GODZILLA (1998)

There are some clever and exciting sequences, but this $120 million epic of reconstituted Atomic Age trash lumbers more than it thrills. The film leaves us wanting both less and more -- less of the dull, sketchbook characters, like Matthew Broderick's blandly boyish nuclear scientist, and more of Godzilla rocking and rolling the Big Apple. The filmmakers finally stage a terrific climax with Godzilla chasing a taxi full of our heroes, then entwining himself in the Brooklyn Bridge. The episode has a madcap audacity and visual verve -- exactly what should have been there throughout the movie.