Final Wars: Why all the Hate?

[Destroyer]

Godzilla: Final Wars is the latest G film, it came out back in 2004. I've seen it four times, and with each time, I enjoy it even more. Every time I look it up, I always find negative reviews. My question to everyone is why? Isn't Final Wars everything we want in a Godzilla movie? It has epic monster scenes, they take up a lot of the screen time, the humans aren't boring, and the music is epic. (It isn't as dramatic as the old film's, but it's still really energetic.) I'm not ashamed to say that Final Wars is my favorite Godzilla film.

So my question to you all is why not a lot of fans like Final Wars.

[Chris55]

Godzilla: Final Wars is the latest G film, it came out back in 2004. I've seen it four times, and with each time, I enjoy it even more. Every time I look it up, I always find negative reviews. My question to everyone is why? Isn't Final Wars everything we want in a Godzilla movie? It has epic monster scenes, they take up a lot of the screen time, the humans aren't boring, and the music is epic. (It isn't as dramatic as the old film's, but it's still really energetic.) I'm not ashamed to say that Final Wars is my favorite Godzilla film.

So my question to you all is why not a lot of fans like the masterpiece that is Final Wars.

Take everything you just said and reverse it. That's why some people don't like it.

[Irys X]

I guess some people just dont like to turn their brains off and watch a movie. There are some gripes i understand. Godzilla doesnt get as much screen time as he should. But the rest of it is just fun, entertaining, and wild.

[TokyoVigilante]

It's a film excessively stylized that panders to a mainstream audience instead of paying tribute to an 50 year old character. It shamelessly rips off popular American films to pad out scenes. The ratio of monster action to human action is way off kilter towards the human side and the actual monster designs are, overall, rather poor. It's a film that's overall trying to hard to be cool and appeal to an audience that wasn't interested in Godzilla.

I enjoy it because A) Other then GMK, it's the only other film in the Millennium series to really fulfill that cycles "manifesto" of delivering creative and fresh re-imaginings of the character with each film, and B) it's entertaining because of how flat-out absurd it is. But that doesn't keep it from falling on its face with how it's trying to be slick and badass.

It's a film that could never live up to the hype surrounding it as well is sort of a big deal.

[Huan_of_Valinor]

it's not even close to a masterpiece. it's the illegitimate son of a matrix\power rangers\xmen threeway with a little godzilla mixed in.

it's entertaining but it's not a good movie lol

[Destroyer]

It's a film excessively stylized that panders to a mainstream audience instead of paying tribute to an 50 year old character. It shamelessly rips off popular American films to pad out scenes. The ratio of monster action to human action is way off kilter towards the human side and the actual monster designs are, overall, rather poor. It's a film that's overall trying to hard to be cool and appeal to an audience that wasn't interested in Godzilla.

I enjoy it because A) Other then GMK, it's the only other film in the Millennium series to really fulfill that cycles "manifesto" of delivering creative and fresh re-imaginings of the character with each film, and B) it's entertaining because of how flat-out absurd it is. But that doesn't keep it from falling on its face with how it's trying to be slick and badass.

It's a film that could never live up to the hype surrounding it as well is sort of a big deal.

I'd say it payed tribute pretty well. It was basically a modern Showa film.

[TokyoVigilante]

Other then having Showa monsters and some Showa iconography (Gotengo/Xilians/Gorath/etc.), there's nothing even remotely similar stylistically between Final Wars and anything from the Showa era.

You want a modern "Showa" style Godzilla film? Try Godzilla 2000 or GMK. Godzilla: Final Wars is trying everything it can do to be as modern as it possibly can and it just fumbles around.

Besides, there's so much more to Godzilla then just what happened from 1954-1995.

[shinmattiathekaiju]

It's a film excessively stylized that panders to a mainstream audience instead of paying tribute to an 50 year old character. It shamelessly rips off popular American films to pad out scenes. The ratio of monster action to human action is way off kilter towards the human side and the actual monster designs are, overall, rather poor. It's a film that's overall trying to hard to be cool and appeal to an audience that wasn't interested in Godzilla.

I enjoy it because A) Other then GMK, it's the only other film in the Millennium series to really fulfill that cycles "manifesto" of delivering creative and fresh re-imaginings of the character with each film, and B) it's entertaining because of how flat-out absurd it is. But that doesn't keep it from falling on its face with how it's trying to be slick and badass.

It's a film that could never live up to the hype surrounding it as well is sort of a big deal.

I'd say it payed tribute pretty well. It was basically a modern Showa film.

Yes,it tried so hard to be like the showa movies other than ripping of north american blockbusters and looking like a Michael Bay movie.

[Destroyer]

Other then having Showa monsters and some Showa iconography (Gotengo/Xilians/Gorath/etc.), there's nothing even remotely similar stylistically between Final Wars and anything from the Showa era.

You want a modern "Showa" style Godzilla film? Try Godzilla 2000 or GMK. Godzilla: Final Wars is trying everything it can do to be as modern as it possibly can and it just fumbles around.

Besides, there's so much more to Godzilla then just what happened from 1954-1995.

The fights were outrageous, it wasn't as dark as the other Millennium films, and it was fun like Showa. It was DESTROY ALL MONSTERS mixed with MONSTER ZERO combined with a modern Millennium look. I wouldn't say GMK is anywhere near Showa. (When I say Showa, I'm referring to post Ghidorah.)

[shinmattiathekaiju]

Other then having Showa monsters and some Showa iconography (Gotengo/Xilians/Gorath/etc.), there's nothing even remotely similar stylistically between Final Wars and anything from the Showa era.

You want a modern "Showa" style Godzilla film? Try Godzilla 2000 or GMK. Godzilla: Final Wars is trying everything it can do to be as modern as it possibly can and it just fumbles around.

Besides, there's so much more to Godzilla then just what happened from 1954-1995.

The fights were outrageous, it wasn't as dark as the other Millennium films, and it was fun like Showa. It was DESTROY ALL MONSTERS mixed with MONSTER ZERO combined with a modern Millennium look. I wouldn't say GMK is anywhere near Showa. (When I say Show, I'm referring to post Ghidorah.)

Because Godzilla is evil? I think GMK is a very Hondaish movie due to the mystical elements.

[TokyoVigilante]

The fights were outrageous, it wasn't as dark as the other Millennium films, and it was fun like Showa. It was DESTROY ALL MONSTERS mixed with MONSTER ZERO combined with a modern Millennium look. I wouldn't say GMK is anywhere near Showa. (When I say Show, I'm referring to post Ghidorah.)

It's the continued Adventures of Generic Science Action Team with Super-plane and Godzilla that was pretty much exclusively all Godzilla was 1991-1995 (films and comic books), and three out of the six Millennium films. It's the status quo for the modern Godzilla film and Final Wars continues that tradition. Showa is everything from 1954-1975. What would you call the "pre-Ghidorah" era then? Especially since the Gotengo, one of the big staples of Final Wars, and Gorath for that matter, is from the apparently non-Showa "pre-Ghidorah" era.

GMK is about an intrepid female journalist investigating strange goings on when monsters attack that represent bigger (and topical) socio-political issues of the time. That's the premise for Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidrah, the three-headed Monster, a sub-plot in Gojira and Son of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. There's no super planes, no excessive gadgets, no giant robots or maser tanks.

[therealmccoy]

Basically everything everyone has said here. This movie tries so hard to be "cool" it's taxing. You don't pay homage to fifty years of Godzilla through ninja fights. You should do it through good monster action. Yeah, there was plenty of monster action in this one, only it was pretty lame to me. Having some of Godzilla's more memorable opponents destroying cities and evading the military only to have Godzilla basically sneeze on them and them fall over isn't everything this one could have been.

[Godzilla 2000]

GFW sucks balls.

It was a disaster in Japan. People in the industry hate it.

Not exactly the mark of a masterpiece. =/

[Gojira21]

I enoyed it for the sheer stupidity and akwardness in it. As long as i tell myself this is really not a Godzilla movie i can fairly enjoy it! lol

[Gojira-Fan]

This movie is just a dumb jumble of stuff. The story is pretty much amounts to nothing once Godzilla is freed from the ice. The movie tries way too hard to be "cool". As well, the monster fights have no tension in them because they are like 2 minutes (not even) and Godzilla just effortlessly kills his foes.

[KaneLocke]

Godzilla: Final Wars is the latest G film, it came out back in 2004. I've seen it four times, and with each time, I enjoy it even more. Every time I look it up, I always find negative reviews. My question to everyone is why? Isn't Final Wars everything we want in a Godzilla movie? It has epic monster scenes, they take up a lot of the screen time, the humans aren't boring, and the music is epic. (It isn't as dramatic as the old film's, but it's still really energetic.) I'm not ashamed to say that Final Wars is my favorite Godzilla film.

So my question to you all is why not a lot of fans like the masterpiece that is Final Wars.

What THE HELL movies are you watching?

The characters are boring, cliched, and in the case of our lead, ripped off. The monster scenes are mostly "blink and you miss it," and FAR from epic. There was so much potential for awesomeness in the 3-on-1 confrontation, but that dropped the ball completely by making it nearly as short as every other fight. The "climactic final battle" was anything but. And, no, the monsters do NOT take up a lot of screen time. Look at every other film in the series. At least the final battles take up sometimes close to have the screen time. Even though GvsSG is one of the most reviled films in the series, it's smart enough to make the final confrontation a truly epic, up-hill struggle for the heroes.

The music is the ONLY redeeming factor, and even THAT is hit-and-miss.

[Destroyer]

The fights were outrageous, it wasn't as dark as the other Millennium films, and it was fun like Showa. It was DESTROY ALL MONSTERS mixed with MONSTER ZERO combined with a modern Millennium look. I wouldn't say GMK is anywhere near Showa. (When I say Show, I'm referring to post Ghidorah.)

It's the continued Adventures of Generic Science Action Team with Super-plane and Godzilla that was pretty much exclusively all Godzilla was 1991-1995 (films and comic books), and three out of the six Millennium films. It's the status quo for the modern Godzilla film and Final Wars continues that tradition. Showa is everything from 1954-1975. What would you call the "pre-Ghidorah" era then? Especially since the Gotengo, one of the big staples of Final Wars, and Gorath for that matter, is from the apparently non-Showa "pre-Ghidorah" era.

GMK is about an intrepid female journalist investigating strange goings on when monsters attack that represent bigger (and topical) socio-political issues of the time. That's the premise for Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidrah, the three-headed Monster, a sub-plot in Gojira and Son of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. There's no super planes, no excessive gadgets, no giant robots or maser tanks.

(Laughs out loud.) You make very good points, I'll rephrase. It covers ALL of Showa, you have Gotengo battling Manda, Minya, who hasn't been seen since DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, is back. The whole beginning screams Raids Again. True with GMK, what I meant was that most (besides the original 1954 one) Showa films were "light" whereas GMK had a very dark feel.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

Why all the hate on GFW? Because it's the worst Godzilla film.

Unlike every other Godzilla film, GFW is not entertaining. The parts that would be entertaining are way to short to enjoy. By the time the fight would get cool, the fight is already over. Also, nothing is original about this film. Everything was stolen from something else, mostly The Matrix, Star Wars or other Godzilla/Toho Daikaiju films. But the worst offender, is that in this 50th anniversary tribute to Godzilla, there is probably ten or twelve minutes of screentime for Godzilla...in a two-hour film. By doing this, it comes off like the filmmakers didn't give a damn about Godzilla, and just wanted to make a Kung-Fu film with some monsters thrown in.

I'm just going to go ahead and say that GFW is a bigger insult to the Godzilla franchise than the American Godzilla film. At least that can be enjoyable at times.

[Goji]

..Maybe because it's straight up garbage?

[Destroyer]

Why all the hate on GFW? Because it's the worst Godzilla film.

Unlike every other Godzilla film, GFW is not entertaining. The parts that would be entertaining are way to short to enjoy. By the time the fight would get cool, the fight is already over. Also, nothing is original about this film. Everything was stolen from something else, mostly The Matrix, Star Wars or other Godzilla/Toho Daikaiju films. But the worst offender, is that in this 50th anniversary tribute to Godzilla, there is probably ten or twelve minutes of screentime for Godzilla...in a two-hour film. By doing this, it comes off like the filmmakers didn't give a damn about Godzilla, and just wanted to make a Kung-Fu film with some monsters thrown in.

I'm just going to go ahead and say that GFW is a bigger insult to the Godzilla franchise than the American Godzilla film. At least that can be enjoyable at times.

Wow, that's probably the greatest comment yet.