There’s a scene in Godzilla 1985 wherein, from the safety of the Pentagon, a brooding Raymond Burr witnesses the destruction of Tokyo at the hands of a giant dinosaur via satellite feed. The shocking assault prompts much soul-searching and brow-furrowing from the military brass around him, to which Burr’s character — seasoned American journalist Steve Martin — eventually musters a response. “He’s looking for something… searching,” he intones. “If only we could figure out what it is before it’s too late.”
In any other movie, it might have been a call to arms — especially for a top-billed actor portraying a character defined by his vocation’s investigative regard. Instead, as one of the world’s major cities crumbles in the face of a global existential threat, the men opt to stay put and ponder… for the entire movie. They might as well have been watching Supermarket Sweep.
