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Dedicated to Tomoyuki Tanaka (1910-1997), who
produced the 1954 original and sequels, the Devlin/Emmerich
interpretation displays a redesign of Godzilla, now a large lizard
mutated after fallout from French nuclear tests. A blinding flash of
white light fills the Eastern sky. Thousands of miles away, the Pacific
Ocean churns, engulfing a freighter. On another part of the globe,
giant footsteps plow a path through miles of Panamanian forests,
Tahitian villages, and Jamaican beaches. In the Ukraine, biologist Dr.
Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick), with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, is examining the impact of radiation on Chernobyl
earthworms. Colonel Hicks (Kevin Dunn) and a military team escort Niko
to check out giant claw marks on the beached freighter; they're joined
by paleontologists Elsie Chapman (Vicki Lewis) and Mendel Craven
(Malcolm Danare).
Blood and giant-size footprints indicate "some
sort of enormous reptile." French secret agent Philippe Roache talks to
the freighter's only survivor, who keeps repeating, "Gojira...Gojira."
Tatopoulos et al arrive in Manhattan's Fulton Fish Market where
Godzilla surfaces, moving on to the NYC financial district where Mayor
Ebert (Michael Lerner) is speaking. Ambitious Audrey Timmonds (Maria
Pitillo), who works for TV news anchor Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer),
is Niko's former girlfriend, and she uses this to her professional
advantage. As the wave of destruction continues, Niko and Roache track
the creature through the evacuated city and discover Godzilla's eggs
about to hatch in Madison Square Garden. They are followed by Audrey
and TV cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti (Hank Azaria), and soon the
hatching Godzilla offspring prowl the Garden corridors, leading to a
final showdown.
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