561. Godzilla 2000 (ゴジラ2000 ミレニアム) (1999)

Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Naomi Nishida, Takehiro Murata

Director: Takao Okawara

Running Time: 99 mins

Godzilla 2000 is a Japanese film about the return of the giant monster to Tokyo, where he begins to destroy the city again, however becomes drawn into an intergalactic battle face-to-face with a mysterious enemy.

The only positive I can really draw from this was that it was better than the 1998 one. Apart from that, it’s a dull, unevenly paced, preposterous and largely unentertaining spectacle that bears very little resemblance to the Japanese original, meaning it’s on the whole extremely disappointing.

There’s one good thing about this though, and that’s Godzilla himself. Not only does he look a lot cooler in comparison to the stupid dinosaur in the American film, but his epic roar makes a triumphant return, and along with his increased height, is nearly as cool as he was in the original.

But apart from that, it’s all downhill. There are various action sequences throughout, and although there are some impressive special effects, the battles involving Godzilla are usually extremely long-winded and dull to watch, ruining the only parts of the film that could be at all exciting.

However, the main reason that this film isn’t at all enthralling is the terrible, terrible pacing. It kicks off with a bang, with a pretty epic battle at the beginning against Godzilla, however afterwards, he doesn’t make any sort of appearance for nearly another 45 minutes, meaning that period of time is extremely boring.

What makes it even more dull is what actually happens, or doesn’t happen, in that time. Basically, there’s a giant flying rock in Tokyo Bay, and once Godzilla retreats back to the sea, the human characters (who are rarely even thought about in this film) just speculate what it may be for 45 minutes.

The end of the film is a big-scale battle sequence, however it’s so long and repetitive that it completely tires you out, and like the rest of the film, fails to entertain you in any way, so that’s why it gets a 4.3 from me.