t have him hit with a growth ray so it could be a true fight of the foreign cinema superstars.

The video is 2.40:1 anamorphic. The transfer lets all the CGI details shine as the buildings collapse. The Mbps rate averages above 40. The audio is 5.1 DTS-HD MA including dubs in French and Portuguese. The smashing will test your woofer levels. The Spanish dub is only in 5.1 Dolby Digital. The subtitles are in English, Portuguese, French and Spanish.

Commentary Track from the visual effects crew. Supervisior Volker Engle and Associate Karen Goulekas tell us how this effects heavy film came to be composited.

Behind the Scenes of Godzilla with Charles Caiman (6:58) has Harry Shearer hosting the promo package. Everyone seems so optimistic about the film being a blockbuster. They show off a little of the CGI work.

All Time Best of Godzilla Fight Scenes (10:14) is merely a way to show clips from all the Toho monster films distributed by Sony. This is in standard def so it’s not even teasing us of more Blu-ray Godzilla love on the way.

”Heroes” music video with the Wallflowers (4:11) has the band doing a David Bowie cover. They can’t nail the Robert Fripp guitar.

Digital Copy for PSP via your Playstation 3.

The Ultimate Godzilla Multi-player Trivia Game can only be done with BD-Live.

movieIQ allows you to get real-time in-movie information about the cast, crew, music and production. This can only be done with BD-Live.

Godzilla is a major upgrade from the Toho films in terms of budget and effects. But it lacks the goofy heart that makes entries like Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster and King Kong vs. Godzilla memorable. The coolness of Jean Reno makes up for the non-cute monster that Emmerich and Devlin. The best news is that if you want to display outstanding destruction on your 1080p widescreen, this is the perfect mayhem Blu-ray.

Sony Picture Home Entertainment presents Godzilla. Directed by: Roland Emmerich. Starring: Jean Reno, Matthew Broderick and Godzilla. Written by: Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich. Running time: 139 minutes. Rating: PG-13. Released on DVD: Nov. 10, 2009. Available at Amazon.com