History Awesome / Godzilla1998

** [[ColonelBadass Colonel]] [[AFatherToHisMen Hicks]] is awesome in an understated and professional way. For all his initial bluster, he's competent, clear-headed, and genuinely cares for his men, reacting with surprising anger and frustration when he loses them. He's also determined to protect New York and neutralize the threat Godzilla presents, regardless of interfering bureaucrats.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/godzilla_1998_awesome.jpg]]

** This Godzilla really is quite a decent {{kaiju}} in its own right. [[MadeOfIron He's durable, if not actually ''entirely'' immune to human weaponry]]. [[TheJuggernaut He's strong enough to cause major destruction to anything in his way]]. [[ItCanThink He's surprisingly intelligent]]. [[LightningBruiser He's quick, agile]] and, thanks to his hermaphroditic egg-laying, poses the threat of creating more of his kind. If it wasn't for the part where it's supposed to be Godzilla, the monster itself probably would have had a better reception (and indeed, countries with less of an idea of what Godzilla is supposed to be ''did'' tend to think better of the movie and its monster).

* Admit it. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-PbQpzfo9w&feature=youtube_gdata_player You thought the cab chase was awesome.]]

** The whole 'Godzilla falls to Missiles' really isn't a detraction. The kind he was up against is one of the strongest conventional missiles, able to sink a warship with just ''one'' missile. He took ''twelve''. SO in a way it's a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
** This Godzilla really is quite a decent kaiju in its own right -- durable if not actually ''entirely'' immune to human weaponry, strong enough to cause major destruction to anything in its way, surprisingly intelligent, quick and agile, and thanks to the hermaphroditic egg-laying poses the threat of creating more of itself. If it wasn't for the part where it's supposed to be Godzilla the monster itself probably would have had a better reception (and indeed, countries with less of an idea of what Godzilla is supposed to be ''did'' tend to think better of the movie and its monster).
** Really, while the movie does have its flaws, if the filmmakers hadn't named it Godzilla and had given the beast its own identity, it might have been more well-received.

* Animal actually chasing down Godzilla, not only managing to catch the creature on camera but also survived being ''stepped on''! Well, ok, only just barely avoided being stepped on. But still.

* Godzilla's intelligence is really shown in this film, particularly in one scene. After being shot when going for the first military booby trap, he learns his mistake. When a second fish booby trap is set up, Godzilla realizes he sees the spotlights, and instead of going for the fish, he leaves. He's smart enough to not fall for the same trap twice!

** [[ColonelBadass Colonel]] [[AFatherToHisMen Hicks]] is pretty much this trope, if in an understated, professional way. For all his initial bluster, he's competent, clear-headed, and genuinely cares for his men, reacting with surprising anger and frustration when he loses them. He's also determined to protect New York and neutralize the threat Godzilla presents, regardless of interfering bureaucrats.
--->'''[[ObstructiveBureaucrat Mayor Ebert:]]''' You don't have the authority to do that!\\

* Phillipe Roche is this incarnate. Doubly so for (along with his men) utterly averting the CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys trope.
** Doubly (quadruply?) so when Roche decides to stay behind with his men in the nest, [[HoldTheLine holding the hatchlings in place]] long enough for an airstrike to destroy it. To a man, none of them blink when he gives the order. It's not their country, and it's all to correct a mistake their own made ''decades'' before, but it doesn't matter: they're willing to ''die'' fighting a legion of baby kaiju, if that's what it takes to get the job done.
* Audrey, Nick, Animal, and Phillipe calling in an air strike directly on their heads. Made doubly awesome in the fact that they had to contact the military by cutting into live TV coverage, making it Audrey's first (and at that point, likely LAST) TV news reporting appearance; and that it rubs it into the military's nose that Nick was right about the nest all along. Further awesome that if they hadn't done so the human race would likely have been extinct in a few years.
* While a small moment, it was most satisfying to watch Audrey finally stand up to her boss Mr. Caiman near the end of the film.

--> [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Mayor Ebert:]] You don't have the authority to do that!
--> Colonel Hicks: Try and stop me!

** The whole 'Godzilla falls to Missiles' really isn't a detraction. The kind he was up against is one of the strongest conventional missiles, able to sink a warship with just ''one'' missile. He took ''twelve''. SO in a way its a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
** This Godzilla really is quite a decent kaiju in its own right -- durable if not actually ''entirely'' immune to human weaponry, strong enough to cause major destruction to anything in its way, surprisingly quick and agile, and thanks to the hermaphroditic egg-laying poses the threat of creating more of itself. If it wasn't for the part where it's supposed to be Godzilla the monster itself probably would have had a better reception (and indeed, countries with less of an idea of what Godzilla is supposed to be ''did'' tend to think better of the movie and its monster).

* Audrey, Nick, Animal, and Phillipe calling in an air strike directly on their heads. Made doubly awesome in the fact that they had to contact the military by cutting into live TV coverage, making it Audrey's first (and at that point, likely LAST) TV news reporting appearance; and that it rubs it into the military's nose that Nick was right about the nest all along. Further awesome that if they hadn't done so the human race would likely have been extinct in a few years.

* Animal actually chasing down Godzilla, not only managing to catch the creature on camera but also survived being ''stepped on''.

** The whole 'Godzilla falls to Missiles' really isn't a detraction. The kind he was up against is one of the strongest conventional missiles, able to sink a warship with just ''one'' missile. He took ''nine''. SO in a way its a DyingMomentOfAwesome.

* Phillipe Roche is this incarnate. Doubly so for (along with his men) utterly averting the CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys trope.

** 'Zilla' really is quite a decent kaiju in its own right -- durable if not actually ''entirely'' immune to human weaponry, strong enough to cause major destruction to anything in its way, surprisingly quick and agile, and thanks to the hermaphroditic egg-laying poses the threat of creating more of itself. If it wasn't for the part where it's supposed to be Godzilla the monster itself probably would have had a better reception (and indeed, countries with less of an idea of what Godzilla is supposed to be ''did'' tend to think better of the movie and its monster).

* Despite all the criticism, this version of Godzilla's [[LightingBruiser maneuverability]] and [[ItCanThink guile]] is impressive to say the least.

* Admit it. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-PbQpzfo9w&feature=youtube_gdata_player You thought the cab chase was awesome.]]
* Phillipe Roche is this incarnate. Doubly so for (along with his men) utterly averting the [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys]] trope.