By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Original language title: Gojira: Fainaru uôzu
Country: australia, china, japan, united_states
Year: 2005
Running time: 125
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399102/combined
Tom says: “at times…. there’s quite a few verybad decisions in this movie (as with just about every Godzilla movie). I have several reactions to this movie.
‘The cheesy bits are AWFUL. There’s one scene early on set in New York City involving a pimp, a cop and a bum. Or at least what someone Japanese would think a pimp, a cop and a bum from New York City would act like. The cop is even overdubbed with an even worse Brooklyn accent than anything I can imagine originally being there. Luckily Rodan breaks up this painful scene rather quick.
“Then, there is the part of me that’s a little disappointed. The best giant monster (from here on referred to as Kaiju) movies are still Shusuke Kaneko’s Gamera trilogy from the 90s. Now, I have nothing against Gamera. I love the Gamera trilogy. But Gamera is a giant turtle. A GIANT TURTLE. There is no way that Gamera should have the better post-70s Kaiju movies. But there you have it.
“And finally, there’s the part of me that LOVED it. Unlike Emmerich and Devlin, who made the unwatchable American 1998 GODZILLA despite admitting not liking Godzilla movies, it’s quite obvious that Ryuhei Kitamura (VERSUS; ALIVE) loves Godzilla. There are several nods to the old films of Toho Kaiju, from the invading aliens first appearing wearing glasses not unlike the ones worn from the aliens in MONSTER ZERO, to quick clips from WAR OF THE GARGANTUANS and YOG THE SPACE MONSTER in the opening credits.
“And then there is the undisputed star of GODZILLA: FINAL WARS. And amazingly enough, it’s not the King of the Monsters. It’s the former star of mixed martial arts competition (and I swear I didn’t know this until I looked it up) Don Frye. The man can’t act and his line delivery is stilted and full of ham. But he’s a combination between Jesse ‘the Body’ Ventura and Patrick Warburton. And if you ain’t gonna love that, then there’s no hope for our little planet. And he gets to deliver the best line in movie history (see my new signature).
“Finally, there’s the big G himself. This is the best portrayal of Godzilla since the very first movie. He just attacks EVERYTHING. Taking no time for a breather. All the monsters are pretty damn cool in this movie, often mixing man-in-suit and toy tanks with CGI elements. Almost everyone makes an appearance here: Rodan, Angurus, King Caesar, Gigan, Manda, Ebirah, those stupit spider and preying mantis whose name I can’t remember, Mothra, Hell, even the Smog Monster. Also, a giant American lizard who borrowed the Godzilla name a few years back even shows up.
“I’m still on the fence on how to rate this movie. There are five Godzilla movies I would consider Great (GODZILLA 54, VS. MOTHRA 64, MONSTER ZERO, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK). I’m not quite sure if this one measures up yet. It’s definitely better than the next tier (including both vs. MechaGodzillas (93, 03), vs King Ghidorah, vs King Kong, some others). And it’s certainly better than any summer big budget flick I’ve seen this year (and I’ve seen them all). And you better believe it’s better than CITIZEN KANE, SEVEN SAMURAI or CASABLANCA (I’m not sure if I’m joking here…)
“So in the end, see this movie. Groan at the painful parts, laugh at the scenery chewing and cheer when Godzilla kicks American Lizard ass.
“One hundred million cats.”
“Listen kid, there’s two things you didn’t know about Earth: me… and Godzilla.” – Captain Gordon, GODZILLA: FINAL WARS”
Michael says: “It’s the ‘last’ film in the Godzilla series, released 50 years after the radioactive lizard first reared its ugly head. To celebrate such an occasion, Toho Studios tapped director Ryuhei Kitamura (VERSUS) to give the big guy a kinetic, badass send-off to match his career. After 2001’s GODZILLA, MOTHRA, KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK, surely the pinnacle of Godzilla films, I had high expectations for GODZILLA: FINAL WARS. Kitamura opens the film with images of Godzilla through the years from his debut. The big guy in the rubber suit has changed in 50 years; sometimes vicious, sometimes righteous, sometimes defender of little children. To capture Godzilla’s wide-ranging career, Kitamura borrows elements from nearly every Godzilla film (and quite a few other films too) and inserts them into FINAL WARS. The result is a sloppy, hokey, silly, mess that somehow still manages to be entertaining.
“Even the plot is recycled, as Chadd noted, borrowing heavily from 1968’s DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. Basically, aliens have come to earth pretending to be friendly, all the while controlling a gaggle of the greatest kaiju (monsters) to attack various cities around the world. Ultimately, with mankind on the brink of elimination, Captain Gordon, an American, blowhard cowboy who helped imprison Godzilla at the South Pole years ago, takes a small group to release Godzilla from his icy prison and have him take on all the monsters. Add to the mix something silly about mutants, and Earth Defense Force, lots of martial arts and a bunch of MATRIX-like special effects, and you’ve got the basic idea.
“For me the beauty of the Godzilla movies comes from the monsters. Nine times out of ten, I could care less about the human characters the filmmakers’ try to make you focus on. While the human cast in FINAL WARS is amusing in its stereotypicality, they firmly fall into this bunch, and I felt far too much time was spent on them. With a running time of just over 2 hours, we could easily have enjoyed 30 – 45 minutes less of the human cast, and more of the monsters.
“Ah those monsters… Godzilla is in rare form, tough, arrogant, and sporting a wickedly no-holds barred style. After hinting early on that Mothra (and you know for me, it’s all about Mothra) would be making an appearance, I had to wait until the last act for her appearance! But it was worth the wait. Mothra is the sole monster who fights against the aliens with Godzilla, and she has an awesome showdown with her ancient foe, Gigan, the cyborg monster. I am once again filled with Mothra love! I had also been excited to see Rodan in action again, since I haven’t really seen any significant Rodan appearances since 1965’s MONSTER ZERO. Unfortunately, while his destruction of New York City was fun, his subsequent battle with Godzilla alongside King Caesar (don’t ask) and Anguilius was pretty disappointing. Rodan was not his usual self. One last monster I was thrilled to see in action was Manda. While I have never really seen Manda do all that much before, I’ve always been intrigued by the dragon-like sea serpent from her brief cameos in older films. Manda has a great scene early on that included one of the few great monster effects. (The best effect was without a doubt when Mothra finishes off Gigan.)
“I found it unusual also that Kitamura balanced the badass Godzilla of recent films with the sentimentality that plagued the monsters middle career. The inexplicable and pivotal use of Minya (Godzilla’s ‘son’) was just flat out dumb.
“So ultimately GODZILLA: FINAL WARS was good hokey fun, and somewhat disappointing. Fortunately there are plenty of Godzilla films of old that I still haven’t seen, and no matter how hokey, I always get a thrill seeing Mothra soar into battle. 3 ½ cats”