An iguana nest is exposed to a nuclear test in French Polynesia. A Japanese fishing vessel is attacked by a giant creature and only one man survives. Doctor Nick Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick), a scientist with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is in Chernobyl studying the effects of radiation on wildlife but is interrupted by a man from the U.S. State Department. In Tahiti, a Frenchman questions the traumatized survivor of the ship sinking, who keeps saying, “Gojira.” Nick is sent to Panama and Jamaica to study a pattern of wreckage and discovers that skin samples in the shipwreck belong to an unknown mutation.
It travels to New York City, leaving a trail of destruction. The city is evacuated by the U.S. military. And as Nick suggests, they try to draw out the creature with a huge pile of fish. Their attempt to kill it fails. Using a blood sample, Nick determines that it reproduces asexually and is collecting food for its offspring. Nick runs into his ex-girlfriend, Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), a news reporter. She uncovers a classified tape concerning the creature’s origin and turns it over to the media. Her boss, Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer) uses the tape in his own report, calling it Godzilla.
Nick is removed from the operation and disowns Audrey. He is kidnapped by the mysterious Frenchman, Philippe Roaché (Jean Reno), a member of the French Secret Service. He and his team have been watching so they can cover up the role of France in the nuclear testing that produced Godzilla. They believe there is a nest of its offspring in New York somewhere and co-operate with Nick. Godzilla appears again and returns to the Hudson River, where a U.S. Navy submarine attacks it. The authorities believe it is dead.
Nick and Phillipe’s team followed by Audrey and her cameraman--Victor “Animal” Palotti (Hank Azaria)--find a nest of 200 eggs inside Madison Square Garden. They begin to hatch and the strike team is attacked by the offspring. It has become Aliens meets Jurassic Park. Hiding in the Broadcast Booth, they send out a live news report to alert the military. They escape just before Madison Square Garden is bombed into submission. Audrey and Nick reconcile. The adult Godzilla emerges from the ruins, enraged. It chases the four survivors across Manhattan, fleeing in a taxi. They trap Godzilla in the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge and the air force attacks and kills it. Everyone celebrates. Audrey quits working for Caiman and leaves with Nick. Philippe leaves for France with a tape Animal made. In the ruins of Madison Square Garden, an egg hatches.
The film was directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich, a properly spectacular film for him. It was dedicated to Godzilla creator Tomoyuki Tanaka, who had just died. There was supposed to be a trilogy of Godzilla movies written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. Emmerich rewrote the script with producer Dean Devlin, and because it did not make enough money, there was no trilogy. It received negative reviews but has grown in fans’ estimation since. Toho Studios produced a four-page, single-spaced memo describing Godzilla in detail. This was not actually sent to the creature designers and was never adhered to. Later, Toho Studios began to break those rules too.
The production took the project seriously and resisted attempts to introduce high camp, though there is a lot of sly humor. I loved the French Secret Service, unable to get a decent cup of coffee. Patrick Tatopoulos was hired to design a more modern Godzilla—faster, scarier, and repulsively reptilian, with a thrust-out chin copied from the tiger Shere Khan from Jungle Book. I had no particular emotional connection with the original man in a Godzilla suit, and so I was quite impressed. But unhappy fans called it GINO, or Godzilla in Name Only. It climbed out of the river into Fulton’s Fish Market like the Beast from Twenty Thousand Fathoms.