History Film / Godzilla

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Averted ''hard''. The French Foreign Legionaires that work with the protagonists are very competent, [[CuttingTheKnot knot-cutting]], [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic]] and proffessional soldiers.
* CrowningMusicofAwesome: David Arnold's score is one of the few truly good things to come from this movie, aside from the aforementioned animated series.

* Harsher in Hindsight: In a clip of a news broadcast covering Zilla's rampage through New York, the broadcaster says "...in what city officials are calling the worst act of destruction since the World Trade Tower bombing", referencing the bombing of the WTC in 1993. The film was released only three years before 9/11. Ouch.

* AnimatedAdaptation: The [[GodzillaTheSeries resulting animated series]], considered by many [[AdaptationDistillation the best thing to come of the movie]].

* CrowningMusicofAwesome: David Arnold's score is one of the few truly good things to come from this movie, other than the animated series.

* TakeThat: In retaliation for ''{{Stargate}}'' and ''IndependenceDay'' receiving negative reviews, director RolandEmmerich had NoCelebritiesWereHarmed versions of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel 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). Both were considerably perplexed by this, with Siskel wondering that if Emmerich was going to go through the trouble of finding lookalikes, why not at least have Zilla squash them?

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The original script for the movie had Godzilla being far more like his Japanese self and included an AlienInvasion storyline.

* GiantFootOfStomping

[[caption-width-right:350:[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Hope that tower brought protection!]]]]

''Godzilla'' is a [[TheNineties 1998]] American film [[TheRemake remake]] of the Japanese film of the same name. It was co-written and directed by RolandEmmerich, director of ''IndependenceDay''. The film spawned an animated sequel called ''GodzillaTheSeries''. The film was released on May 20, 1998, by [=TriStar=] Pictures.

The film follows the attacks of the titular creature on Manhattan, following his apparent creation via [[ILoveNuclearPower radioactive fallout]] from the atomic bomb testing decades before. The film follows the attacks, beginning with the offshore attack of a Japanese fishing vessel and culminating in a confrontation of Godzilla and the American military in the Big Apple.

* {{Badass}}: Phillipe

* Captain Obvious: "That's a lot of fish!"

* EpicFail: The USAF ''blowing up the Chrysler building'' with two missiles meant for 'Zilla is an excellent example.

* TheStinger: The end has the [[spoiler:hatching of the last egg, leading into the animated series]].

** On the other side of the spectrum, Toho put Zilla in ''Final Wars'', and Zilla went down in ''ten seconds'', Toho did ''not'' like what happened with Godzilla in America...

* TrulySingleParent: In this movie, Godzilla (like a Tribble) is born pregnant.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The original script for the movie had Godzilla being far more like his Japanese self and included an alien invasion storyline.

[[caption-width-right:350:Hope that tower brought protection.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The titular monster of the respective film.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** You can spot two famous househusbands, [[{{Film/Transformers}} Mr Witwicky]] and [[DesperateHousewives Mr Scavo]], in the military.
** Don't forget [[FerrisBuellersDayOff Ferris Bueller]] as Nick.
** And [[TheSimpsons Moe]] as Animal.

* TheyJustDidntCare: There is no sign in this movie that they even ''tried'' to get it accurate, Godzilla doesn't even do what he does best! He doesn't shoot beams, he doesn't fight other monsters (okay, granted, he didn't do that in the first film), ''he doesn't even cause ridiculous property damage''! Any monster Godzilla's size would annihilate everything in the area! There's some property damage, but it's caused more by the military, [[WhatTheHellHero the people trying to stop him]].

* CriticalBacklash
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Jamiroquai's "Deeper Underground"

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Arguably the only redeeming thing about the movie. Jamiroquai's "Deeper Underground" being an example.

* EpicFail: [[AdaptationDecay Meta-issues aside,]] the USAF ''blowing up the Chrysler building'' with two missiles meant for 'Zilla is an excellent example.

* TheyJustDidntCare: There is no sign in this movie that they even ''tried'' to get it accurate, Godzilla doesn't even do what he does best! He doesn't shoot beams, he doesn't fight other monsters (okay, granted, he didn't do that in the first film), ''he doesn't even cause ridiculous property damage''! Any monster Godzilla's size would annihalate everything in the area! There's some property damage, but it's caused more by the military, [[WhatTheHellHero the people trying to stop him]].

* {{Wormsign}}: When Godzilla arrives from the ocean, the pier splits most satifyingly.

* TakeThat: In retaliation for ''{{Stargate}}'' and ''IndependenceDay'' receiving negative reviews, director RolandEmmerich had NoCelebritiesWereHarmed versions of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel 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). Both were considerably perplexed by this, with Ebert wondering that if Emmerich was going to go through the trouble of finding lookalikes, why not at least have Zilla squash them?

The film follows the attacks of the titular creature on Manhattan, following his apparent creation via [[ILoveNuclearPower radioactive fallout]] from the Atomic Bomb testing decades before. The film follows the attacks, beginning with the offshore attack of a Japanese fishing vessel and culminating in a confrontation of Godzilla and the American military in the Big Apple.

* HeyItsThatGuy: You can spot two famous househusbands, [[{{Film/Transformers}} Mr Witwicky]] and [[DesperateHousewives Mr Scavo]], in the military.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Dr. Niko Tatopoulos. (Named for Patrick Tatopoulos, who worked special effects on the film, and [[TruthInTelevision has the same problem]].)

* VoodooShark: The reason behind the horizontal, raptor-like design for the monster was in order to make it more "realistic" (We'll ignore the improbability of such a lanky, precarious and front-heavy design being better suited for giant size than the mountain-shaped original). They decided to continue making it more realistic by making it a mutated iguana instead of a dinosaur, thereby completely negating the entire point behind the raptor-shape in the first place.