Godzilla: The Movie (1998)

The opening credits play over a montage of French nuclear tests in French Polynesia. A lizard nest is irradiated by the fallout.

Decades later, a Japanese fishing vessel is suddenly attacked by an unseen, giant creature in the South Pacific Ocean. Only one sailor survives. Traumatized, he is questioned by a mysterious Frenchman in a hospital in Panama about what he saw. His only reply is "Gojira."

Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick), an NRC scientist, located in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine researching the effects of radiation on wildlife, is interrupted by the arrival of an agent of the U.S. State Department. He is sent to Tahiti and Jamaica, escorted by the military, to observe the wreckage of the recovered Japanese fishing ship with massive scratch marks on it. and a set of massive footprints in the grassy soil. A Frenchman is also there, observing the scene, and introduces himself as Philippe Roache (Jean Reno), an insurance agent. Aboard a military aircraft, Nick identifies skin samples he discovered in the shipwreck as belonging to an unknown animal. He dismisses the military's theory that the creature is a dinosaur, theorizing that its origins in French Polynesia make it a mutant created by nuclear testing.

Godzilla (as later mispronounced by the media) travels to Manhattan and creates havoc in the city, and then disappears. The city is evacuated as the military attempt to destroy it. With Nick's help, they set up a fish trap to lure Godzilla out into the open. It takes the bait, but is scared off by small arms fire and runs off, while some of the missiles accidentally destroy the Flatiron Building. When two military HMMWVs give chase, the creature retaliates by forcefully exhaling, sending the HMMWVs flying. The creature's breath is ignited upon coming into contact with sparks caused by the vehicles hitting the concrete; thus giving the illusion of it breathing fire on the HMMWVs. It is then chased by three military helicopters that shoot missiles that miss it and hit the Chrysler Building. Godzilla escapes with no injury. Nick later collects a blood sample, and learns that it reproduces asexually and is collecting food for its offspring.

Aspiring journalist Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), Nick's former girlfriend from college, discovers a classified tape in Nick's tent that concerns the origins of "Godzilla." She considers this her lucky break, but her boss, Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer), reports on the tape as if it were his discovery. The tape plays on television and the military is outraged. Nick is thrown off the team and kidnapped by Philippe, who reveals himself to be an agent of the French Directorate-General for External Security (Secret Service). He and his team have been keeping close watch on the events and are planning to cover up their role in the nuclear accident that spawned the creature. Suspecting a nest somewhere in the city, they cooperate with Nick to find and destroy it.

The military lures Godzilla out again, trying to trap it in the open ground of Central Park, but fails since it remembers the last attempt and runs off before firing can be commenced. Godzilla then dives into the waters of the Hudson, where it is attacked by three U.S. Navy nuclear submarines with homing torpedoes. It swims straight into one sub and gashes a hole in her hull. The torpedoes follow in, destroying the sub. Torpedoes from the other subs continue to track Godzilla which goes into the NYC Sea-wall. The subs' monitors show a "Target Destroyed" sign. Godzilla then drifts away, unconscious.

Nick and Philippe's special ops team, surreptitiously followed by Audrey and her cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti (Hank Azaria), make their way through the subway tunnels to Madison Square Garden, where they find over 200 eggs. While the team plants explosives, the eggs begin to hatch and the hatchling Godzillas begin to feed on the fish left for them by their parent. When the fish run out, they begin hunting the team, who have caught the fish smell on their clothes. After failing to contain the babies and with many of Philippe's men getting eaten, Nick, Philippe, Animal, and Audrey take refuge in a TV broadcast booth. Believing that the hatchlings will eventually force humanity into extinction if they escape, Nick, Audrey, and Animal alert the authorities through a live "report" from Madison Square Garden. An immediate strike by 3 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets is authorized. The four escape seconds before the Arena is destroyed by Harpoon missiles, burning out all the baby Godzillas.

Seconds later, Godzilla, still alive, emerges from the wreckage and discovers the slaughter of its brood. Enraged, it chases the four humans around Manhattan. They manage to alert the military, who advise them to lure it out into the open, and Nick chooses the Brooklyn Bridge, where Godzilla becomes helplessly trapped in the steel suspension cables, becoming an easy target for the returning trio of fighter planes. Godzilla is hit mercilessly by missiles, falls to the ground and slowly dies.

The crowd and the military celebrate Godzilla's death, while Philippe, Audrey, Animal, and especially Nick are somewhat disheartened. Philippe quietly leaves, taking the videotape Animal had recorded, promising that he will return it after he removes certain footage from it. The film ends in the smoking ruins of Madison Square Garden where it is revealed one egg has survived the bombing. Suddenly, it begins to crack, and a baby Godzilla hatches and roars, and the screen goes black.