Final Wars: Why all the Hate?

[shinmattiathekaiju]

What qualities, may I ask, does Godzilla vs Megalon have that make it a weaker film than Final Wars?

There was ZERO character development, stock footage galore, and the pacing was lousy. Cheesy, and infamous for being the movie that gets look down upon as "cheap children's entertainment." Don't get me wrong, I like Vs. Megalon, but to say it's a better film than Final Wars is quite remarkable.[/quote]

While the characters and story suck in Godzilla vs. Megalon, the fight scenes and the car chases are better than anything in GFW. When it comes to the important parts of the film, there is little to no stock footage, and you can tell that the filmmakers are trying their best to make this film entertaining. And they succeed. It's just the kind of film that you can turn your brain off to, and just enjoy some 70s Godzilla action. On top of that, the MST3K version of it some of the best enjoyment one will get in an hour and a half.Godzilla: Final Wars, on the other hand, is not entertaining. The parts that would be entertaining are over before the entertainment can begin. I really don't feel like explaining why, since I've done that already.
Basically, I still stand by what I said in my last post:

Godzilla vs. Megalon is entertaining as hell and isn't a big middle finger to the Godzilla fanbase, unlike GFW.

[/quote]


Wait! So you disliked Godzilla's protrayal in Final Wars but yet, you like to see Godzilla being humiliated by a guy and two robots? I'm confused.

[The Midnight Man]

Edit: Didn't know he was talking about the MST3K version. D'oh.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

There was ZERO character development, stock footage galore, and the pacing was lousy. Cheesy, and infamous for being the movie that gets look down upon as "cheap children's entertainment." Don't get me wrong, I like Vs. Megalon, but to say it's a better film than Final Wars is quite remarkable.

I don't watch Godzilla vs. Megalon to watch character development. I watch it to see some cheesy yet enjoyable monster fights. And you know what? The film delivers on that. If you're watching this film for character development, then you're watching the wrong movie.

As for the stock footage, they use it in big chunks, not all over the place like Godzilla vs. Gigan. There are essentially entire scenes that are nothing but stock footage, but there are only two or three of them in the entire film. The final fight, for example, has little to no stock footage. The only scenes that really over use stock footage are the military attack scenes and Megalon's attack on the city.

And the pacing...I really don't have any problems with Godzilla vs. Megalon's pacing.

Godzilla vs. Megalon actually succeeds at being entertaining at times, especially the MST3K version. GFW, on the other hand, is very boring and insulting to watch.

Wait! So you disliked Godzilla's protrayal in Final Wars but yet, you like to see Godzilla being humiliated by a guy and two robots? I'm confused.

...Except that, Godzilla isn't being humiliated in the MST3K version of Godzilla vs. Megalon. They don't utterly destroy Godzilla's reputation, they just poke fun at his expense. As I recall, they don't really rip the movie apart either, they just joke about the ridiculous situations of the movie. Which, let's face it, all Godzilla films have ridiculous situations in them.

Also, even if MST3K were humiliating Godzilla, they're just doing it in good fun. It's not like they're throwing out insults at Godzilla, his creators and his fans. GFW, however, is insulting to Godzilla's fanbase, for it's lack of care and attention to what made this movie franchise so wonderful to watch.

[kpa]

I looked it up and found that I was at least right about Anguirus, meaning that there were suits that used animatronics.

"Looked it up" where, exactly? To my knowledge, there is very little written about FINAL WARS in English outside of articles in G-Fan magazine and possibly David Kalat's revised edition of his book (and even that's a big maybe). Other than that, I'd love to know what this supposed source is.

I think I get the meaning though. Did you think that I was talking about pneumatic or hydraulically driven fully animatronic props, like the Rex from Jurassic Park or the Hero Alien in AVP that do not use suit actors to make them move? If so, I'm sorry about the misunderstanding.

Yes, that is what I thought you meant, originally.

Apologies for jumping into an old discussion, but I may have some relevant info. "Animatronics" was initially used for the big mechanical puppets created for Disneyland or movies like JURASSIC PARK, but I've heard FX artists use it to also describe mechanical features built into a suit or mask to help create lifelike movements.

Shinichi Wakasa and I have talked about the animatronics in the Godzilla/daikaiju suits. Years ago he told me that time and budget didn't allow for much of that for the FINAL WARS monsters, so most of them only had mobile jaws and (maybe) eyes that moved back and forth... this included Godzilla, who couldn't even blink in the film. The only character with extensive animatronic features was Minya, and that was done since he had to interact with people and therefore needed more range in his performance.

[CatfaceFourtoes]

Thanks for pointing that out. There were things about Minya in Final Wars that just screamed Jim Henson's Dinosaurs or TNMT when I saw it. When watching behind the scenes featurettes about those shows the term "animatronics" was tossed about a lot, so I applied the term to the Minya character in Final Wars.

[Living Corpse]

I hate some of the wasted potential.


Kamacura's power to turn invisible and fly super fast could have made for an interesting fight had the film makers not wasted it by having the fight end in seconds. Done well I imagine the fight would have turned out like the one in Megaguirus what with Kamacura's using it's speed to hit and run and the invisibility would have complicated it further for Godzilla. That would have been cool.

But no, they wasted potential for a cool fight by having Godzilla kill him in one swift throw. Such bull.

[shinmattiathekaiju]

I hate some of the wasted potential.


Kamacura's power to turn invisible and fly super fast could have made for an interesting fight had the film makers not wasted it by having the fight end in seconds. Done well I imagine the fight would have turned out like the one in Megaguirus what with Kamacura's using it's speed to hit and run and the invisibility would have complicated it further for Godzilla. That would have been cool.

But no, they wasted potential for a cool fight by having Godzilla kill him in one swift throw. Such bull.

Ditto.

[Godzillabrawler]

GFW, on the other hand, is very boring and insulting to watch.

Insulting if you enjoy the Showa era. Boring if you don't enjoy Godzilla handing monsters' their asses left and right.

I'm in neither camp, so if saying Final Wars is better than Vs. Megalon is wrong, than I don't want to be right.

[Living Corpse]

Boring if you don't enjoy Godzilla handing monsters' their asses left and right.

That is boring, it's more fun when Godzilla actually has to try to beat the other monster, especially if they're equal to him or Superior.

No offense to you but I just find it more fun with the monsters actually trying to kill or knock each other out instead of just flicking them away and shrugging.

[shinmattiathekaiju]

GFW, on the other hand, is very boring and insulting to watch.

Insulting if you enjoy the Showa era. Boring if you don't enjoy Godzilla handing monsters' their asses left and right.

I'm in neither camp, so if saying Final Wars is better than Vs. Megalon is wrong, than I don't want to be right.

IS actually more fun when Godzilla is struggling to defeat the other monsters. Easy fights are boring, thats why the final duel in Revenge Of The Fallen is dissapointing(other than having the villain builded up as an invincible monster).

[Godzillabrawler]

Boring if you don't enjoy Godzilla handing monsters' their asses left and right.

That is boring, it's more fun when Godzilla actually has to try to beat the other monster, especially if they're equal to him or Superior.

IS actually more fun when Godzilla is struggling to defeat the other monsters. Easy fights are boring, thats why the final duel in Revenge Of The Fallen is dissapointing(other than having the villain builded up as an invincible monster).

My excuse for that? Godzilla is on steroids. Yes, I'm saying I think FW Godzilla is just that strong.

Besides, Monster X and Keizer Ghidorah were holding their own and winning at points, so it's not like there wasn't anything like you two suggested in the film.

[shinmattiathekaiju]

Boring if you don't enjoy Godzilla handing monsters' their asses left and right.

That is boring, it's more fun when Godzilla actually has to try to beat the other monster, especially if they're equal to him or Superior.

IS actually more fun when Godzilla is struggling to defeat the other monsters. Easy fights are boring, thats why the final duel in Revenge Of The Fallen is dissapointing(other than having the villain builded up as an invincible monster).

My excuse for that? Godzilla is on steroids. Yes, I'm saying I think FW Godzilla is just that strong.

Besides, Monster X and Keizer Ghidorah were holding their own and winning at points, so it's not like there wasn't anything like you two suggested in the film.

Except that the final match in Final Wars could have been better if it wasn't for Ozaki and the Xillien leader.

[Living Corpse]

Besides, Monster X and Keizer Ghidorah were holding their own and winning at points, so it's not like there wasn't anything like you two suggested in the film.

I'll admit, I actually like the Monster X/ Kaizer Ghidorah fights mainly cause they seemed evenly matched but I got frustrated that everytime the fight was getting good they'd cut to

Except that the final match in Final Wars could have been better if it wasn't for Ozaki and the Xillien leader.

This. I'm sitting here like yeah this fight is getting intense and then it cuts to some drams bullshit between Ozaki and the Xillien kid that no one cares about and I'm like "I don't care about this shit, I came here for Godzilla! Stop butting in everytime the fights getting good and let me enjoy it!"

I've said my piece about this many time so I'm just gonna stop here, I'd rather not go down this road again.

[Viva la revolucion!]

I kinda like Godzilla Final Wars. It's artsy, and brings the dignity back to monster movies that was lost with Godzilla 2000. Screw Kaneko, Kitamura is the Godzilla director I'm looking for.,

[Goji]

..What? There is nothing "artsy" about this film.

[Megalon-5]

It's about as artsy as any of Michael Bay's flicks. Godzilla vs. Megalon had way more class than it.

[Viva la revolucion!]

I think the use of color tinted filter adds to the visuals and makes it unique and artsy, creating a sort of photographic rainbow, it's very nice.

[Megalon-5]

Battlefield Earth made use of similar filters and nobody's praising it as an artistic film. Yeah, there's a couple stylistic tricks in FW, but there's no substance to it. It's just an empty parody of Godzilla mixed in with ripoffs of other films.

[JVM]

Viva le revolucion isn't using "artsy" for the same meaning the rest of us would understand it.

[Legion1979]

I think the use of color tinted filter adds to the visuals and makes it unique and artsy, creating a sort of photographic rainbow, it's very nice.

Guess there's a first time for everything. I've NEVER heard anyone praise the shit-tastic color filters in this horrid movie.