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1!!!'''[[SimilarlyNamedWorks You may be looking]] for the original 1954 film, ''Film/Godzilla1954'', the 1984 film, ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'', or the second American remake, ''Film/Godzilla2014'''''
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3[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/godzilla-1998-movie-poster-5_4768.jpg]]
4[[caption-width-right:350:"We need bigger guns!" [[CoversAlwaysLie (Just not quite as big as this poster implies.)]]]]
5
6->''"Size does matter."''
7
8''Godzilla'' is a [[TheNineties 1998]] American [[TheRemake remake]] film of [[Film/Godzilla1954 the Japanese film of the same name]] and the first feature-length ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' film to be made by an American team. It was co-written and directed by Creator/RolandEmmerich, director of ''Film/IndependenceDay'' and ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', and starred Creator/MatthewBroderick, Creator/JeanReno, Creator/MariaPitillo, Creator/HankAzaria and Creator/KevinDunn. The film was released on May 20, 1998, by Creator/TriStarPictures.
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10The film follows the attacks of the titular creature on Manhattan, following his apparent creation via radioactive fallout from atomic bomb testing decades before. The film follows the attacks, beginning with the off-shore attack of a Japanese fishing vessel and culminating in a confrontation of Godzilla and the American military in the [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity Big Apple]]. As all this is happening, an American scientist, his IntrepidReporter love interest and their friends team up with French secret agents to examine the creature's behavior more closely and find a way to keep it from bringing even greater disaster upon mankind.
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12The film spawned an animated sequel called ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries''. While it was intended to spawn a new franchise in the United States, the movie was not deemed successful enough to warrant another sequel. Ironically, it instead renewed Creator/{{Toho}}'s interest in the franchise, which had actually ended with ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'' in anticipation of the American franchise, launching the Millennium series started by ''Film/Godzilla2000''. The events of another Millennium movie, ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack'', actually reference this one, which would make this film a StealthSequel to the 1954 original in that regard, since ''G.M.K.'' is also a direct sequel to that movie. The film's version of Godzilla was later renamed "Zilla" by Toho, and pitted against the Japanese Godzilla in ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars''. Godzilla [[CurbStompBattle destroyed]] his American counterpart in ''thirteen seconds'' without breaking a sweat.
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14Though it never got a film sequel, it is canonically, with some BroadStrokes, followed by the animated cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries''.
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16!!Tropes associated with this work:
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18* AcrophobicBird: The helicopter pilots seem to always stay at mouth-level of the monster they're attacking, despite the fact that Apaches can fly as high as 20,000 feet above sea level, meaning there was no reason for them to be flying that low to begin with.
19* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Downplayed example. While still born from nuclear testing, this version of Godzilla was a regular, modern day iguana mutated by ''French'' testing in the [[TheNineties mid-90s]], rather than a prehistoric reptile that was further mutated in TheFifties (by, presumably, American testing).
20* AdaptationalMundanity: The film takes a much more grounded approach to the title monster. Instead of being a nearly indestructible prehistoric beast that managed to survive millions of years beneath the ocean, he's a modern day iguana that was mutated into a coincidentally prehistoric-looking form within his egg by nuclear fallout and is not ImmuneToBullets. The atomic breath is also heavily downplayed, with his powerful roar instead blowing up cars and propelling the flames to cause an effect that merely ''looks'' like a BreathWeapon.
21* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: This is the only version of Godzilla that does ''not'' have a BreathWeapon or invulnerability to firearms, but is instead given [[TunnelKing exceptional tunnelling abilities]], SuperSpeed (or at least, is much faster and more agile than before), and became an ExplosiveBreeder.
22* AdaptationalWimp: This is easily the weakest incarnation of Godzilla to date, lacking the ability to shoot atomic breath or withstand assault from the military. This was actually an intentional decision to make him seem more like a giant frightened animal rather than an invincible force of destruction. The ''real'' threat comes from Godzilla's ability to produce hundreds of offspring that could potentially flood the world in Godzillas.
23* AdaptationInspiration: While the overall plot, nuclear testing releasing a giant reptilian monster that ends up making its way to a major city, is more or less the same as ''Film/Godzilla1954'', it differs vastly outside of this basic description. While the original Godzilla was portrayed as a nigh unstoppable juggernaut with clear animosity towards mankind, this version is portrayed as a FragileSpeedster without any morality or city-destroying tendencies; it's just an animal trying to survive and reproduce. Additionally, the original Godzilla was an explicit metaphor for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the irradiation of the Lucky Dragon No. 5, as he was specifically mutated by American nuclear testing, while this version pushes the blame to the French and lacks any kind of symbolic depth; it's simply portrayed as how Godzilla came to be. Overall, the film is more of a military-focused action flick than the dark tragedy of the original or even the more fantastical {{camp}} of the sequels.
24* AgeLift: Previous incarnations explicitly explained Godzilla as being prehistoric in origin, this version was created by French nuclear testing in French Polynesia, making him 30 years old at most. This makes this incarnation by far the youngest version of the character.
25* AlasPoorVillain: Godzilla is portrayed as a huge, frightened animal, not an engine of destruction. When it finally dies, Nick actually feels sorry for it.
26* AmbiguousSituation: The other four eggs aside the one Godzilla hatched from are unaccounted for during the events of the movie. Considering they were intact, it is unknown if the unborn reptiles were also mutated or stillborn.
27* AmericaSavesTheDay: The United States Military blows up Madison Square Garden, killing all of Godzilla's progeny ([[TheEndOrIsIt but one]]) and slay Godzilla with six Harpoon missiles. Niko Tatopolous, TheWormGuy who figures out the most relevant facts about Godzilla, is American. Downplayed in that said American military is portrayed as [[DestructiveSavior destructively incompetent]] and [[ScientistVsSoldier too gung-ho and secret-obsessed for its (or anyone's) good]]. A team from French Secret Service also helped, but aside from its leader Phillipe Roache, they are also portrayed as a RedshirtArmy.
28* AnimalsLackAttributes: Averted. In keeping with his more animalistic portrayal compared to other incarnations, Godzilla has a visible cloaca, although it's only visible in very brief and dark shots.
29* AnimatedAdaptation: The [[WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries resulting animated series]], considered by many the best thing to come of the movie.
30* ArtEvolution: The film gives Godzilla what is probably the most drastic design overhaul of any instalment in the franchise, giving him a much slimmer and more horizontal body, dinosaur-like legs and feet, less jagged and more curved dorsal plates, longer arms, rounded instead of rugose scaly skin, and a very prominent chin. It's ''so'' different that many fans dubbed it InNameOnly.
31* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
32** Even handwaving the very existence of {{Kaiju}} defying the square-cube law, '98 Godzilla's skinny, horizontal, velociraptor-like body plan is ill-suited for a large animal. A more reasonable build would be a bottom-heavy build with large pillar-like legs and a relatively small upper body, similar to the ''Film/MonsterVerse'' version of Godzilla.
33** The movie claims that heat-seeking missiles can't track Godzilla because, being a giant iguana, he's cold-blooded. Being cold-blooded does not mean you're literally cold, it just means you can't produce your own body heat and require external heat from the environment itself. An animal as huge as Godzilla would be warm-blooded simply due to the sheer mass of its body making heat take a long time to escape, much like the largest dinosaurs. The process is called gigantothermy and is already seen in animals like large crocodiles and sharks, all of which are shrimp compared to Godzilla.
34** Also, something as fast and active as Godzilla is portrayed as being would require a much more active metabolism than ectothermy allows, since one of its major shortcomings is that the animal tires quickly during strenuous activity. As a cold-blooded animal, he should also be spending time basking to gain energy, but only seems to be active at night or in dark, cloudy weather.
35** There is no way a human pregnancy test would work on a lizard, much less a giant radioactive lizard, as human (and mammal) pregnancy tests are searching for the presence of a hormone called Chorionic Gonadotrophin, which is only produced in placental animals, as the 'chorion' is another word for the placenta. Reptiles are not placental animals, and do not produce CG. Thus, the test wouldn't work. This is lampshaded when Nick notes that the test shouldn't have worked.
36** A more minor example than most, but Godzilla is portrayed as an excellent burrower, despite his huge, protruding dorsal plates (that even curve ''forward''), which is a terrible feature for a digging animal as they would definitely get caught on the underground ceiling when crawling through tunnels.
37** Godzilla is portrayed as a tunnelling animal despite iguanas not being burrowing animals and also the fact he lacks the large, muscular arms that burrowing animals typically have for digging (think moles, badgers, crabs etc.), only having slender human or dinosaur-like arms.
38** Godzilla's eggs are portrayed as nine feet long, despite bigger eggs needing thicker shells that would be harder for the hatchling to break. Even the largest dinosaurs laid melon-sized eggs at the most.
39* ArtisticLicenseEngineering:
40** When all the destruction from Godzilla's first appearance is looked over, the [=MetLife=] building is seen with a huge hole through it, implying that Godzilla somehow jumped through it. It looks cool, but it's still difficult to believe that it would be standing after that, especially with the entire middle section essentially gone. The remaining upper section of the building being held up by the perimeter structural members would have buckled almost immediately. Even more ridiculous is that Grand Central Station (which is right below the Metlife Building) is clearly visible with no damage to its roof whatsoever, which should be there if Godzilla jumped through the Metlife Building and landed.
41** The massive tunnel system Godzilla creates just underneath the streets of Manhattan, and apparently expansive enough that Godzilla is able to pop up anywhere, somehow don't open up huge sinkholes everywhere.
42* ArtisticLicenseGeography:
43** New York doesn't really look like that. Most glaringly, one of the people in the cab says the Brooklyn Bridge is the closest suspension bridge to the Park Avenue Tunnel. The tunnel runs from 33rd Street to 40th Street, and literally every other suspension bridge over the East River is closer.
44** Even more glaring is the first helicopter chase; Manhattan doesn't have extremely high, [[Franchise/StarWars Coruscant]]-style corridors of skyscrapers taller than Godzilla that stretch for blocks and blocks.
45** The idea that Godzilla can disappear by burrowing into New York's subway system and sewers is ridiculous; the subway tunnels are not that deep under the streets, with the deepest station being 180 feet underground. Godzilla would have to burrow ''past'' the subway tunnels into the ground underneath to remain hidden, as his size would mean he would be disturbing and collapsing the streets and would be easily visible.
46** Godzilla is also shown diving into the Hudson River, where he is engaged by three US Navy submarines. The Hudson River is shallow; it can be anywhere from 32 to 200 feet deep at most depending on location, yet Godzilla is shown swimming well below the surface, and is nowhere close to the bottom as if he were out in the middle of the ocean. There is no way submarines would be able to conduct operations in the Hudson as well.
47** The film doesn't give any real reason why Godzilla chooses Manhattan out of all places to nest, considering he had to have passed thousands of remote islands (to get to New York from French Polynesia, he would have needed to swim through the Caribbeans), many of them uninhabited (Manhattan is less than two-hundred metres from the mainland so it's not really isolated at all). How Godzilla even knew Manhattan existed to begin with is also unanswered.
48** When she overhears that Mayor Ebert has agreed to the complete evacuation of Manhattan, Elsie is shocked because that would mean the emigration of "over three million people". Even more than twenty-years later, the population of Manhattan isn't even close to two million.
49** In the beginning of the film, Godzilla sinks a Japanese fishing trawler in the South Pacific. Somehow, the ship ends up washing ashore in Jamaica of all places. Even taking into account there's no way a huge ship with such huge shears in its hull could ''wash ashore'' rather than simply sink to the bottom of the ocean forever, there's a little something known as the continent of South America between the South Pacific and Jamaica.
50** Godzilla, in order to reach New York from French Polynesia, had to cross Panama. However, somehow, not a single person witnessed his overland journey. This is despite the fact Panama is inhabited by nearly three million people (in 1998) and even at its thinnest point, the width of Panama is over sixty kilometres from coast to coast; it's definitely a big stretch to claim that not even ''one'' person encountered him.
51** Godzilla is discovered to have turned Madison Square Garden into a nest. How he even manages to fit inside the building without disturbing the exterior or the hallways isn't clear, because he's taller and wider than the entire building, never mind just the stadium inside the building.
52* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
53** Leaving aside the fact that Sidewinders aren't possible to mount on an Apache, the warheads on Sidewinders are ''tiny'' compared to, say, tank shells. They contain only a couple of pounds of explosive, and wouldn't cause MonumentalDamage to any building they hit; they would in no way would cause the top of the Chrysler Building to be chopped off, and probably wouldn't hurt Godzilla either. Anti-tank missiles like the Hellfire would be more practical; Sidewinders are designed for small, fast-moving aircraft.
54** Military pilots cannot fire missiles over the United States or any of its territories without the express and direct permission of the President. It's reasonable to assume the president would give it in this scenario, but never explicitly stated.
55** Colonel Hicks would not be in command of an operation of this magnitude, especially being an Army colonel with multiple military branches involved (the aforementioned Army with the Marines alongside the Navy and National Guard); operational command would be in the hands of one or several generals. More egregiously is that multiple generals are seen in the military command center in New Jersey, yet none of them take control of the operation.
56** Apache helicopters don't have a pair of guns bracketing the cockpit; they have a single 30mm chaingun in a chin mount beneath the front of the fuselage. Ironically, attempts WERE made to increase the Apache's air to air capabilities by making it able to launch the Sidewinder, complete with test firings. These were ceased in favor of a modified Stinger missile design (also a heat-seeking design; every Stinger variant after the FIM-92A, including all ATAS variants, uses the same seeker used in the AIM-9X Sidewinder).
57** The Apaches depicted also carry far more weapons than realistically possible; real Apaches have two wing-mounted hardpoints that traditionally carry 70mm Hydra rocket pods on the inner pylons and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles in racks of eight on the outer pylons, with a 30mm M230 chaingun under the nose. The movie Apaches feature longer wings, fitting two sets of Hydra rocket pods on each wing, a Hellfire missile rack with wing-tip mounted Sidewinder missiles and forward facing chainguns under the cockpit windows, with the aforementioned undernose chaingun still there but unused. The film Apaches are also depicted as maneuvering more like jet aircraft, with sharp banking maneuvers while flying straight and flying forwards at high speeds, with multiple helicopters flying around each other with precision.
58** During Godzilla's first helicopter chase, he is shown running at a speed in excess of 80 knots and is able to outpace the pursuing Apaches. 80 knots is about 92 mph, which should be nothing for the Apache; it's forward cruise speed limit is 182 mph or 158 knots. Possibly justified as the helicopters were flying in close urban quarters between skyscrapers and wanted to limit their speed.
59** The F/A-18 pilot that destroys Madison Square Garden is shown disengaging master arm and selecting "[=LGBs=]" which stand for laser-guided bombs. However he is shown selecting his plane's AGM-84 Harpoon missiles and stating that he has a good laser track on the target. The Harpoon is a radar-guided, anti-ship missile, not laser-guided.
60** The Harpoon missiles that the F/A-18s use are also woefully impractical for destroying a large building, and would not be effective against a large stationary target such as Madison Square Garden, as the Harpoon is designed for anti-ship use. At most it would punch holes in the roof of the building, not outright level it.
61** Harpoons are also not practical for engaging land targets; their seeker heads are designed for use over water, which has minimal obstacles and radar interference. Ground terrain creates a chaotic radar picture, which can confuse a Harpoon's seeker head and lead to tracking issues. A variant of the Harpoon was developed for ground targets, but it didn't enter service until 2000.
62** The F/A-18 squadron leader says to his wingmen before launching his missiles "save your Mavericks", referring to the AGM-65 Maverick air to ground missile. However, when shots of the planes are shown, none of the F/A-18s are shown carrying any such missiles.
63** The lead F/A-18 is the only one that deploys Harpoons to destroy Madison Square Garden, yet without returning to base to resupply, is able to fire two more salvos of Harpoons from his underwing pylons at Godzilla on the Brooklyn Bridge.
64** Navy officers on the submarines that engage Godzilla are shown wearing "SSBN" hats. SSBN is the US Navy designation for a missile submarine, which would be far too big and impractical for operations in the Hudson. A fast attack submarine (SSN) would be more appropriate given the situation.
65** Sergeant O'Neal being in charge of all the field operations against Godzilla and only directly answering to Colonel Hicks, ignoring a very large chain of command and putting a ridiculous amount of responsibility on a mere sergeant commanding thousands of troops, tanks and vehicles, not to mention the fact that multiple branches of the military are involved (Army, Navy, Marines and National Guard as well) which would have their own command structures and field officers.
66** The debacle with the subs is highly implausible for several reasons beyond the previously-stated fact that the Hudson is too shallow for the scene to happen. The subs would be using ADCAP torpedoes, which are wire-guided; in the event that the weapon turns toward or acquires a friendly target, a button push aboard the launching boat will destroy the torpedo. Additionally, in such a bizarre scenario, it would be expected that the subs would have maintained a picket line rather than maneuvering to put the target between them, as this would radically increase the odds of accidental fratricide (generally, firing in the direction of friendly forces is avoided whenever possible). Finally, committing three subs to the task would have been a needless risk to begin with; given the narrow confines of the river, additional boats only serve to complicate maneuvering. The benefits of the increased firepower would be more than offset by the maneuvering dangers created.
67** It should be noted however, that despite the above issues, the film-makers did assign the right naming conventions to the correct hull types. The ''Anchorage'' is a ''Los Angeles''-class fast attack submarines, while the ''Utah'' and ''Indiana'' are both ''Ohio''-class ballistic missile subs. An interesting example of ShownTheirWork.
68* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: With how long Godzilla spends tromping about Manhattan, he'd have turned it into a uninhabitable ''ghost island'' if he were at all radioactive like his Japanese namesake. And with the leftover fallout from the nuclear bomb tests, he should be. The film just seems to forget that Godzilla is radioactive after the first fifteen minutes.
69* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Elsie specifying ''Theropoda Allosaurus'' is just unbelievable. The evidence gathered has clearly indicated an animal many magnitudes larger than any ''Allosaurus'', which maxed out at around 30 feet in length (Craven lampshades this), to say nothing of Elsie stating ''Allosaurus'' died out in the Cretaceous Period. What's more, specifying "Allosaurus" among other similarly-sized theropods is ridiculous, because there's no certain way to distinguish between different theropods within the same size range based on footprint alone. The idea that a paleontologist would say or suggest such a thing is complete nonsense.
70* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Leaving aside the usual issues with giant monsters and the SquareCubeLaw, even if Godzilla was cold blooded, its internal heat should be more than enough for heat seeking missiles to track it (in real life this is known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantothermy gigantothermy]]). A lizard that size burrowing around Manhattan (aside from the fact that he is too big to fully burrow underground without tunneling directly into the earth past the subway) would cause seismic disruptions and could be easily tracked by that.
71* ArtisticLicensePolitics: One scene has a US Army inquiring what a Frenchman is doing at the scene of the clawed freighter. The problem? It's in Tahiti, a French overseas territory. The US troops are the ones who shouldn't be there. No wonder the French sent their secret service after them.
72* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: As Nick and others attempt to escape Madison Square Garden, their route is cut off by baby Godzillas.
73-->'''Audrey:''' Come on, Nick! This way!
74-->''[Audrey, Philippe and Animal disappear around a corner, scream, and come running back out]''
75-->'''Animal, chased by baby Godzillas:''' Not this way! Go that way!
76* BadBoss: Mr. Caiman to Audrey (tries to sleep with her, dismisses and then steals her story), Mayor Ebert to Gene (treats like an idiot all the time - there's anger, too, but [[HairTriggerTemper Gene is not the only reason, or recipient]]).
77* BadassDriver: As the cab chase at the end proves, Roache is a perfectly fine example.
78* BadToTheLastDrop: Roache finds the New York coffee (the flavor? French Roast) his assistant gives him to be awful. [[MustHaveCaffeine He still drinks it.]]
79* BadVibrations: Whenever Godzilla approaches for the first half of the film. After that, the movie more or less abandons this, allowing Godzilla to somehow ''sneak up'' on people.
80* BigApplesauce: If Godzilla usually [[TheTokyoFireball went after Tokyo]], the western equivalent ''had'' to attack New York City. (Also marking the second - and not [[Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow the last]] - time Roland Emmerich wrecked havoc in the Big Apple.)
81* BilingualBonus: A Japanese man sees Godzilla and exclaims something in Japanese. It translates roughly to, "I left Japan to get away from this kind of thing!"
82* BlindedByTheLight: The cab's high-beams are used to make Godzilla flinch away from the tunnel mouth.
83* BreathWeapon: Played with. While this Godzilla can't actually exhale radiation, it can roar with such force that it sends parked cars flying from the shock wave. In one case, this causes their [[EveryCarIsAPinto gas tanks to explode]] in a dragonish blast of flame. But then again, the gas tank explosions are justified in that it's ''nuclear'' flame we're talking about here.
84* ByWallThatIsHoley: Animal is almost squashed by Godzilla, but happens to be standing in the right spot to be between the monster's toes when its foot comes down.
85* CaptainObvious:
86** "That's a lot of fish!" Notably the National Guardsman Nick turns to when he says the line has a "why are you telling me this?" look on his face.
87** Also, this scene, after the heroes have helped the Navy destroy Madison Square Garden, and now must contend with a very angry Godzilla.
88--->'''Animal:''' What do we do now? \
89'''Phillipe:''' Running would be a good idea.
90* CarFu: When Creator/JeanReno gets behind the wheel of a taxi, shit gets ''mad real''.
91* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Averted. The [=DGSE=] operatives that work with the protagonists are very competent, [[CuttingTheKnot knot-cutting]], [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic]] and [[ConsummateProfessional professional]] soldiers (definitely [[IgnoredExpert more]] than [[DestructiveSavior the Americans]]). [[spoiler:And furthermore, it's ''France's'' fault that Godzilla exists in this film.]]
92* ChekhovsGun:
93** Nick notices that Godzilla seems to have a bit of an aversion to bright lights after using his camera when Godzilla finally shows up for the fish, the flash causing the big guy to flinch. [[spoiler:Nick has Philippe use the taxi's high beams to make Godzilla flinch in order to get out of Park Avenue Tunnel in the climax.]] This is a MythologyGag to the 1954 original, where Godzilla absolutely hates bright lights as they remind him of the flash of the nuclear bombs going off.
94** The F/A-18s that airstrike Madison Square Garden overtaken by Baby Godzillas. They also manage to kill Godzilla with 12 missiles.
95* ChekhovsSkill: Rather than dig to get to the radiated worms in {{UsefulNotes/Chernobyl}}, Nick used some sort of electrical system that draws them to surface. The same technique is used to draw Godzilla out with fish as bait.
96* CitywideEvacuation: Godzilla's arrival in New York prompts Manhattan to evacuate to New Jersey.
97* ColorWash: The flashbacks that open the film are yellow.
98* ConfidentialityBetrayal: Nick invites his ex-girlfriend Audrey to his lab to have a cup of coffee and reminisce old times (she dumped him because she was [[IntrepidReporter too driven to become a reporter]], but unknown to Nick has only been Charles Caiman's go-fer for the last few years). During that time, Nick tells her a few tidbits about Godzilla but discovers the monster is pregnant and leaves the lab to get further confirmation, and Audrey takes a classified videotape and leaves. The resulting media leak (which [[ImmoralJournalist Caiman steals from Audrey]]) ticks off the military and Nick is kicked out of the project [[IgnoredExpert and the fact he just told them (Godzilla being pregnant) is ignored]]. When Nick meets Audrey again, she feebly tries to defend her actions by saying that Nick did not tell her to keep it OffTheRecord. [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Nick could not be more outraged at hearing that]].
99* ContrivedCoincidence:
100** Nick, the main character, is conscripted for a top secret military assignment regarding a gargantuan unknown organism. Said organism makes its way from French Polynesia, across Panama, up the Eastern Seaboard, and makes landfall in Manhattan, where Nick's ex-girlfriend, whom he still has feelings for, still lives and works.
101** Nick discovers that Godzilla is pregnant and arrived in Manhattan to nest because he examines some of the creature's blood using a human pregnancy test. No reason why he even thought of doing this in the first place is brought up, never mind the fact a human pregnancy test [[ArtisticLicenseBiology would not work on a non-human, egg-laying animal]].
102* DeadpanSnarker: Elsie. She can be very sarcastic!
103** So can Lucy, cameraman Animal Palotti's wife, much to his [[HenpeckedHusband chagrin]].
104* DemotedToExtra: The film is mostly about Nick and Audrey's relationship, the life of a French guy, and ''Animal'' Palotti's job, with occasionally a giant lizard thrown in.
105* DestructiveSavior: Godzilla does a pretty good job wrecking the city (gutting the Metlife building, digging through Manhattan's underground, turning Madison Square Garden into a nest, to provide some examples), but some of the really... "spectacular"... examples of MonumentalDamage are the result of the United States Army unloading everything they have on the damn monster without caring about collateral damage. Because of them, the Flatiron Building, Chrysler Building and other miscellaneous buildings are accidentally blown up and the Garden and part of Manhattan Bridge are ''deliberately'' blown up.
106* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: [[spoiler:In the original film, Godzilla was invulnerable to conventional military weapons, and it took a FantasticNuke equivalent to finally put him down. [[AdaptationalWimp This version of the character is much weaker than his usual portrayals]], so all it takes to kill him is a dozen jet missiles.]]
107* DrivingStick: [[{{Irony}} American Nick telling French Philippe]] that the Army Hummer isn't in gear when trying to sneak into the subway system. Especially since the Hummer has an automatic transmission.
108* DumbassHasAPoint: As incompetent as the mayor was, he's perfectly justified when he [[WhatTheHellHero calls out]] the US Army for [[DestructiveSavior all the damage they caused]].
109-->'''Mayor:''' '[[NiceJobBreakingItHero You caused more damage than that goddamn thing did!]]'
110* ElevatorEscape: In the Madison Square Garden chase scene. [[SerialNumbersFiledOff It's taken wholesale from]] ''Film/JurassicPark''.
111* EpicFail: The US Army ''blowing up the Chrysler Building'' with two missiles meant for Godzilla is an excellent example, {{lampshaded}} by the mayor.
112-->'''Helicopter Pilot''': Ah, damn. Uh. That is a negative impact. I repeat, that is a negative impact.\
113'''Mayor Ebert''': "Negative impact"?! That's the goddamn Chrysler Building we're talking about here!
114* EveryCarIsAPinto: The director considered Godzilla's atomic breath "unrealistic", so it's absence here, but pressure from fans led to a nod at least, in two instances when Godzilla's roar causes some cars to explode and then propels the flames.
115* ExplosiveBreeder: Godzilla is capable of laying hundreds of eggs [[TrulySingleParent without the need for a mate]]. [[spoiler:Had the proposed sequel been made, the danger presented by this ability would have been offset somewhat by the reveal that a full-grown Godzilla is capable of reproducing only once, and the number of eggs produced is determined by carrying capacity of the land.]]
116* {{Expy}}: Harry Shearer's news reporter character, Charlie Caiman, has shades of a live-action version of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Kent Brockman]]. Harry even slips into the same voice multiple times.
117* FailedASpotCheck: One of the soldiers overlooks Godzilla in the tunnels because he failed to recognize that the "rocks" in front of him were an eyelid. That's excusable, but there is no justification for him missing the rumbling when Godzilla moves while he's barely a couple dozen feet away.
118* FallingChandelierOfDoom: Invoked when the characters are trying to escape Madison Square Garden before the military blows it up. The only thing between them and the exit is a huge swarm of Godzilla hatchlings. Philippe is able to clear a path through the babies by shooting out the large hanging lights and causing them to crash down, clearing a path through as the infants leap back to avoid getting hit.
119* FakeAmerican: In-Universe. Philippe briefly does an American accent which he admits is an impersonation of Music/ElvisPresley.
120* FemaleMonsterSurprise: Nick is shocked when a pregnancy test reveals that the giant lizard ransacking NYC is about to have babies. Subverted in that everyone keeps referring to Godzilla as a "very unusual he" due to it being asexual.
121* FingerWag: Nick does this to the Army during his first face-to-face moment with Godzilla to stop them from firing on the beast while he's(Nick) in FriendlyFire range.
122* FreeWheel: Used a ''lot'', including at the end when [[spoiler: Godzilla is killed]]. As he falls, he crushes a taxi under him, sending one of the tires flying off and rolling away.
123* ForgottenFallenFriend: All the French secret service agents aside from Philipe are rapidly disposed of by the baby Godzillas and the film just as quickly forgets they even existed.
124* {{Foreshadowing}}: While the main characters are escaping the Madison Square Garden, there is an intact egg that hasn't hatched yet. This egg survives at the end of the film, and (via {{Retcon}}) would become the Godzilla in ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries''.
125* FragileSpeedster: In keeping with the film's more "realistic" take, this version of Godzilla isn't immune to anti-vehicle ordinance or greater, and in the end half a dozen fighter jet missiles are sufficient to fatally wound him. However, he's incredibly fast and agile and able to dodge most of what the military throws at him for most of the film. It's only after he tangled up in the supports of the Brooklyn Bridge that they can hit him.
126* FreezeFrameBonus: In the wide-screen version, right when Audrey is in her room crying there's a VHS copy of ''Film/IndependenceDay'' right next to the TV she's watching.
127* FriendOrFoe: Godzilla causes two other US Navy subs to sink a third sub.
128* FromBadToWorse: For the crew of the USS ''Anchorage'', certainly. Godzilla swims straight at them, using his dorsal spines to rip open the sub's hull, simultaneously crippling and leaving the sub sinking in the middle of the Hudson River. Seconds later, the torpedoes the sub fired at Godzilla smash into its side, destroying it and killing everyone aboard.
129* GiantEqualsInvincible: Averted, as Godzilla is killed by the Air Force once it's been lured out into the open where it can't hide.
130* GiantFootOfStomping: Used in the early teaser trailer, where Godzilla steps on a museum's T. Rex skeleton in the middle of a kids' tour. Meant as a (typically nineties) [[TakeThat wholly unnecessary potshot]] at ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', but really just comes off as kinda [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Python-esque]].
131** Happens in the film when a cab is crushed.
132** Subverted with Animal, who is ''almost'' crushed but survives because he's standing between where two of Godzilla's toes come down.
133* GiantFootprintReveal: The footprint is so large and deep that at first the protagonist doesn't even realize that he's standing in the footprint.
134* GiganticAdultsTinyBabies: Godzilla's offspring are small enough to chase humans inside buildings, hence ''much'' smaller than their parent.
135* GonnaNeedMoreX: O'Neal seeing Godzilla for the first time and says, "We need... bigger guns."
136* GulliverTieDown: Luring Godzilla onto the Brooklyn Bridge gets the creature tangled in the suspension cables.
137* HandshakeRefusal:
138** Niko Tatopoulous refuses to shake Mendel Craven's hand after he just sneezed into it.
139** And it happens again in the [[ContinuityNod first episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries''.
140* HassleFreeHotwire: Philippe starts a car by just pulling out his knife, flicking out the key barrel, and jamming the knife in its place.
141* HateSink: The titular monster is, as with other examples, a creature that lives by its nature with no concept of good or evil, so there's both the conniving and misogynistic news anchor Charles Caiman, who among other things steals Audrey's story, and the video she took from Nick, and the meddlesome Mayor Ebert, who keeps jerkishly complaining about everything the military does ,although he ''[[JerkassHasAPoint is]]'' kind of right to be angry [[DestructiveSavior when said military wrecks half of downtown Manhattan on their first confrontation with Godzilla, including blowing both the Chrysler and Flaitiron buildings sky-high]], and is focused on his re-election to the point he thinks on his last scene about using Godzilla's death as a publicity booster.
142* HeartbeatSoundtrack: Used to establish that Godzilla really is dead at the end.
143* HelicopterFlyswatter: With military helicopters.
144* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The opening titles make it clear that Godzilla's existence can be chalked up to a nuclear test in French Polynesia creating a massive fallout that affected an iguana egg. The buildup and the explosion both show the testing crew showed zero concern for the enivironment, as trees were cleared en masse or incinerated from the blast. When 'Zilla shows up in New York and causes havoc, it almost feels like karma.
145* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: The US Military is profoundly bad at hitting ''a 200 foot tall, 300 foot long monster.'' They actually end up causing more MonumentalDamage than even Godzilla does!
146* IgnoredExpert: Zigzagged example. Nick discovers through blood testing that Godzilla is pregnant and has arrived in Manhattan to reproduce. He's believed up until his confidential data is leaked (by his ex-fiancee, Audrey), and then his idea is discredited... for some reason. Elsie does convince Colonel Hicks to sweep the city just in case, but by then it's too late: the eggs are real and they're already hatching. If it weren't for Nick and the DGSE already having discovered the nest, this would have turned into an apocalyptically stupid blunder.
147* INeedAFreakingDrink: Subverted by Roache, who says he could use a ''coffee'' instead of alcohol.
148* InNameOnly: Godzilla in this movie bears little resemblance to his Japanese namesake, primarily in regards to his [[ArtEvolution drastic appearance overhaul]] and being depicted as merely a simple animal rather than a force of destruction. Rather than the {{camp}} that is most associated with the series, the script is mostly a DisasterMovie with a bit of action, and the monster movie aspects that remain bear more of a resemblance to ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'' than ''Godzilla''.
149* ItCanThink:
150** When Godzilla is tailed by three helicopters, he successfully managed to fool them into thinking he is hiding in a skyscraper, cue him bursting from the building behind them and initiating CurbStompBattle. The final helicopter is destroyed when Godzilla crouches low to avoid being seen by it before devouring said helicopter whole.
151** During the battle in the Hudson River, while being attacked by three U.S. Navy submarines, Godzilla swims straight at one of the subs, using the dorsal spines on his back to rip open the sub's hull, leaving it dead in the water and helpless as the torpedoes the Navy fired at him smash into the crippled sub, destroying it.
152** The military manages to lure Godzilla out of hiding in their first attempt to kill him using a huge pile of fish as bait, but they end up bungling it and he's able to escape. They try the same thing again, but in an area where Godzilla will be more exposed, but Godzilla realizes the trick this time and doesn't walk into range.
153** When the protagonists are fleeing from Godzilla, he moves ahead of them and takes out the bridge.
154* {{Jerkass}}: Charlie Caiman, who propositions Audrey despite being married, and strings her along with hopes of becoming a reporter while making her do all his work.
155* KarmaHoudini:
156** Lucy Palotti doesn’t get as much as a [[WhatTheHellHero dressing down]] for influencing Audrey to be more aggressive and pushing that NiceGuysFinishLast, causing her to steal the tape and get Nick fired.
157** The French government at large faces no consequences for the events of the movie as their agents cover up and actively destroy evidence in their accidental involvement in Godzillas creation.
158* LampshadeHanging:
159** One of the movie's few truly hilarious moments involves a gag pointing out that the beast should be named "Gojira", but Americans got it wrong.
160** Mayor Ebert at one point angrily shouted to the military's commanders that their choppers did more damage to the city than the monster itself.
161* LaserGuidedKarma: In a one-off scene, two looters are shown stealing electronics from abandoned shops during the military's first attack on Godzilla. What do know, Godzilla comes barrelling down the street and stomps their truck full of stolen loot flat as a pancake, and just barely misses the two thieves.
162* LighterAndSofter: ''Yes'', given the original 1954 film was a GenreDeconstruction of the NuclearMutant monster films, since it deals very heavy and weighted topics as well as a post-war Japanese tragedy. This film has more humor, action-packed, and overall a goofy summer blockbuster about a giant monster in New York with none of the heavy-weightiness the original film was famous for.
163* ALessonLearnedTooWell: At the beginning of the film, Audrey grouses that she has not gone any further in her career after becoming Charles Caiman's assistant and she won't become a reporter, to which her friends Animal and Lucy Palotti (primarily Lucy) tells her that NiceGuysFinishLast and she needs to be more aggressive when she sees an opportunity. Of course, that opportunity is Audrey noticing that Nick is part of the task force to get Godzilla, which leads to her impersonating being a reporter (by stealing Caiman's pass) and stealing classified information (the tidbits Nick tells her and a VHS tape recorded by French Intelligence) when Nick leaves her alone in his tent. She makes a report to air on TV, but to her surprise Caiman steals the credit, and this leads to Nick being kicked out of the operation [[IgnoredExpert and his theory of Godzilla laying eggs being completely ignored]]. A couple of scenes later, Audrey is in the Palottis’ apartment, crying her eyes out [[WhatTheHellHero after Nick calls her out on what she did]] and Lucy and Animal are arguing [[NeverMyFault on who's to blame for this]].
164* MamaBear: Godzilla is both a MamaBear and a PapaWolf.
165* MassOhCrap: Everyone in the military command centre as they watch the crippled USS ''Anchorage'' about to be destroyed [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by the torpedoes that the ''Anchorage'' and ''Indiana'' had fired earlier]] at Godzilla.
166* MayorPain: Mayor Ebert is the "incompetent" flavor. He spends the entire movie whining and complaining about how the military and Godzilla [[SkewedPriorities are going to negatively affect his re-election efforts]], and tries to capitalize on the event and take credit for [[spoiler:Godzilla's death]], despite the fact he did basically nothing helpful.
167* MeaningfulName: A "caiman" is a crocodile-like reptile. See {{Jerkass}} above. He's also the ButtMonkey of the film, just like the real life animal. Roache (pronounced "Rowsh") is a sneaky guy who pops up where he's not wanted and engages in shady activities, befitting one military guy's calling him "Roach".
168* MerchandiseDriven: All the tie-in merchandise was designed and ready for assembly before a screenwriter was even hired.
169* MilitariesAreUseless: The only time the military accomplishes anything is [[spoiler: with the 3 F-18s that both destroy Madison Square Gardens and kill Godzilla]]. Every other time, they [[EpicFail fail miserably]] and either damage other or hit other military units. Still, their firepower is established to be a sufficient threat to Godzilla that its primary response is to run the hell away -- which is such a marked difference from [[ImmuneToBullets its normal performance]] that it irked long-time fans.
170* MisguidedMissile: When the Navy tries to take out Godzilla with subs, Godzilla dodges two of their torpedoes then swims under the ''Anchorage'', causing the torpedoes to sink it.
171* MisplacedWildlife: The prologue shows nuclear testing in French Polynesia interspersed with shots of various lizards that implicitly live on the island chain. The only problem is that ''none'' of the shown species are native to French Polynesia.[[note]]Marine iguanas are native to the Galapagos, Komodo dragons are native to Indonesia, the Chinese water dragon is native to mainland Southeast Asia, the green iguana is native to Central and South America, and bearded dragons are native to Australia.[[/note]] In fact, French Polynesia has no reptile species, native or otherwise, making Godzilla's origin something of a mystery.
172* MissedHimByThatMuch: The {{Jerkass}} news anchor twice misses seeing Godzilla walk past the station windows because he's too busy complaining on the phone that he doesn't have a good story to cover. The gag is repeated later, when a soldier mistakes Godzilla's skin for a wall and turns around just in time to miss Godzilla moving out of the way (how he didn't ''hear'' Godzilla's growling is less clear).
173* MonsterDelay: A textbook example. It takes more than forty-five minutes until Godzilla is fully revealed, with the plot gradually building up his appearance, first showing an attack where we only see a glimpse of tail and claws, then his footprints, then another attack where he's hidden underwater, before his largely faceless emergence in Manhattan, and then ''finally'' a full clear shot. Even the advertising for the film did all it could to avoid showing too much of Godzilla's design, including billboards [[ShowDontTell which would state Godzilla's measurements and show nothing]] (which would end up backfiring when Godzilla's redesign took a huge amount of unending criticism, proving [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it's possible to do this trope]] ''[[Administrivia/TropesAreTools wrong]]'').
174* MonsterIsAMommy: [[spoiler:About halfway through the film, Nick finds out Godzilla is parthenogenic and laid eggs. If any one of them get out, they'll start a new disaster. It turns out one DID survive, setting up the plot of WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries]].
175* MonumentalDamage: Naturally it's often [=NYC=]'s most-recognizable landmarks that get trashed, either by Godzilla (the [=MetLife=] building, the Brooklyn Bridge) or by the forces pursuing him and his offspring (the Chrysler Building, Madison Square Garden, the Flatiron Building).
176* MoreDakka: The military's entire strategy for killing Godzilla amounts to simply throwing as many armaments, explosives, and bullets at him as they can with no real thought behind it other than that, [[DestructiveSavior resulting in a ton of collateral damage]] and several instances of accidental friendly fire. It's only because of Nick's help that they're even able to find them, never mind hit him.
177* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Roache says he's a patriot, despite the horrible things France has done in the past. There are some pretty damn rose-tinted glasses at play here, though: the US did at least as much nuclear testing as the French in Polynesia!
178* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Audrey, after finding that [[AllForNothing Caiman stole her story]] and being chewed out by Nick for stealing the tape, is seen crying her eyes out in Animal’s apartment in remorse, leading the two to [[MustMakeAmends locate the nest themselves and broadcast the location.]]
179* MythologyGag: Godzilla gets his name from an elderly Japanese fisherman who survived an attack on his fishing ship in the beginning of the film who is asked what attacked his vessel. He mistakes the creature for 'Gojira', a sea monster from a (fictional) Japanese myth. This is actually straight from the 1954 original, where the residents of Odo Island believed the creature to be the same 'Gojira' from legend.
180* NationalStereotypes: Frenchman Roche, who complains about weak coffee and eating doughnut instead of croissants (which are readily available at any store in America).
181* NeverMyFault: Lucy blames Animal for telling Audrey to be "more aggressive" (which got Nick in trouble), even though Lucy was the one who told her.
182* NeverRecycleYourSchemes: Notably averted. The military's first attempt to bait Godzilla out with fish fails because Godzilla slips away between the skyscrapers faster than they can shoot at him, but they try again a second time with the same plan. Only this time, they have ''far'' more guns and the fish bait is out in the middle of Central Park, ensuring that he'll be out in the wide open space. Unfortunately, it doesn't work this time because Godzilla [[ItCanThink learned from his mistake]].
183* NewscasterCameo: Sports anchor Rob Fukuzaki for Los Angeles' KABC-TV station briefly cameos as an [=WIDF=] anchor.
184* NiceGirl:
185** Audrey upon her introduction who just wants to be a news reporter. But Lucy tells her that she's ''[[FatalFlaw too nice]]'' to get what she wants, and so she tries to be assertive about getting the story she needed. Well, her attempts at getting her story gets stolen by Caiman, and Nick rightfully chews her out for stealing his tape. The rest of the films revolves around proving Nick right and apologize to him.
186** Despite her claims, Lucy herself is a nice girl herself when she allowed some homeless people in her and Animal's apartment, because she couldn't just leave them out on the street, especially when there's a giant mutant iguana stomping around Manhattan.
187* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
188** The Mayor was right, the Army really did cause more damage than Godzilla did.
189** Audrey got Nick booted from the team and caused the military to dismiss his theory about Godzilla being pregnant.
190* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: [[MayorPain Mayor Ebert]] and his toadie Gene are so much supposed to be a TakeThat aimed at Siskel and Ebert that the critics took time in their eventual review to ask why didn't Roland Emmerich go the whole nine yards and kill them.
191* NoEndorHolocaust: It's stated that Godzilla making landfall resulted in "dozens" of deaths, which is quite extraordinary considered we see he apparently ''leapt'' straight through a sixty-storey skyscraper. How that didn't kill hundreds of people ''alone'' is a mystery.
192* NonMaliciousMonster: It's emphasized that Godzilla is an animal and not a monster, and at first all he wants to do is find a safe place to have his (her?) offspring. He doesn't seem to consider humans food and only fought back in self defense against attempts to destroy him. The hatchlings only attacked humans because they were hungry and had run low on fish. Subverted later when Godzilla tries to kill four people in {{revenge}} for the deaths of his offspring... four people who weren't even responsible, well not directly at any rate.
193* {{Novelization}}: By Stephen Molstad, who collaborated with Dean Devlin and Creator/RolandEmmerich on their novelizations for ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' and ''Film/IndependenceDay'', as well as writing the ''[=ID4=]'' prequel novel ''Silent Zone'' and interquel ''War in the Desert''. An audiobook of the novel, read by Doug Savant, who plays Sgt. O'Neal in the film, was also made.
194* ANuclearError: The opening stock footage of a nuclear test isn't French footage but American test footage out of the Bikini Atoll.
195* ObscuredSpecialEffects: All of Godzilla's scenes take place at night and/or in the rain to cover up the imperfections in the CG textures, resulting an implausibly long torrential downpour over New York that seems to last at least two weeks in-story.
196* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Mayor Ebert is much too eager to be reopening the city when the military has cause to believe there's still a danger.
197* OffTheRecord: After Audrey leaks the tape and Nick is kicked out of the task force to stop Godzilla, she tries to defend what she did when they meet again by [[LoopholeAbuse saying that Nick never told her to keep it off the records]]. This only [[WhatTheHellHero makes Nick more upset and calls her out on her selfishness.]]
198* OhCrap:
199** Nick initially thinks that Godzilla laid a small number of eggs. Someone then switches on Madison Square Garden's lights, and shit gets real quick...
200---> '''Phillipe''': ''([[ExplosiveBreeder as the rows upon rows of eggs are revealed]])'' [[DeadpanSnarker Start counting.]]
201** After Godzilla looks up from the pile of dead baby Godzillas to Nick, Phillipe, Audrey, and Animal and [[PapaWolf realizes that they are responsible]] [[MamaBear for the deaths of its children.]]
202--->'''Nick''': ''(in obvious [[BringMyBrownPants pants-crapping terror]])'' He looks angry...
203** During the Hudson River battle, the crew of the submarine USS ''Anchorage'' experience this when they realise Godzilla is swimming straight at them with the torpedoes ''they'' fired at him close behind.
204--->'''USS ''Anchorage'' crewman''': Sir! The target's coming right at us!
205* OminousCrack: The pavement develops a long, spreading crack that runs right under Tatopolous's feet, just before Godzilla busts up out of the sewer tunnels in a shower of rubble.
206* OneSteveLimit: Downplayed, and also parodied. There is only one Philippe, but one of his subordinates is named Jean-Philippe. The others? [[PlanetOfSteves Jean-Pierre, Jean-Luc and Jean-Paul]]!
207* PlaceWorseThanDeath: As millions of Manhattanites flee to Long Island and New Jersey after Godzilla's first appearance, Caiman makes a throwaway snark about how they seem to expect refuge in ''those'' locations.
208* PlatonicLifePartners: Audrey and Animal have this dynamic, especially when Animal follows Nick to try to talk to him as an act of BigBrotherInstinct. This carries over to the series. Justified as Animal is married to Lucy.
209* PostClimaxConfrontation: Immediately following the basically simultaneous deaths of each of the baby Godzillas within the Madison Square Garden with the famous exception of Godzilla Junior, Godzilla Senior soon reveals himself to actually still be alive after previously faking his very own death down within the Hudson River, and once that reveal happens, the humans soon draw him out onto the Brooklyn Bridge using a damaged taxi cab, where he soon gets trapped within the bridge's suspension cables and subsequently shot down for good with a volley of twelve fighter-jet missiles.
210* ProductPlacement: As you'd expect, Creator/{{Sony}}-brand electronics are everywhere. However, it's also TruthInTelevision for Animal, who carries a Sony-brand camera -- Sony is actually a major provider of broadcast equipment, including field equipment for ENG, like the shoulder-mount camera he uses.
211** Coincidentally, Sony has its American film subsidiary Creator/SonyPictures, which distributed this film under its Creator/TriStarPictures label.
212* RammingAlwaysWorks: Godzilla smashes into the ''Anchorage'', slicing open his hull with its spines, crippling it.
213* RampJump: The taxi runs over one of Godzilla's toes, which serves as a ramp and sends it flying.
214* RaptorAttack: Godzilla's offspring turns the last half of the film into a fusion between ''Film/JurassicPark'' and ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', with Nick and Philippe's team fighting the baby Godzillas, which look and act ''very'' closely to ''Film/JurassicPark'''s velociraptors.
215* TheRemake: Of the Godzilla film series, natch. That said, it's a BroadStrokes remake that borders on InNameOnly in many, many parts.
216* TheReveal: While apologizing to Nick for leaking the story, Audrey confessed that the reason she broke up with him when he proposed a few years earlier was because of her job. She was so sure she'd become a full-fledged reporter sooner that she didn't want to settle down. But of course, she got stuck as Caiman's assistant and was too ashamed to come back to Nick as a failure.
217* RedShirt: The French secret service agents which accompany Roache. They get little to no character development or focus, and are quickly forgotten after being rapidly disposed of by Godzilla's offspring.
218* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Godzilla's origins were time-shifted from (implicitly) American nuclear testing during the 1950s to French nuclear testing during the mid-1990s, something which was highly controversial at the time the film was being produced.
219* RuleOfCool: The Apache helicopters featured here have inaccurately portrayed and bizarrely out of place weapons, while neglecting to use several real Apache armaments that would actually be quite handy in such a scenario. Not to mention how they are flown (and the speeds therewith); they're obviously just there for dramatic effect, as it's clear little research was done on them and their standard arms.
220* RunningGag:
221** All Philippe wanted was a decent cup of coffee and on Animal's side, Lucy's gonna kill him.
222** People constantly getting Nick's surname wrong. Even Caiman does this after Audrey leaks Nick's tapes to the news. Only Audrey and Colonel Hicks manage to say it correctly.
223* SceneryGorn: Most of New York's streets are utterly trashed by the time Godzilla is brought down, but the [=MetLife=] Building in particular is a notable case of this.
224* ScientistVsSoldier: Everybody agrees on the fact Godzilla needs to die, but Nick (the scientist), being TheWormGuy, theorizes that Godzilla has left eggs somewhere in the city and thus there should be someone looking for them just in case (among general "we need to know more of the monster to try to kill it more effectively" talking), while Colonel Hicks and everybody else high-up only care about blowing away Godzilla, ''right now'', maintaining maximum confidentiality (even if the devastation Godzilla leaves behind is qualified on its very first day as a worse disaster than the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) and the eggs thing (which turns out to be correct, much to Nick's eventual peril) is a literal afterthought, and when Caiman (thanks to Audrey) releases information that is classified but really is inconsequential, they get ''pissed'' that Nick supposedly leaked info and kick him out of "the project"... to kill the giant monster... that is still roaming the city at the very moment they kick him out.
225* ScreenShake: Nearly every time Godzilla takes a step. Although the earthquakes cause cars to bounce only at the beginning and in a handful of shots afterward, the film still makes sure to make the screen shake with every onscreen footfall.
226* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Gene finally gives this to Mayor Ebert after having had enough of his incompetence and abuse.
227* ScullyBox:[[invoked]] Alluded to but not used. When Charlie Caiman is about to go live with his co-anchor, a woman who has a good six inches on him, he complains about needing something to match her height. He has to settle for hovering above his chair uncomfortably.
228* SensorSuspense: Where the submarine is tracking Godzilla approaching them at a high speed.
229* SequelHook: The film ends with the last of Godzilla's eggs hatching. [[StillBornFranchise It didn't end up getting a sequel]], but the animated series did follow up on it.
230* SkewedPriorities:
231** Audrey when she steals Nick's tapes; [[TheAtoner she makes this up to him later though]].
232** Mayor Ebert, who insists on allowing the citizens back into the city before Godzilla's death has been confirmed by the military, and at the end tries to exploit the entire crisis as a promotional tool for his campaign.
233* SlaveToPR: Mayor Ebert's primary motivation during the film is getting reelected, moaning and groaning constantly about how Godzilla's attack and the military's presence [[SkewedPriorities might negatively affect his image]]. When he's confronted by a contingent of New York business owners who want to know his plans during this event, he's quick to brush them off, until he's told by his adviser Gene that they're his campaign sponsors.
234* {{Slimeball}}: When Audrey asks her boss Mr. Caiman when she'll be promoted from his assistant to a reporter, Caiman makes it clear the only way she'll get the promotion is if she has an affair with him. Audrey turns him down in disgust.
235* SlipperySkid: Nick is able to slow down a group of baby Godzillas chasing them by dropping a stack of basketballs and a huge container of gumballs in their way, causing them to slide and crash into each other.
236* SoleSurvivor:
237** Only one of the Japanese fishermen survive Godzilla's attack on their trawling ship at the beginning of the film, although based on the way the Geiger counter crackles as one of the French secret agents waves it over him, not for much longer.
238** Philippe is the only one of the French Secret Service agents who survives to the end of the movie, the rest being quickly slaughtered by the Godzilla babies inside Madison Square Garden and then forgotten just as quickly.
239** [[spoiler:Godzilla and nearly all of his young are killed by the military, but the film ends with one last egg hatching that was intended to be a SequelHook.]]
240* SquareCubeLaw: Although the filmmakers apparently tried to make Godzilla more realistic in his design, ironically his more dinosaur-like design is far ''less'' plausible than the old bulky design. The traditional Godzilla design has pillar-like legs and is built in an upright stance with a low-center of gravity, with massive thighs and thick tail support that you'd expect for an animal weighing thousands of tonnes. This Godzilla has a sleek, raptor-like body held horizontally that basically threw all remaining logic out the window.
241* StealthyColossus: Despite Godzilla being the size of a skyscraper, the [[MilitariesAreUseless military manages to lose track of her]]. [[EpicFail In New York City]]. This isn't even mentioning how he travelled halfway across the world (including crossing across Panama) without a single person getting a good look at him.
242* SteelEarDrums: There's one moment where Godzilla ends up almost nose to nose with Nick, only a couple of feet between them, and Godzilla roars right in Nick's face. With a beast that size, you'd think that the least that would happen would be Nick's eardrums rupturing, but he doesn't even stop to cover his ears.
243* TheStinger: The end has the [[spoiler:hatching of the last egg, leading into the [[WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries animated series]]]].
244* SuperPersistentPredator: The hatchlings pursue humans even when there are still fish lying around waiting to be eaten. Averted with Godzilla itself, as the one behavioral limitation placed on Tristar's version by the trademark-holders was that they couldn't show the Big Guy actually ''eating'' anyone: when it does start chasing the cab, it's because it's furious at the destruction of its offspring, not hungry.
245* SuspiciouslyStealthyPredator: Somehow Godzilla's pursuers manage to lose track of a critter the size of an aircraft carrier on the streets of Manhattan. They soon enough discover that it has been using the City's subway systems to burrow around Manhattan Island.
246* SympathyForTheDevil: Nick looks to be a bit solemn as he watches Godzilla slowly die in front of him. This is explicitly described in the novel, which he narrates.
247* TakeThat:
248** One of the movie's best moments, however, is to its ''own title''; a minor plot point is that the Japanese fishermen who first see the beast call it "Gojira". Footage of this eventually gets out to a certain smarmy reporter, who proceeds to flense it into "Godzilla". Other characters actually call him (or the TV broadcast of him, at least) [[LampshadeHanging out on this]].
249** The movie's advertising campaign had a quick shot at ''Film/JurassicPark1993'', with a major shot of Godzilla's foot going through the ceiling of a museum and stomping a T-Rex statue flat, conveying how much bigger Godzilla is than the prehistoric monster. Behind-the-scenes clips reveal a cut shot that show off the squished skeleton within Godzilla's footprint. In an interview with VFX supervisor Volker Engel, he states that the shot was removed because the skeleton looked far too similar to ''Jurassic Park'''s logo.
250** The film was itself (especially their version of the titular monster) has been the subject of several {{Take That}}s in later Kaiju films.
251* TakeThatCritics:
252** In retaliation for giving ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' and ''Film/IndependenceDay'' negative reviews, director Creator/RolandEmmerich had NoCelebritiesWereHarmed versions of Creator/RogerEbert and Creator/GeneSiskel as the Mayor of New York and his aide (respectively). The bizarre thing is, nothing remotely bad happens to either of them (aside from having their city destroyed) and their only real character fault was incompetence (given this is their first monster attack, it's understandable). This particular TakeThat backfired on Emmerich, as Gene Siskel said if the filmmakers wanted to get the insulting jab ''right,'' they would have had Godzilla eat the Mayor and the aide or squash them (though to be fair, {{Creator/Toho}} specified that Godzilla wasn't allowed to eat people).
253** Another critic actually ''is'' squished in the film: the extra in the car that is stepped on early in the film is intended to be a representation of J.D. Lees, editor of ''G-Fan Magazine'', who had harsh criticism for the film based on information leaks prior to its release. Since hardly anyone in the audience was even going to recognize the reference, it's pretty clear that this statement was just for the benefit of Emmerich himself.
254* TheToothHurts: During the final chase, Nick forces Godzilla to spit the taxi out of its mouth by jamming an exposed electrical cable into the gap between its tooth and gum.
255* ToServeMan: Despite Toho's specification that Godzilla wasn't allowed to eat people, the baby Godzillas chow down on the French soldiers and Godzilla himself tries to eat the cab that Nick, Audrey, Phillippe, and Animal are fleeing in. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in-universe by, respectively, Nick’s noting they smell like the fish (the Zilla species’ food supply) and by Godzilla flying into a psychotic rage after finding its babies dead and [[PapaWolf trying to kill the ones responsible]].
256* ToxicFriendInfluence: Audrey's friend Lucy tells her she's too "nice" and that she needs to be more aggressive in order to get what she wants. Unfortunately, Audrey takes this advice in the worst possible way and steals classified data from Nick to try and further her career (which fails when her slimy boss Charlie Caiman steals the credit), resulting in Nick getting kicked off the operation for the resulting information leak.
257* TrulySingleParent: In this movie, Godzilla is parthenogenetic, like some species of reptiles.
258* TruthInTelevision: Some lizards (most notably the Komodo dragon) actually ''are'' capable of asexual reproduction called parthenogenesis.
259* {{Tsundere}}: A Type A example with Lucy (ironically enough), who henpecks her husband to no end. Near the end of the monster's defeat, she sees Animal in the news and says in a rather loving way, "[[RunningGag I'm going to kill him]]!"
260* UncertainDoom: Joe the fisherman who first sees Godzilla arrive from the East River, and flees for his life as Godzilla makes landfall on the dock he's on. He's just a one-shot character, so it's never made clear if he lived or not.
261* {{Understatement}}: "Negative impact" indeed. It's only the freaking ''Chrysler Building''.
262* UnexplainedRecovery: It's never really touched upon how Godzilla managed to stay hidden after getting shot in the Hudson River, but maybe the military is as bad at looking for a 250ft long mutant lizard as they are at aiming for it.
263* TheUnpronounceable: Dr. Niko Tatopoulos, [[{{Tuckerization}} who was named for]] Creator/PatrickTatopoulos, who worked on special effects for the film and [[TruthInTelevision has the same problem]].
264* VertigoEffect: Used but subtly during Godzilla's entrance in New York for at least one shot.
265* WithinArmsReach: In the final taxi chase, Godzilla catches the taxi carrying the main characters in his mouth (as well as a large chunk of the road), but they're able to escape when Nick notices a loose electrical cable dangling next to him which he uses to zap Godzilla's gums. This causes Godzilla to screech in pain, opening his mouth and giving the taxi a chance to drive free.
266* TheWormGuy: Nick is the TropeNamer, having started out studying mutated earthworms in Chernobyl, but nonetheless ends up invaluable in finding and killing Godzilla despite having very little in common with his field.
267* UnstoppableRage: Godzilla flies into a psychotic rage when he finds out [[spoiler: all the baby Godzillas have been killed.]]
268* WhamShot:
269** When Nick, Philippe, Audrey and Animal are trying to make it out Madison Square Garden they get to the lobby only to see it crowded with Baby 'Zillas.
270** When Nick and Philippe discover over 200 eggs inside Madison Square Garden.
271** Godzilla emerging from underneath what’s left of the Garden after being supposedly killed in the Hudson River earlier, much to the main characters’ terror.
272* WontGetFooledAgain: The military is able to lure Godzilla out of the subways using a giant pile of fish as bait. They mess it up by placing the bait in a confined area, and Godzilla is able to escape through the winding city streets. They try the same trick again, but place the bait in the middle of Central Park where there will be no cover for Godzilla to hide behind. However, he's not stupid enough to fall for the same thing a second time after seeing it being lit up with spotlights.
273* {{Wormsign}}: When Godzilla arrives from the ocean, the pier splits most satisfyingly.
274* WritersCannotDoMath: ''Echos 1'', ''2'', and ''4'' all reporting for duty, but no ''Echo 3''?
275* YourSizeMayVary: Godzilla is very inconsistent throughout the film; for example, when he first emerges from the sewer, his eye appears to be roughly a metre in diameter, while in a later scene it seems to completely dwarf an entire person.

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