After the terrible flop of the American Godzilla in 1998, Toho did the right thing and followed the old law of "take the money and run". They did just that, and two years later, released what has to be one of THE best Godzilla movie of all time!!
The story revolves around the findings of an ancient meteor at the bottom of the sea. After some hi-tech corporation ass decides to raise it, he unknowingly "re-awakens" it. Meanwhile, Godzilla is up to his old tricks of stomping buildings and pissing off the military. Of particular note is the beginning of the film, when Godzilla comes inland. During his stomp, the power goes off, and all you see is a huge silouhette of Godzilla looming over the city. The real Godzilla has returned, baby!!
After some typical scientific research, it is learned that the alien (named Orga) wants to use the powers of Godzilla to "re-boot" the Earth for its own living environment. In other words, get our planet ready for others like it to live there. Word travels fast, and Godzilla doesn't take kindly to other mosnters pissing on the same tree he is. An uber-huge battle ensues at the end, and it's one of the best monster battles I have seen in a long time (the other being the final showdown between Godzilla and Biollante). In the end, Godzilla uses some logic and intelligence to beat Orga, and sends a stern warning to humankind about screwing around with genetics and bio-engineering.
The actors were great. The monsters were superb. Godzilla's new look is one I hope they keep for a long time. It kicked the American Godzilla's ass so bad. If this is what the "next chapter" of Godzilla movies will be like, then now is a great time to be a Godzilla fan!
SHINODA
Shinoda is the dad of Io, and the main science guy in the movie. He's a single dad, caught between trying to raise Io, and trying to work the Godzilla Prediction Network. In the end, it seems Io is the one raising him (ala "No, she takes care of me"). Shinoda is a cool character, who shows no love-loss with Yuki. He shows a brass side towards Tagagiri, and that makes him one of the better human characters in Godzilla movies.
IO
Io is Shinoda's daughter, and she has bigger balls than Godzilla himself. She doesn't piss around at all, and she goes toe-to-toe with Yuki on more than one instance. I might be talking rather rudely about a nine-year-old (or however old she is), but Io is easily the best human chacater in the film. It's great they gave this character to a little girl, and the girl who plays Io does it perfectly. She's smart, she handles the GPN as good as Shinoda, and she's got an attitude you can't help but like.
YUKI
Yuki's a rather confusing sort of character. It's hard to decide whether one wants to embrace her in romance, or simply adhere to Shinoda's advice and stangle her. She can be appealing one minute, then downright annoying the next. However, either wya, she's perky, and adds a new element to the Godzilla movies. She views Shinoda and Io as "freaks" at first. But, as she spends more time around them, you almost get the sense that she's starting to fall for Shinoda (maybe it's just me).
TAGAGIRI, HEAD OF CCI
Tagagiri is the "bad guy" of the movie (if there is such a thing in Godzilla movies). He's in control of the CCI (Crisis Control Institute), a rival network to the GPN (Godzilla Prediction Network). Tagagiri and Shinoda used to work togther, but they split over differences in how to approach Godzilla. Shinoda seeks to analyze Godzilla, while Tagagiri wants to put a hole in his head. Tagagiri is a bad-ass (as bad-ass as a corporate big-wig can be). In the end, Tagagiri gets his when he goes face-to-face with Godzilla. It's a shame he didn't go face-to-face with Io; she would have laid the smack down on him!
MIASAKA
Every Godzilla movie seems to have that one guy you just want to shoot. Miasaka is that guy. Anytime he opens his mouth, I just want to slap the taste right out of it. He's pointless, annoying, and does nothing but whine about "the good old days". Miasaka is Tagagiri's right hand man, and corporate ass-kisser. He also worked with Shinoda and Tagagiri back in the day. While Miasaka does try to redeem himself throughout the movie, you you wish he would just go stand under Godzilla feet and get it over with. He's also about as dumb as a brick. Case in point: Man tells Miasaka "don't just stand there, move the boat!" What does Miasaka do? You got it...
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