Godzilla (1997 Film)

Godzilla Also Known As James Cameron's Godzilla In Some Of The Marketing Is A 1997 Japanese/American Kaiju Film Directed By James Cameron.

Godzilla
Directed By	James Cameron
Produced By	James Cameron, Jon Landau, Stephanie Austin, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy
Music By	Hans Zimmer
Production Company	The Kennedy/Marshall Company
Distributed By	Paramount Pictures, (United States) 20th Century Fox, (International) Toho (Japan)
Runtime	130 Minutes
Rating	PG-13

Plot

In 1954, A Giant, Dinosaur-Like Monster Named Godzilla Attacked Tokyo And Nearly Destroyed The City. 

Then In 1997, After Some Sightings Of The Beast Through Out The Years, The Creature Rises From The Ocean And Attacks A Whaling Ship. Then, Godzilla Arrives To Ravage The American East Coast. As A Result, More Monsters Appear, The Monsters Include: Baragon, Varan, Anguirus, Kumonga, And King Ghidorah. Meanwhile, Godzilla Attacks New York. The Military Tries Everything, But The Beast Destroys The Army, And Burns Down The City With His Atomic Breath, Leaving It To A Smoky Ruin. The Next Day In Upstate New York, Baragon And Kumonga Fight Godzilla, But Are Killed. 

Meanwhile, In Washington Dc, The President Orders A Nationwide Evacuation Because Godzilla Is Going To Destroy The Entire Country In The Coming Months. Then, Godzilla Rampages In The Small Town In Massachusetts Where He Does His First Fight With King Ghidorah. The Two Monsters Fight With Equal Strength, Each Monster Is Immune To The Attacks They Do, Then, The Three Headed Dragon Retreats. Then, Godzilla Heads Off To Attack Pittsburgh And Burns And Destroys The The City To The Ground. 

In Ohio, Godzilla Encounters The Gotengo And Nearly Destroys It, Then The Military Arrives And Opens Fire, But Godzilla Kills The Forces. Then, Anguirus And Varan Engage Godzilla When He Reaches Cleveland. The Two Monsters Are Later Joined By Baragon Who Was Resurrected By A Lightning Bolt. The Three Monsters Fight Godzilla, Destroying Buildings And Crushing Cars. Then, At Sunrise, As The Four Monsters Continue To Battle, King Ghidorah Returns, The Four Monsters Fight Ghidorah, Who Is Killed By Godzilla And Others, The Dragon Falls To The Death Into The Waters Of Lake Erie. Then, The Four Monsters Are Attacked By The Gotengo And Godzilla Is Defeated, For Now...The

Post Credits Scene

Godzilla Reawakens And Hears A Bear-like Roar. Then, The King Of The Monsters Roars Back, Possibly Leading To The Sequel.

Cast

• Tom Cruise As Davis Grant

• Cary Elwes As Dr. Johnson Martinez

• Michael Clarke Duncan As Vinny Davis

• Russell Means As Professor "Honda" Tyler

• Tia Carrere As Amanda Martinez

• L. Scott Caldwell As Julianne

• Mae Whitman As Tina

• Morgan Freeman As The President

• Earl Boen As Preston Holland

• Sissy Spacek As Lisa

• Todd Graff As John

• Richard Harris As David

• Ray Winstone As Terry 

• Frank Welker (Creature Vocals)

• Neve Campbell As Alyssa

• Clara Thomas As Tina's Sister, linda

• Hiroyuki Sanada As Masaki

• Masami Horiuchi As Boat Driver

• Victor Banerjee As A Running Pittsburgh Citizen

• Frances Cuka As Screaming Lady

• Carlos Carrasco As News Reporter

Effects And Creature Design

James Cameron Wanted A Godzilla Film That Can Use Various Effects. Stan Winston Was Hired To Do Animatronics, Phil Tippet Was Hired To Maje Stop Motion Puppets Of The Monsters, & Suits Where Made By Toho Themselves. Cameron Wanted Godzilla To Be A Neutral Force Of Nature And More Dinosaur-like. Godzilla's Color Scheme Was Grey Mixed With Black, With Blue Spots Of Bioluminescnence When Godzilla Is Underwater Or Uses His Atomic Breath.  The Jurassic Park Velociraptor And Tyrannosaurus Where Both A Inspiration Of Godzilla In Terms Of His Head And Tail. It Is Unknown Of How The Other Kaiju Where Inspired, Cameron Just Siad That: "All Of The Monsters In The Film Will Be Inspired By Other Monsters."

For The Sound Effects, Godzilla Was Given His Roars From The 1960s And 70s. With Some Mixed With Crocodile Hissing, & Big Cat Roars, Along With The Roars Of The "Sharptooth" Tyrannosaurus From The Land Before Time, All Performed By Frank Welker. For Varan, High Pitched Jurassic Park Velociraptor Sheiks And Komodo Dragon Hissings Gave Varan A More Reinvented Roar. For Anguirus, His Roars Are The Same, But Bull Sounds Where Also Added, For Baragon, His Roars Are Leopard Snarls Mixed With Crocodile Hissing, This Roar Would Later Be Used For Baragon In GMK. For Ghidorah, A Modified Rodan Roar Was Used With His Showa Roar, It Would Later Be Used For The Godzilla Anime Series. For Kumonga, His Original Roar Is Mixed With Cougar Roars And Snake Hissing. 

Kaiju

• Godzilla

• King Ghidorah

• Varan 

• Anguirus

• Baragon

• Kumonga

Release

Shortly After Production Wrapped Up In June 1996, A Short Teaser Was Shown In Selected Screenings Of Independence Day. (1996) In January 1997, During The Super Bowl XXXI, Another Teaser Trailer Was Shown, Getting A Extremely Positive Reaction By Fans. Crushed Cars Where Dotted Around New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, And Many Japanese Cities As A Part Of A Guerilla Advertising Campaign. 

Then A Month Or So Before The Film Was Released, The Merchandising Campaign Started, Some Of The Merchandise Included A Video Game For The PS1, A Toy Line By Mattel, McDonald's "Monster Sized Meals," And A Junior Novelization For Children. Burger king Had A Kids Meal With Figures Based On The Monsters That Appear In The Film. Nestlé Even Made Godzilla-Themed Candies. The First Premiere Of Godzilla Was Held On April 29, 1997 At The Grand Rex Theater In Paris, France. The Film Had A Nation Wide Release In May 2, 1997. 

The Film's VHS Release Was August 1997, And The DVD Was Released On June, 2001.

Soundtrack

The Soundtrack For James Cameron's Godzilla Was Composed By Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer's Versions Of Akira Ifukube's Scores From Godzilla Films Made Zimmer Win A Music Award. The Soundtrack Is Sorta Similar To Mission Impossible 2, But Without The M:I Theme. Lisa Gerrard Provided Vocal Cues For Certain Tracks. Zimmer And Gerrard Would Later Work On Gladiator And Mission Impossible 2.

Reception

Godzilla Received Positive Reviews From Fans And Critics, Rotten Tomatoes Reported That 91% Of Critics Gave Godzilla A Positive Review. While Metacritic Gave The Film 9/10. 

Video Game

A Video Game Was Released To Co-Inside With The Film's Release, Called Godzilla: Fighting Championship, It Is For The PS1. It's A Fighting Game Based On The Film, You Can Play As The Monsters That Appear In The Film, As Well As Other Monsters That Appear In The Toho Films.

Legacy

The Film Was A So Successful That It Had A Animated Series, Godzilla: The Animated Series, Toho Considers The Godzilla Design, Known As "Camerongoji" A Official Godzilla Incarnation. The Film Won A Few Oscar Awards For Best Effects, Best Acting, And Best Director. The Film Is Loved By Sci-fi And Godzilla Fans Alike. 

Cinematography And Editing

Shelley Johnson Was Hired To Do Cinematography For The Film's Human And Monster Scenes. Michael Kahn And Chizuko Osada Where Hired To Edit The Film. 

Toyline

Both The Film And The Animated Series Received A Toyline By Mattel. The Toyline Features Action Figures Based On The Characters And Monsters In The Film. (And Series) 

Examples Of The Toyline Figures

• Ultimate Godzilla Figure

• Micro Battle Sets

• Poseable Heads King Ghidorah

• Stomp 'N' Bite Godzilla

• Ramming Baragon

• Tail Slash Anguirus

• Electronic Roar Godzilla

• Electronic Roar Kumonga

• Electronic Roar Ghidorah

• Hatching Monster Eggs

Trivia

• This Godzilla Film Marks The First Godzilla Film To Be Made By A Hollywood Studio. 

• In Earlier Drafts Of The File, Godzilla Was Originally Going To Be Created By Scientists, But Cameron Instead Used His 1954 Origins.

• The Logo Is Similar To The 1998 Film, But Is Blue.

• Hans Zimmer's Score Of The Film Is Similar To His Later Work In Mission Impossible 2, (But Not Really The Same, Just A Bit) And The Godzilla Theme Is Similar To Godzilla's Theme From GMK. (2001)

• CGI, Stop Motion, Animatronics, And Even Suits Where Used For The Film, The Reason Why It Earned An Oscar For Best Effects.

• In Earlier Drafts, Mothra And Rodan Where Considered, But Where Removed From The Film For Unknown Reasons, But The Two Monsters Would Appear In The Animated Series.

• According To James Cameron, The Events Of Godzilla, (1954) Godzilla Raids Again, (1955) Rodan, (1956) Varan, The Unbelievable, (1958) Mothra, (1961) Mothra Vs Godzilla, (1964) War Of The Gargantuas, (1966) Godzilla Vs Hedorah, (1971) Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla, (1974) Godzilla 1985, (1984/85) & Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla (1993) Happened In The Timeline Of The Film.

• The Toyline By Mattel Is Similar To The Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Toyline By The Same Company, But Has Godzilla Monsters Instead Of Dinosaurs. 

• Godzilla Was Not Created By The Atomic Bombs, But Was Awakened By Them During His 10 Million Year Hibernation.

Gallery

Logo

Promotional Silhouette

Godzilla

King Ghidorah

Anguirus

Kumonga

Varan

Baragon