Godzilla: Final Wars And The Future?
77Final Wars
Angirus
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Godzilla - Final Wars
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Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
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Godzilla - Tokyo S.O.S.
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Versus
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Final Film?
Well, in 2004 we saw Godzilla: Final Wars, supposedly the last and greatest Godzilla movie. Yeah right! Another reviewer hit the nail on the head when he said this movie plays like a greatest hits album or a video game. Overall, I found it disappointing. It was unabashedly unoriginal, which was a shame because I so liked director Ryuhei Kitamura’s previous movies, especially Versus, which was very original. Even the opening title sequence was a disappointment, simply a montage of previous Godzilla movies with some modern music, how boring! Everything in this movie is meant to remind you of the past, particularly the Showa era movies of the 60’s and 70’s. This film is a hodgepodge of many different movies. It’s Godzilla times The Matrix, times X-men, times Equilibrium (a pretty good Christian Bale sci-fi movie featuring Gun Katta fighting), and a little bit of Dragon Ball Z thrown in for good measure. It feature no less than 13 monsters, which is part of the problem. I didn’t really like Godzilla’s design either, which is also a mixture of various Godzillas. Kitamura said he wanted a Godzilla that could run, so he’s much thinner and lighter. He’s too thin in my opinion and lacks mass and accentuates the fact that it’s an actor in a suit.
But my main problem with this movie is the battle scenes. There are far too many and too short, most lasting less than a minute, sometimes less than thirty seconds. They lack any real drama. This goes for the rest of the movie itself. Kitamua wanted to make a fast-paced movie and he does. It keeps our head spinning. There are so many monsters, that there is almost no story or character development. This is in sharp contrast to the previous two installments in the series, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., the Kiryu saga, which are much better movies.
Godzilla: Final Wars does have its moments. The scenes at the Antarctic were original and cool. Also, the fight between Godzilla and his three former allies, Anguirus, Rodan, and King Cessar is pretty fun. It’s notable that he doesn’t kill them, only knocks them out. My favorite character is the new Anguirus. (or Angilas as I grew up with him) This scrappy fan favorite has a new look and cool new attack and frankly steals many scenes from Godzilla. He more entertaining. If you’re a fan, of course you’ll want to see it and have fun. But if want a good Godzilla movie, look elsewhere, particularly Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, Giant Monsters All-Out Attack my personal favorite or revisit the past Showa movies.
The Future?
As a fan I’m really concerned about the future and longevity of Godzilla. Final Wars was made because interest in Godzilla has been waning and I think I know why. He’s been built up too much. He’s too unbeatable. This was a trend that really started in the millennium series and was most apparent in Final Wars. In years past, we knew Godzilla to be the hero and the King of the Monsters, but we never thought him to be unbeatable. He’s been defeated many times. Watching a good Godzilla movie is like watching a good Rocky movie. You want to see him get knocked down and then get back up. In Final Wars, He beat all the world monsters single handed without breaking a sweat. When you create a monster who is completely invincible, he ceases to be very interesting. Would you pay to see Rocky if he won all his fights by knock out in thirty seconds?
Regardless of how these movies were marketed,(being double billed with a kids anime movie like Hamutaro) they were really made with the adult fans in mind. We adult fans prefer the darker Godzilla.(I know I do!) and may boohoo the more childish movies of the 60’s and 70’s, but as a kid, those were some of my favorites. I liked seeing Minya in Son of Godzilla and I wanted to be the little boy in All Monsters Attack who had a magical transistor radio and could travel to monster island. The child fans of today are the adult fans of tomorrow. I don’t think Toho has done enough to build a fan base with children and that’ why interest is waning. Living in Japan, I can talk to a lot of kids and they don’t talk much about Godzilla. Boys talk about Kamen Rider or even Ultraman, and it’s hard to find Godzilla toys in the stores.
Actually I’m sure the King will return someday, but I have some advice for Toho. Drop Godzilla down a peg or two and make him a hero to children again. He doesn’t always have to be dark. And for future movies, well how about a remake of King Kong vs. Godzilla? Tag team him up ith Angilas again, or if Toho and Daiei could set aside there differences, how about a dream bout between Godzilla and Gamera? How wouldn’t pay to see that?
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Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah - Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
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Comments
I couldn't agree with you more that this movie was overrated. But I think too many kaijus was part of the problem. I wasn't really crazy about Godzilla's design, either. It had it's good points, but it's not a classic. Thanks for the comment.
Hello everyone. People have been asking me, "What Godzilla movies are good and which ones are crap"? I'll tell you what Godzilla movies are worthy of your time and which ones you might steer clear away from.
1. Godzilla (1954)-This movie kicked off the kaiju movie era in Japan. A real classic movie. Good effects, Good directing, Good film score, Good acting, Neat ending. A perfect viewing for serious minded Godzilla fans.
2. Godzilla Raids Again (Japanese version)-This film is a so-so second film but had its moments and it's a good but not perfect Godzilla movie but still worthy of your time unlike the god-awful U.S. version.
3. King Kong vs. Godzilla-A fun Godzilla for the family. Another good score by Mr. Afukube who is one of the best film composers ever. Fun for the whole family. I would strongly advise seeing the Japanese version only because its much better and the U.S. version took out nearly all of Ifukube's score. When I got the U.S. version on VHS, I sat down to watch it. I listened to the music in the americanized version and I could tell it was stock music cues.
4. Mothra vs. Godzilla-This is without a doubt the second best movie in the Showa series. I was somewhat disappointed with the ending. Godzilla getting beat up by two larvas what? Anyway, this film is good. I have it on DVD.
5. Invasion of Astro Monster-This is another so-so film but again it was worthy. Kumi Mizuno, Nick Adams, Akira Takarada and Akira Kubo made it worthwhile. The effects were good. This would be the last time the founding fathers of Godzilla: Tomoyuki Tanaka (producer),Eiji Tsubraya (Effects Director), Akira Ifukube (Score) and Ishiro Honda (Director) would work on a Godzilla movie until Destroy All Monsters in 1968.
6. Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster-This is a fun film. Though not as good as the Godzilla movies that came before it, but its worthy to check out.
7. Son of Godzilla-This movie was okay depending on your point of view. This movie was just okay enough to hold my interest.
8. Destroy All Monsters-Oh My God! This movie was fucking insane! The movie had all out Monster vs. Monster and Monster vs. Humans combat. This movie was very good indeed! Worth checking out.
9. All Monsters Attack-The first crappy Godzilla movie. Lots of stock footage, low production values, no Ifukube music at all. I have this movie on DVD. I'm glad I paid for it. I own one of the worst Godzilla movies of all freakin' time!
10. Godzilla vs. Hedorah-I found this movie to be a little bit of god and a whole lot bad! Godzilla flying? I couldn't believe what I was watching! The score was horrible! Check it out if you're new to Godzilla. If you're a serious Godzilla die hard fan like me avoid it if possible!
11. Godzilla vs. Gigan-I found this movie to be somewhat decent. This movie is a okay movie if you can get past all the stock footage that was used. It was nice to hear Akira Ifukube's music but sadly it was stock music. You can tell this film had a really low budget. See it if you're curious.
12. Godzilla vs. Megalon-Do we have to talk about this movie? Hands down the worst Godzilla movie before the messy and downright horrible American remake claimed that title.
13. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)-This movie was okay. This movie was much better than four Godzilla movies that came before it. In this movie, we were introduced to two monsters, the legendary Mechagodzilla and the infamous King Seesar.
14. Terror of Mechagodzilla-This was the last Godzilla movie for nine fucking years! This movie is okay. I think this movie is somewhat underrated. It has a cult following much like many of Toho's non-Godzilla movies.
15. The Return of Godzilla-This movie resparked my interest in Godzilla. I have seen both the Japanese and U.S. versions. The japanese version is way better. For this movie, Toho rebooted all the Godzilla movies between 1955-1975 execpt the first film. I can't understand why Toho would do this? This set up what the VS. Series would be.
16. Godzilla vs. Biollante-An okay movie. Seen it three times. It still confuses me to this day. A plant monster what? I have only the U.S. version which is thankfully the same movie. My favorite character in the Godzilla film series other than Godzilla makes her debut in the series. I think all of you Godzilla buffs know whom I talking about. Miki Sageusa appears in this movie and she's played by my favorite japanese actress Megumi Odaka.
17. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah-For me this movie was the shit back in the day when I bought it! When I watch it now, it still amazes me how they did all of these cool effects. Check it because it's that good!
18. Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)-This movie was from what I looked up on the internet originally going to be a different movie called Mothra vs. Bagan, but I guess that Toho saw what low numbers Godzilla vs. Biollante pulled in replaced the Bagan kaiju with Godzilla. This movie has elements of Mothra (1961) & Mothra vs. Godzilla. This movie introduced Battra. I never took to Battra at all. He just didn't do for me. Another thing that didn't do for me is how the hell did Miki Sageusa got a small role. I didn't see Megumi Odaka's name in the credits of the U.S. credits of the film. I bought the film on VHS a few months after buying Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. For me, this movie was good but not as great as some people make it out to be.
19. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993)-In my opinion and I know some would agree and some won't, the best or second best movie of the VS. Series. I can't tell if The Return of Godzilla or Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993) is the best movie of the VS. Series. The only thing that nearly ruined this masterpiece was the annoying Baby Godzilla. This is just the 90's version of Minilla. Otherwise a really good movie. Full of action, great storytelling. Just great overall.
19. Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla-People may hate on me for saying this but I don't care. This film was boring as hell and anyone telling different is a lier. I was pumped to see this. I invited at most 112 friends to see this on t.v. and we were really disappointed with this movie. This movie was horrible. The only good thing to come out of this film was hearing about the rather horrible Spacegodzilla.
21. Godzilla vs. Destroyah-The tagline said it all "Godzilla dies". When Godzilla died, it was worldwide news. I saw this on t.v. at first I wasn't sure if Toho could fix the damage Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla caused and I got to say, this movie was good. Add this to your Godzilla movie collection even if you have to buy Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla.
22. Godzilla 2000 (1999)-This is the U.S. version. The U.S. version is the only version of the film that I've seen. I thought it was passable at best.
23. Godzilla vs. Megagurius-A bad movie because it was awful. I can't tell you the silly plot. The Megagurius prop looked horrible. The fight was goofy. Check it out if you're the curious type.
23. GMK-Many call this the best Godzilla movie ever. I don't know why that is because the original was not good, it was great. I thought this movie was okay. That's all I'm going to say about this movie.
24. Godzilla X Mechagodzilla (2002)-A okay movie by most who seen it. I thought that this movie was somewhat enjoyable. I could be worng on this movie. Give it a chance.
25. Godzilla: Tokyo SOS-Another okay Godzilla movie. This might be the final movie of Mechagodzilla but you never know. I found this movie to be okay because of the story and picks up where Godzilla X Mechagodzilla (2002) left off.
26. Godzilla Final Wars-A kind of crappy Godzilla movie. Is it the best Godzilla movie ever....no. The worst.....no. It's kinda good and kinda bad. The good parts were enjoyable but I think that too much was placed on the human. This movie is not as skillfully done as some of the other past Godzilla movie. People might be wondering where is the american remake? I didn't include it because its not worthy of the Godzilla name! I think I didn't skip any Godzilla movies. I'll rate these movies sometime soon. Later.
Pretty long or a comment. You obviously have strong opinions about Godzilla. Actually, you missed one, Ghidoah, The Three-Headed Monster(1964). This is one of the best. In total, thre have been 28 films. (You had two 19s and two 23s). You really should tart hubbing.
These are my ratings for the Godzilla movies.
1. Godzilla (1954) 9.25/10
2. Godzilla Raids Again (Japanese Version) 8.25 7/10 (U.S.)
3. King Kong vs. Godzilla (Japanese Version) 8/10 7.5 (U.S.)
4. Mothra vs. Godzilla 9.5/10
5. Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster 9/10
6. Invasion of Astro Monster 8.25/10
7. Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster 7.75/10
8. Son of Godzilla 7/10
9. Destroy All Monsters 8.75/10
10. All Monsters Attack 5/10
11. Godzilla vs. Hedorah 6/10
12. Godzilla vs. Gigan 5.5/20
13. Godzilla vs. Megalon 2/10
14. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) 8.5/10
15. Terror of Mechagodzilla 8/10
16. The Return of Godzilla 8.75/10
17. Godzilla vs. Biollante 7.75/10
18. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah 8.75/10
19. Godzilla vs. Mothra 8/10
20. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993) 9/10
21. Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla 4.5/10
22. Godzilla vs. Destroyah 9.5/10
23. Godzilla 2000 (1999) 8/10
24. Godzilla vs. Megagurius 6/10
25. GMK 8/10
26. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (2002) 7.5/10
27. Godzilla: Tokyo SOS 8.5/10
28. Godzilla Final Wars 7/10
If you Godzilla fans are happy with the ratings that I gave the Godzilla films tell me how and why and if you're not tell me so as well because I welcome opinions from Godzilla fans. If you want me to do a list of what I think are the best and worst Godzilla films please tell me. I hope you guys are ready to hear this, Next time, I'll review some of Toho's Kaiju films that don't include Godzilla. I know you'll want to know why. I'll tell you, some people may not know about these films. So by me reviewing these classic kaiju films will open up some eyes to these films.
Thanks for the enthusiasm Don Seesareu. You obviously know our stuff. I'm interested to read more, however, I think it's time you got your own account and started making hubs of your own. It's really rewarding and you can put whatever pics or videos you want. These comment boxes are rather limiting. And you might be able to turn a profit at it.
Good Luck. I'll be your first fan.
Hello. I'm here to tell you that Godzilla Final Wars is the best Godzilla movie ever made! It's a classic! This film is flat out insane! This is my favorite Godzilla movie! I'm going to give this movie a 10 out of ten because its so perfect!
I sincerely hope you're joking.
Hey jcwin228, on tuesday a 3 disc collection called SciFi Icons of Toho Collection is coming out. I'm interested on getting it when it comes out. Maybe you or I can review the three films. The three films in this collection are Mothra, The H-Man and Battle in Outer Space. I haven't seen these three movies in a while. I want to know what you think about seeing these films for the first timw on region 1 DVD.
Sounds interesting Sir Don. I'll check it out. I've seen mothra of course, but I've only heard of the other two.
When I'm done watching Mothra, The H-Man and Battle In Outer Space, I'll include in my list of Non Godzilla kaiju movies that Toho has made. Here's how it should work. I list the movies and put a review next to them and you can rate them. You should use a number score like per se a 5/10 or something like that. 8's are good, 9's are great and 10's are legendary. Let me known about what you think of this concept.
Don Seesareu says:
4 months ago
I don't think that this is the best Godzilla movie ever. I thought that this movie was kind of crappy to be honest. It just didn't feel like a Godzilla movie. It would've been sweet to include more kaijus in the film. This movie just focused on the humans way too much. Godzilla's the big star in this film. At least this movie did deliver on some points like the fights.