Final Wars: Why The Hate?

[eabaker]

From experience non fans seem to be far more taken with this film than die hard fans.

That's the opposite of my experience. I've shown it to several non-fans (meaning, people who mostly only see Godzilla movies if I'm the one to suggest watching them), and literally every one of them has been borderline enraged by the movie. I tend to think that fans have a much higher opinion of the movie than non-fans, because fans go into it with a predisposition towards liking the monsters for their own sakes.

[ZeppandonConfirmed]

This is one of the more mixed Godzilla films in my eyes.
While I have seen many people that absolutely love this film, there are others who don't like this film at all. While I prefer MANY more Godzilla films than this one, this one is a G film I usually enjoy, but I totally get all the hate for this one. It's not a good film. Far from it. But I enjoy it. If that makes any sense.

[daveblackeye15]

I think I've finally found a way to sum up my feelings for the film with one or two sentences.
After not watching it for a while I remember the best parts. When I re-watch it I suddenly remember all the things that drag it down and frustrate me.
A whole lot of these really stem with the final battle. There's so many super cool things about the movie but when it stops focusing on the Kaiju and focuses WAY too much on Ozaki it just drags and drags then we rush through Kaizer Ghidorah's fight.

I want to love it so badly!

[Empress Jingû]

I love Final Wars

[edgaguirus]

I don't hate it, but I feel disappointed by it. I was expecting more from a film celebrating the 50th anniversary, but the characters and pacing brought the film down. I love the monster parts, though.

[Stevo_1985]

I don't hate it, but I feel disappointed by it. I was expecting more from a film celebrating the 50th anniversary, but the characters and pacing brought the film down. I love the monster parts, though.

Personally I thought the monster fights were disrespecting the monsters themselves. Anguiras while has always pretty much lost has always been a tenacious fighter.. Hedorah was one of showa g's toughest foes I'll admit. G and Ebirah had I believe 2 encounters before the match was decided. He blew through them so fast. I mean cmon man. I'm not saying he should have won but I would expect them to put up more of a fight then that. The one monster I legitimately liked in this film was gigan. I know his redesign doesn't sit well with a lot of fans but I thought it was fantastic. Personally I would have preferred him to be a bit more intelligent but whatev.

[ZeppandonConfirmed]

The monsters were very mixed in my opinion. The ones I really liked were Gigan, Rodan, Manda, Kamacuras, and Monster X. Anguirus, Ebirah, Zilla, and Mothra were ok. Not great, but I can live with those designs. I'm not too big on Godzilla, Hedorah, and Kumonga mostly because their designs looked pretty bleh or with Kumonga's case, just dislike the monster in general. Keizer Ghidorah and King Caesar were crap in this film. One thing that kinda ticked me off was that they made a badass monster (King Caesar) and make him mediocre at best. Not bad, but I think they could have done way better with his design. Keizer Ghidorah is an interesting concept on paper, but was not executed too well. I like his powers, but his design was just a bit too sloppy in my opinion.
But hey, that's just me.

[UltramanGoji]

One thing that kinda ticked me off was that they made a badass monster (King Caesar) and make him mediocre at best.

Lol, King Caesar was never badass. He woke up, got his ass kicked by Mechagodzilla and did next to nothing while Godzilla beat MechaGodzilla.

[ZeppandonConfirmed]

One thing that kinda ticked me off was that they made a badass monster (King Caesar) and make him mediocre at best.

Lol, King Caesar was never badass. He woke up, got his ass kicked by Mechagodzilla and did next to nothing while Godzilla beat MechaGodzilla.

Well, his design was badass. Lol. Other than that, he was kind of a panzy. Lmao

[UltramanGoji]

Yeah, he looked cool in GVMG, very regal and lion-like. In GFW, he looks awful. I think it's the worst redesigned monster suit in the film.

[edgaguirus]

They should have stuck with the jewel eyes and not have given GFW KC googly eyes.

[Stevo_1985]

They should have stuck with the jewel eyes and not have given GFW KC googly eyes.

If memory serves he was a sort of golem creature anyways right? He wasn't organic so to speak.

[Mechagigan]

KC is probably the best example of how FW's art style didn't work... massive head, normal humanoid body, goofy proportions, no expressions...

[GalacticPetey]

KC is probably the best example of how FW's art style didn't work... massive head, normal humanoid body, goofy proportions, no expressions...

I have a similar issue with Rodan. He seems really humanoid this film and his proportions are weird. None of the other Rodans had this problem.

[KingKaiju]

To me, it just felt like an action or live-action anime film, that featured Godzilla. Didn't care for the whole mutant humans vs. alien. The concept sounded badass, but what could have been a modern DAM turned into Kitamura making another one of his over-the-top, and not very good, action films that happened to have Godzilla in it. The only redeeming factor for me, other than the monster designs, is the trivia of MMA/PRIDE and K-1 fighters, as K-1 and PRIDE were suuuuper popular in Japan at this time. Well... I guess it's better to just say "Japanese MMA", because Funaki technically never fought in K-1 or PRIDE, prior to this.

[ZeppandonConfirmed]

I gave Godzilla Final Wars another rewatch and it's honestly a very sloppy and not well done Godzilla film. I want to love this film, but I just can't because I simply cannot overlook all the flaws it has.

[Cookson]

I wonder if taking a little more time on the film for a summer 2005 release would have helped it.

Honestly though, it's just another G film in the series now. At the time it was a big thing because it was the 50tg, but it's no big deal now.

[edgaguirus]

Now that we have time to reflect on it, yes. We can see it for what it is rather than what we expected it to be.

[Godzillian]

I wonder if taking a little more time on the film for a summer 2005 release would have helped it.

Honestly though, it's just another G film in the series now. At the time it was a big thing because it was the 50tg, but it's no big deal now.

More time wouldn't fix it's awful script and poor pacing

[eabaker]

I wonder if taking a little more time on the film for a summer 2005 release would have helped it.

Honestly though, it's just another G film in the series now. At the time it was a big thing because it was the 50tg, but it's no big deal now.

More time wouldn't fix it's awful script and poor pacing

Well, unless that time was used for script rewrites and more editorial oversight, all by people with better taste than Kitamura.