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Released by: Sony
Released on: September 9th, 2014.
Director: Takao Okawara
Cast: Hiroshi Kashiwabara, Wataru Mimura
Year: 1999
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The Movie:
After killing off Godzilla in GODZILLA VS. DESTROYAH to make way for the disastrous 1998 Roland Emmerich reboot, the legendary Toho studios were left with the unenviable task of resurrecting and rehabilitating the famous beast. And while GODZILLA 2000 remains a fair-to-middling effort in the overall Godzilla canon, it is an entertaining film and most importantly manages to bring some genuine fun back to the franchise. Sony's Blu-ray also brings both the American and Japanese versions to HD.
The film centers around two organizations dubbed the Godzilla Prediction Network and Crisis Control Intelligence. The first outfit is tasked with tracking Godzilla and is headed by Professor Yuji Shinoda (Takehiro Murata) while the latter is run by the film's nominal bad guy Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe). The film opens with a bang as the titular monster is seen attacking a lighthouse installation off the coast of Japan. Professor Yuji is on the case though as his equipment has put him onto Godzilla's location. Traveling with his daughter Iyo (Mayu Suzuki) as well as a slightly annoying photographer named Yuki Ichinose (Naomi Nishida), the group nearly get squashed when the monster is enraged by their approach. Meanwhile, Shinoda's agency has discovered a suspicious looking large rock on the sea bed in the area. When Shinoda and his crew extricate the rock and attempt to bring it to the surface it suddenly comes to life and flies away. Turns out the rock is actually an alien life form that initially manifests itself as a UFO and later as a monster known as Orga. And Orga isn't nice. But as Godzilla approaches a nuclear power plant and the military attempt to take him down, the threat from the UFO becomes greater than the giant lizard. Perhaps Godzilla should take care of Orga before any attempts to annihilate him?
The plot of GODZILLA 2000 revolves around a series of shopworn but effective devices. The first is the two bickering agencies - one that wants to study the monster and figure out a more peaceful way to deal with it (GPN) and the other that wants to utterly destroy it (that'd be CCI). There is also the adorable but precocious child on board and the nagging but cute female "team" member that banters with the stalwart male hero. There is also a whole bunch of unnecessarily complicated plot contrivances based around Orga's ability to absorb DNA as it fights Godzilla.
But let's be frank. You came here for the monster battles, general beast action and bloodless but epic rampages, right? On that front, GODZILLA 2000 does pretty well. This is goofy fun in all its rubber suited glory when it is firing on all cylinders. The movie drags in the center and has some pacing issues (which are tightened up in the superior American edit) but overall it works as light entertainment. The acting is decent in both versions and the dubbing is a far cry quality-wise in the American edit from the atrocious early days of the series.
As noted on the excellent audio commentary provided for the English version (ported from the previous DVD), the Godzilla series at this point was firmly rooted in the family fare category. As such, there is a quite a bit of corny dialog and the violence is never upsetting in any real way. But that's part of the charm, and one of the nice things about GODZILLA 2000 is that it recaptures some of that silly spirit that made these movies so fun back in the day when folks caught them on afternoon TV matinees.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Sony brings GODZILLA 2000 to Blu ray with two distinctly different transfers on one disc. The first is the Japanese cut in an AVC encode framed at 2.35.1 while the USA version's AVC encode displays at 2.40.1 - an almost imperceptible difference. But while the framing is similar the actual transfers aren't. As should be readily noted in the screen caps below, the US version has far stronger color grading and image detail. Black levels are also better. The Japanese cut is far weaker in the color department with red hues taking the worst beating. The Japanese cut is a passable but weak transfer while the USA cut is an acceptable transfer and the recommended initial viewing choice (especially since I consider it the more effective cut of the film). Even the weaker Japanese transfer is a step above the previous DVD however. And both prints are in generally clean condition with no distracting marks or scratches. The HD experience here won't win any awards but it is perfectly watchable.
The Japanese and English audio tracks are presented in DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo and DTS-HD 5.1 respectively. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH and French for both versions. Overall fidelity and sound balance are good on both tracks with the English one winning out due to effective but non-gimmicky use of the surround field. Crashing rocks, weapon fire and Godzilla's footfalls also get a nice boost from the LFE action on the English track.
A Japanese theatrical trailer and very short (two minutes) behind the scenes piece are included as extras but the main event is the audio commentary that plays over the American version of the film. Featuring editor Mike Mahoney, sound editor Darren Pascal and writer/producer Michael Schleshinger, this commentary is an essential listen for fans of the film. Schleshinger does most of the talking but he's engaging and extremely informative. The three participants walk us through the various changes and edits they made to the film to help tighten it up as well as improve things like sound effects. There is also a great deal of info about the dubbing process and dialog changes and continuity errors that were caught and fixed. Listening to the track really does give the viewer an added appreciation for the American cut.
The Final Word:
Fans of GODZILLA 2000 should be pleased with this release. The movie itself is middle-tier fun but worthwhile. And while the A/V is slightly weak to erratic it's never an unwatchable presentation - especially in the superior English version. This is also a rare case where I prefer the American edit and the fact that that transfer is noticeably superior to its Japanese counterpart is a plus. While light on extras, the audio commentary is unusually strong and the price point on the disc agreeable. Recommended for Godzilla fans.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps from the English version!
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps from the Japanese version!
