GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004)

 

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004)

Tagline: Earth: Out-numbered, Out-monstered, Out-done.

(Action, Adventure, Kaiju’s Kicking Your Teeth In) [PG-13]

It’s dangerous here…

So what, everywhere is dangerous at the moment. 

So in this one, some aliens known as Xilians come to earth to basically win us over with smooth-talking and dog-hating but when the leader is discovered and killed a ruthless leader takes over. His methods are all about putting a beat down on the earthling “cattle” and unleashing the earth’s monsters to destroy the world. The aliens control all of earth’s monsters using something called M-Base except for Mothra and Godzilla (and Godzilla’s suggested “son” Minilla, but he hardly factors in here). It is decided that the Earth Defense Force is to be put into action to stop the onslaught, but they fail and earth’s last resort…Godzilla is awakened from an icy tomb to fight the final wars. Can Godzilla and earth’s last remaining humans fend off the Xilians and a new monster called Monster X? 

First off let me say the Godzilla design in this movie is just okay. His ears are sticking out more than usual (I thought this was just an odd choice) and the spikes on his back start further down. The face does look pretty cool, but I still think Legendary’s design or the GODZILLA 2000 design are better. Where this movie stood really strong is in the new Gigan design. I mean, this design is freaking incredible. I am not a big Gigan fan, but this version just looked epic. TOHO really did try and cram every major kaiju from their catalog into this thing and I give them props for that. 

Cinematically this movie is pretty solid I actually like some of the filtered looks they used to set the overall aesthetic. You can tell that TOHO wanted a very fast pace but wasn’t skimping on the model work and effects by any means. It’s one of the few Godzilla movies that actually seemed to really take a lot into account regarding the human story and bringing a lot of background to the table regarding how mutants are now a thing, and no one is shocked that aliens are suddenly doing talk shows, etc. I thought this movie also did a solid job on the alien design once you get past their human-looking skin. Typically in a TOHO movie if you want aliens you are just throwing black sunglasses on everyone and telling them to dress like David Bowie. 

The Odd- Oh man, this movie is seriously over the top and that might be why I loved it so much. In one scene the mutants protecting earth completely turn a kaiju they could have eaten for months into dust. I won’t go into which one it was, but damn. We also have another scene where Anguirus (one of my favorite kaiju) is going really fast through a city then stops. That’s fine, but when he stopped they put a squeal in there like the sound a car's tires would make. It’s freakin hilarious. Also – if you watch closely for some reason we get 2 Gigans in this movie? How the…? I also thought it was weird to make Zilla (the Godzilla from the American GODZILLA (1998) the only kaiju to be all CGI. I get that the design might have been tough, but if you can pull off some of these other kaiju using suits, I think you could have also gone with one for Zilla as well. 

What I Didn’t Like – I loved that TOHO brought back all of these kaiju but most of the fight scenes are almost too fast. I would have liked to have seen Godzilla get tossed around a bit as more of a love letter to the past movies than a “Godzilla is completely invincible” approach. I also would have preferred that they took a more serious approach to this film considering it was a 50TH Anniversary movie for Godzilla and was rumored to be the last. This thing at times comes across as more of a comedy than anything. Some of the older Godzilla movies are funny by today’s standards but clearly were not meant to be comedies. Finally, I wish they had given us the full Hedorah fight scene. It seems like that fight especially was barely in the film. 

Overall I love Godzilla movies and this one is no exception, but I can’t give it anything higher than a 5 out of 7. They did pull out all the stops and for that, I have to give them props. However, the choice to over-focus on the human story in this storyline was almost detrimental. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TOHO PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.  

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