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Dom Robinson reviews
Columbia TriStar
- Cat.no: CDR 91739
- Cert: PG
- Running time: 133 minutes
- Year: 1998
- Pressing: 1999
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 28 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English, German (both DD 5.1)
- Subtitles: 15 different languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, 2 * Teaser trailers, Music Video (The Wallflowers – Heroes), Special Effects feature-length running commentary, Filmographies, Director/Producer Biographies, Photo Gallery, Godzilla Takes New York, Behind The Scenes featurette, Animated menus
Director:
- Roland Emmerich
(Independence Day, Stargate, Universal Soldier)
Producer:
- Dean Devlin
(Independence Day, Stargate, Universal Soldier)
Screenplay:
- Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich
Music:
- David Arnold
Cast:
- Dr. Nick Tatopolous: Matthew Broderick (Addicted To Love, Biloxi Blues, The Cable Guy, Family Business, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Freshman, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle, War Games)
Philippe Roache: Jean Reno (The Big Blue, For Roseanna, Leon, Les Visiteurs 1 & 2, Mission: Impossible, Nikita, Subway)
Audrey Timmonds: Maria Pitillo (Bye Bye Love, Chaplin, Natural Born Killers, She Devil, Something To Believe In, True Romance)
Victor “Animal” Palotti: Hank Azaria (The Birdcage, Great Expectations (1997), Heat, Now And Then, Pretty Woman, Quiz Show)
Col. Hicks: Kevin Dunn (Chaplin, Dave, Little Big League, Picture Perfect)
Mayor Ebert: Michael Lerner (Amos and Andrew, Barton Fink, No Escape)
Charles Caiman: Harry Shearer (EDTV, The Fisher King, Godzilla, A League Of Their Own, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Return of Spinal Tap, Small Soldiers, Speechless, The Truman Show, Wayne’s World 2, TV: “Chicago Hope”, “Dream On”, “ER”, “Friends”, “The Simpsons”)
Sgt. O’Neal: Doug Savant (Shaking The Tree, TV: “Melrose Place”)
Godzilla comes with the tag-line Size Does Matter and when it’s brought to the big screen by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the producer/director team of Stargate, Universal Soldier & Independece Day, you can be sure you will not be short-changed in terms of an audio/visual feast. The plot has never been too high on their list of priorities, but there is usually enough to keep things going.
After the huge reptile is bred in the jungles of the South Pacific, thanks to the dodgy French bureaucratic nuclear tests which nearly split the planet apart, Godzilla comes to New York and not just for a day trip, but to breed.
On the discovery trail is scientist Dr. Nick Tatopolous (Matthew Broderick), leader of the kick-ass brigade Philippe Roache (Jean Reno), Nick’s ex-girlfriend Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), chatterbox Victor “Animal” Palotti (Hank Azaria, voice of many Simpsons characters) and leader of the city Mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner). Also involved are Sgt. O’Neal (Doug Savant – token gay character in Melrose Place which a certain satellite TV channel still have the rights to despite refusing to show it) and newsreader Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer – Derek Smalls in This Is Spinal Tap and also the voice of plenty in cult cartoon The Simpsons including millionaire Monty Burns, his grovelling gay assistant Waylon Smithers and newsreader Kent Brockman.)
The picture quality is excellent with only minor artifacts around but barely noticeable and certainly not from the usual viewing distance. Crisp, sharp colours bring the beast to life but I’ll mention more about the special FX later.
The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for higher resolution – and the average bitrate is a good 5.77 Mb/s.
How’s the sound? Devlin and Emmerich have not made a gentle drama here with occasional ambient sounds. Instead they create a monster which makes all manner of sounds – mostly loud – with plenty of bangs and more crashes than Windows 95. The sound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 – which will benefit all of those with the suitable hardware – and Dolby Surround for everyone else.
Extras :
Chapters/Theatrical Trailers : There are 28 chapters, a growing trend for Columbia, spread throughout the 133 mins of the film, so it could use more, the last one being reserved for the end credits. Three trailers are included: one theatrical and two teaser trailers sometimes featuring footage specially shot and not used in the final film.
Languages/Subtitles : There’s two languages on the disc, English and German, both available in Dolby Digital 5.1, with a Dolby surround option also offered in English. As for subtitles? Take your pick from the following FIFTEEN languages : English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, German, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian and Dutch.
Filmographies/Biographies : Brief filmographies are available for Broderic, Reno, Pitillo and Azaria with interesting biographies for Devlin and Emmerich.
Other extras : There’s still scores more to this DVD :
- Music Video: The Wallflowers – Heroes, a cover of the David Bowie classic
- Photo Gallery: Godzilla Takes New York – a series of before and after still-shots when the big G was brought into the scene
- Behind The Scenes featurette: a 7-minute series of clips and interviews presented by “Charles Caiman”.
- A feature length commentary from visual effects supervisor Volker Engel and Karen Goulekas, associate visual effects supervisor, is also available and makes for very engaging listening, such as in chapter 8, I Got a Bite, where the old man reels the reptile in, detailing how such shots were made, which shots were made at a different time-frame to others even though they link together in the film and they point out even the smallest detail such as the removal of the year “1998” on Charles Caiman’s press pass and how it was painted out frame-by-frame since Emmerich decided he didn’t want anyone to associate a particular year with the film.
Menu : The menu is also a triumph. It’s animated and clicking on each option brings a different roar of fire as the picture clears to reveal your selection, which shows what can be done when someone puts the effort into it. On playing the disc you see the Columbia TriStar logo before the main menu appears.
Upon selecting the “Start Movie” option, you’ll first see a “Sony Pictures DVD Center” logo, followed by the Dolby Digital helicopter demo, the copyright logo and then the film itself.
Essentially, this is a big-screen action film which holds together very well, certainly a lot better than Independence Day, which lost its way the minute Will Smith smacked an alien in the face and delivered a dire quip. Couple this with a near-perfect picture quality, enough sound to shake the walls and plenty of extras which shows that such a practice can be utilised when studios’ get their act together.
Overall, this film isn’t the sort to win Oscars for acting – and I’m surprised it didn’t even get nominated for special effects – but this DVD has to be one of the year’s best and comes recommended wholeheartedly from me.
FILM : **** PICTURE QUALITY: ****½ SOUND QUALITY: ***** EXTRAS: ***** ——————————- OVERALL: *****
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.