| Chances are, if you're reading
this, you've probably read (or skimmed) through
somewhere near 40 bajillion reviews for Godzilla:
Final Wars already. Don't fret, my friend,
I'm going to attempt to cover some things that
fell through the cracks in other reviews. I’ll
try to concentrate on some minor subtleties, and
I'll definitely keep the summary short. I’m
just going to be a little informal and unorthodox
in my approach, because that’s probably
the only way I’m going to set this thing
apart…
So, what’s the verdict;
how is Godzilla: Final Wars? Well, it
was released on DVD over a month ago at the time
I’m writing this, so in all likelihood,
you’ve seen it by now, and have gathered
your own opinions. I’ll admit, when I first
viewed Final Wars last month, I was left
unimpressed, to say the least. I had a year of
bad reviews going in, and I still found myself
a tad sullen when the film’s credits started
to roll. Having re-watched it today, I’ve
come to warm up to it more, respecting it for
what it is. It is a fun romp through the heyday
of Toho. It’s an homage to the distant past
and the recent past, a look back at the things
that made us Godzilla fans.
So, how great an homage to the
old days is this film? Well, it’s actually
a rather excellent call back to the Showa and
Heisei timelines. I bet you missed the Matango
cameo, didn’t you? Probably did, but for
a good reason. Matango shows up as a toy briefly
during the end credits, but that’s not all.
Hedorah, Titanosaurus, Ghidorah, two Mechagodzilla’s,
a Biollante, and the original Moguera all appear
in toy-form in chocolate-boy’s living room.
“Gamera” appears early on in the movie
too, only to receive a rather inglorious role
as fireplace fodder (chocolate-boy certainly has
an awful mean streak). Of course, there are other
tributes. Akira
Ifukube’s powerful Godzilla theme and
a couple of Masaru
Sato’s upbeat themes are present as
a call back to old days. Speaking of which, not
only the music, but also the sound effects are
an excellent reminder of older series’.
Godzilla’s original roar, that resonating
instrumental chime, bellows during the opening
montage and at the very end of the closing credits.
All of the monsters retain their roars, if modified
a tad. Zilla, the monster formerly known as US
Godzilla, does have his roar severely altered…
but elements of the ’98 G-scream are still
extant. Of course, we can’t forget about
the opening montage. Stock footage seems to be
thrown in at random at times, as the miniature
props from the New Kirk City set in Mothra
(1961) are clearly visible to we insanely obsessive
kaiju fans. This opening montage also presents
monsters from different walks of the kaiju genre,
from Varan to Gezora (perhaps rejected ideas for
lesser roles?) The use of the blue filters blend
the black and white and color scenes together
rather well; a fun trip down memory road. Then,
there is the Toho Scope logo. Perhaps inspired
by the retro-Shaw Scope logo in Kill Bill (hey,
let’s face it, random inspiration is everywhere
in this movie), the logo brings some classiness
(and a hint of edginess) to the opening of the
film.
But what else is there that draws
this film to the older series’? Minilla,
for one. Minilla’s role here appears to
be inspired by All
Monsters Attack (1969) more so than Son
of Godzilla (1967), in all seriousness.
He starts off child-sized, befriends a young boy,
and grows up during the course of the movie, with
his breath eventually maturing from the plasma
ring to a thermonuclear beam. Anguirus’
role draws some connections to the older movies
as well. It is interesting that it is Godzilla
and Anguirus who first come face to face at the
Mt. Fuji battle. There is the exchange of roars;
perhaps an homage to the relationship (and even
communication) of their characters in Godzilla
vs. Gigan (1972)
(or maybe I'm looking too far into this now)?
Kumonga spraying webbing from the front, though
highly anatomically incorrect, is preserved from
Son
of Godzilla (1967). Then, there is Mothra’s
cave, which is surprisingly reminiscent of the
set in Godzilla
vs. Mothra (1992);
and the story of Mothra vs. Gigan is similar in
ways to Mothra vs. Battra. The picture of the
1964 Shobijin in the brief shot of the book was
also a nice touch too. Gigan’s eye beam,
a special power cut from his debut movie, makes
it’s triumphant first appearance here, although
in this way, it is an homage to what could have
been beforehand. Keizer Ghidorah, losing his middle
head in the fashion he did, was very similar to
the style in which the same event transpired in
Godzilla
vs. King Ghidorah (1991). Ghidorah coming
from a meteor was also a fantastic, and subtle
homage to Ghidorah,
the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Finally,
the aliens seem to draw inspiration from numerous
extra-terrestrial races of the Showa timeline.
They utilize “uniform” like the Nebulans,
have the technological prowess of the Black Hole
Aliens, a plan of attack similar to the Kilaakian,
and they look (somewhat) like the original Xiliens.
There are a lot of little subtleties here; some
hard to miss, some difficult to locate, and undoubtedly
still others that could easily be under scrutiny
as to whether or not they were, in fact, intentional.
So, what about the human drama?
Meh, let’s skip the human drama, shall we?
It's been done to death. Oh, all right. It’s
bland and boring. Don Frye’s cool, but his
line delivery is a little clumsy; Kazuki Kitamura
is hilarious in his portrayal of the eccentric
Xilien second-in-command; there is little to no
development of any of the characters; it’s
all a rip-off of the Matrix, yada, yada,
yada… you’ve heard all this before.
All right then, glad that’s over. Let’s
cover the weird stuff, now. First, take a look
at such dialogue as: “It doesn’t matter
why you weren’t controlled, what mattered
is that you weren’t,” “Sorry,
I’m a vegetarian,” and the ever-hilarious
“I managed to escape, somehow.”
I love that last one; the only problem is, I can’t
figure out if it was an intentional satirical
jab at corny dialogue or if it was, in fact, corny
dialogue. And of course, with all of Don Frye’s
cheesy one-liners, the conversations throughout
the course of the movie make for an interesting
experience. One shouldn’t underestimate
the pimp vs. cop scene in this respect also, as
it walks a thin tight rope between the ethnically
insensitive and the simply unbelievable.
To add to my strange desire to
dig into subtleties, I’d lake to take a
look now at technical problems. Not technical
difficulties, but problems with logic or physics
for example. Why would they need to fake Gorath
if there really was one? Why did Kumonga actually
pick up speed in mid air? How did Minilla suddenly
gain almost 5,000 tons in an instant (and from
where…)? Why did it take so long for Kazama
to fly his craft 500 meters (in a straight shot,
mind you) to the center of the Mothership? Five
hundred meters is a little over a lap around a
high-school track, to put it in perspective. Why
the Mothership didn’t start to immediately
show signs of intense damage, despite the huge
explosion of its shield generators, is also just
a little odd. Also, take a look at the speed of
the of the Xilien comprehension and the skill
of their fighting prowess, yet the inability for
them to often: a) pull the trigger on time, b)
successfully defeat humans, or c) make logical
choices as to how they fight in hand-to-hand combat.
As one reviewer so aptly put it, they deserved
to lose after they threw aside their lasers. And
another thing, when they used the Secretary General’s
body as uniform, I have to ask… really…
I must… were they so painfully
unprepared that they didn’t at least research
the guy’s history? I mean, would it have
hurt to do a little snooping and find out that
he had a dog?!?
Despite the technical problems,
the effects were sometimes above and often below
current standards for a kaiju flick. First, let’s
look at the suits. First there was Apezilla (1984),
next there was Catzilla (1989), and now, finally
folks, we have Ratzilla (2004). While the former
two are exaggerations of certain prominent features
in their respective suits (hopefully humorous
exaggerations, but probably not), it’s hard
to deny this new Godzilla has a very rat-like
face. The huge-normous arms, inorganic movements,
and the uninteresting flesh texture and color
kind of made for an unpleasant title monster.
While perhaps the Kiryu-saga Godzilla might not
have been the best design for the film, at least
a hybrid between the two designs could have made
for an excellent synergy. The other suits used
in the film were also a mixed bag. The two biggest
offenders: King Caesar and Monster X. To put it
simply, King Caesar looks like the next PBS children’s
special; the suit is too cartoony and too unbelievable.
Monster X isn’t all that better. His suit
looks way too foamy on top, and way too humanoid
on the bottom. Those reddish eyes look sick in
close-up shots, but other than that, Mister X
looks meh. Rodan’s suit was all right, but
it was probably only marginally more acceptable
then the previous two monsters (only because there
was some realistism here). Anguirus looks
superb, though. There were some reports before
the movie came out that the head was an updated
Dagahra prop. Hey, if Toho came out tomorrow and
said this was true, I’d believe them. I’m
under the notion Dagahra had some excellent dinosaurian
features in his head, and Anguirus has a phenomenal
dinosaurian look. Perhaps it’s not as cute
as the old days, but I’m just happy to see
Angy back in action. The Hedorah suit, though
severely (and criminally) underused, looked so
good in the cut scenes. The fumes pouring out
of the smokestack, caught in the sloppy mess of
its polluted flesh was just awesome… a true
loss to the film. Ebirah’s suit had some
nice crustaceous features, although I would have
gone with bulkier pincers, myself. Gigan just
looks sleek. They took away the potbelly and ‘70s
cheese from the original Gigan, and updated the
monster with a dark color scheme and a terrifying
presence (if only he could have lasted a little
while on screen). And then, there’s the
Minilla suit. Ehem… I’m biased; I
think Minilla’s cute, so don’t expect
any worthwhile assessment here.
Props and CG deserve their own
little nook of the review. Manda is just brilliantly
well fashioned as a prop, although the character
is a little cartoonish with his snappy movements
when rendered using CG. Mothra, both as a prop
and for the brief CG scenes, is looking phenomenal,
sporting her design from the previous movie. There
are no complaints here, as this design greatly
captures the essence of the original. Kamacuras,
despite how often this incarnation is negatively
compared to the 1967 version, is realized well,
in my not-so-humble opinion. The organic movements,
the speed, and the insect-like jitteriness bring
the monster to life. The detail and materials
used on the Kumonga prop give it an excellent
sense of size, and it is likely among the most
imposing of the props used (although the brilliant
New Guinea landscape set greatly accentuated this
illusion, as well). Finally, there’s Zilla.
While nowhere near as crisp as he was in his own
movie, he’s really rendered with sophistication.
The fact that his character was given a “fight”,
as opposed to a “flight”, personality
is also a plus to me, as I am a fan of this particular
monster.
Then, there is the atmosphere.
Several elements went into making Final Wars
an experience for the senses… from cinematography,
to the sets, to the music. First, let’s
look at the cinematography. While obviously inferior
to such previous entries as GMK
(2001), it does manage to capture a little of
the same feel. There is some high-speed camera
work that gives heft to the monster movement,
although the use of these scenes is rather uneven,
and makes one long for the simple, yet extremely
effective styles of the 2001 movie. Nevertheless,
the individual sets greatly add to the sense of
size in the movie. While the award for the best
miniatures in the series still goes to The
Return of Godzilla (1984), this
film does boast some very solid work. The New
Guinea set, complete with the miniature trees
and the shaggy foliage of the mountains (again,
coupled with Kumonga’s detail), really made
it all seem so… big. The sparse
miniature civilization of the Kazanura region
worked well in the same regard, as did the simple
rolling hills of the Mt. Fuji area. The cities
had some very detailed work, and combined with
the matting effects, there was some solid realism
in several scenes (although, not all the matte
work in this film was top notch… i.e. Godzilla’s
approach to Sydney). Of course, we can’t
go through a Final Wars review without
mentioning the musical themes. Sigh… they
sounds like midis. That’s just about it…
they sound like inexpensive, synthesized tracks;
something that could be produced right out of
Noteworthy Composer, or even KB Piano. Luckily,
Keith Emmerson's main Godzilla theme manages to
add some good-ol’ fashioned Godzilla-beat
to the track, and there are themes, like “Kazama’s
Sacrifice”, which are pretty phenomenal.
The music that plays during the credits is, however,
very bad. It’s the worst track of the whole
movie; it almost made me cringe the first time
I heard it. I just would have preferred had they
not repeated that theme so often.
But of course, in my unorthodox attempt to write
this review, I’ve decided to neglect my
summary until the very last (as if you don’t
already know the plot by now). Nevertheless…
here we go…
In the modern age, there are many
mysteries that are only just being discovered.
The existence of monsters, following the birth
of the nuclear age, is becoming a severe problem.
However mankind has discovered a weapon to defeat
them: mutants… humans with extraordinary
abilities. It would come to pass that the Earth
would soon need these heroes, for the sudden appearance
of monsters across the globe erupted in worldwide
chaos. “Friends” from above, the Xiliens,
rescued humankind from destruction just in time.
However, not everyone was convinced that these
interlopers were allies, and it was soon discovered
that they were planning to colonize the planet.
Upon this realization, the Xiliens released the
monsters once more, as well as a full arsenal
of their deadly ships. Civilization was quickly
being wiped off the globe…
There were two things of which
the aliens were unaware, however. One was the
pilot who had defeated the king of the monsters
well over 40 years earlier… and the other
was the monster king himself: Godzilla. Captain
Cordon flew the aerial battleship, Gotengo, to
the Antarctic with a handful of survivors, including
the powerful mutant Shin’ichi Ozaki, whose
special skills would soon come into play. Missiles
were launched, Godzilla was released, and the
Xiliens would soon realize a fatal error in their
plan… Godzilla was unstoppable!
And so, you’ve now read
the 40 bajillionth and first review for Godzilla:
Final Wars, that utterly strange, sometimes
unsatisfying, but potentially fun entry in the
series. The consensus is simple, this isn’t
the last movie, but a new one probably won’t
be out for some years. It’s a little sad,
but a short break is certainly needed. There is
other entertainment besides Godzilla, after all,
isn’t there…?
Sorry, I knew I couldn't say that
with a straight face ;-)
|
(3/5)