Frankly, I’m surprised Toho Studios or MTV never thought of this; a dream match-up on Celebrity Death Match if ever there was one. As the catchy title suggests, this isn’t the kind of video that you’ll be watching for the plot. As the production company name further suggests, “Moses vs. Godzilla” simply uses its rudimentary and silly plotline to showcase the video’s flashy and impressive computer effects and graphics. Modeled after the cornball trailers for the humongus studio epics of the 1950s and ’60s, complete with the bold yellow titles zooming into the frame with all their exclamation points flying like Shaquille O’Neal’s elbows, Brad Morris’ video takes the biblical feud between Moses (Frederick Lissau) and the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses (Armen Melkonian) and twists it. Godzilla rises from the Red Sea, blocking the famous crossing, and forcing Moses to do battle with him before he can lead the Isrælites to the Promised Land. Lissau handles this mini-epic with the same over the top melodramatic seriousness found in the classic Godzilla movies, which should take some of the sting out of it for those who feel that filmmakers shouldn’t make light of such serious events. (Tell that to Monty Python.)
But again, this is not a plot-driven video. “Moses vs. Godzilla” exists to demonstrate AVA’s visual artistry; or at least it should as the effects work here is crisp, clean and overall very impressive, if leaning a bit towards the “video gamey” side. If Morris and company stick with the effects and leave the storytelling to those who do it better, everyone will come out on top.
