Disclaimer: Nope, this
is not a religious article. So before you start blaming the current government,
read it!
Disclaimer: If there
are spoilers, I don’t care.
1998 August: I was fresh out of college, thrust into the cruel
corporate world in Chennai – a place known amongst many other things for the
huge (and mostly ugly) cut-out posters of Tamil movies dotting the pavements of
Mount Road. This time around, there was a surprise addition – an English movie!
The huge poster proclaimed that his eyeball was larger than the dome of the Taj
Mahal. “Size deos matter”, it screamed! The world was waiting for Godzilla.
Godzilla strutted and screamed, grabbing the lion’s share in the destruction of
New York, from Armageddon and Deep Impact. These were the days before subtitles
made their appearance in English movies. Since we wouldn't be able to comprehend the conversations on the screen, all we were interested in were the visual
effects and they were not disappointing (probably the only stuff that Roland
Emmerich knows to do).
Fifteen years later (more-or-less) comes another Godzilla –
literally “another”, for he has undergone a complete identity change from 1998.
The French are no longer responsible for his creation. Apparently he is a
prehistoric alpha predator who was sleeping somewhere in the depths of the
planet, awakened through deep sea exploration. All the so-called nuclear tests
conducted by America were actually to kill this guy. And yes, he is apparently
a “HE” and not the he/she thing that can reproduce on his/her own to produce
more he/she-lings than could fit into Madison Square Garden.
We have a Fukushima(-like) accident, when a nuclear power
plant in the Japanese town of Janjira is destroyed by acquaintances of Godzilla
– a massive cockroach-like winged creature that hatched out a mine (christened
MUTO - Massive Unidentified something-something by the Americans). He feeds on
nuclear radiation and communicates with his girlfriend in the US through
electromagnetic pulses. Unfortunately
for them, Godzilla eavesdrops on them and is determined to nip their romance.
As the intelligent Japanese doctor says, “Gojira” is nature’s way of restoring
balance.
So, we have a male MUTO flying fast towards the American
mainland, with a brief stop-over at Honolulu to destroy everything – expect the
dog, who takes one look at the impending danger, barks and runs away. The
female trudges along towards the coast, laying waste to Las Vegas in the
process. The viewer is left to wonder whether the visual effects team was
watching “Starship Troopers” while designing these creatures. Then there’s also
Godzilla, speeding towards the shore with an armada of battleships in escort.
The MUTOs feed on radiation – so much that he swoops down
from the sky to grab nuclear missiles, like a pelican diving into the water to
grab a fish. The military decides to lure them off-shore with a nuclear missile
(are we ever surprised?) and finish them off while the intelligent Japanese
doctor keeps insisting that Godzilla will finish the job for them.
Refreshingly, the monsters spare New York from destruction.
It is the turn of San Francisco to bear the brunt. Since there is no Statue of
Liberty in San Francisco, we see Godzilla take out a portion of the Golden Gate
Bridge for no apparent reason, before heading inland to kill the mating MUTOs.
Godzilla boasts of a stellar star cast including Bryan
Cranston, Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn and Juliet Binoche, who have nothing
much to do. Aaron Taylor Johnson is no different. For most part of the movie,
he just needs to keep staring ahead though Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen make a
fine pair, as if they were twins - oh wait! That’s for next year. But then the
two cockroaches and a dinosaur are enough to make up for everything.
In a finale where one can mostly see smoke, dust and
darkness, we finally realize that Godzilla has vanquished the MUTOs. He
heroically swims off into the sunrise, as people hail him as “Saviour of the
City”.
In the end it took the monster to save the city. Where were
the Gods? As they say in our local lingo, “Gods illa?”
No…I wouldn’t watch a re-run of this.
