Talkback: Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

[EdCh]

I still love this movie, even though the Matrix-stuff is a bit annoying. However the running length is a generous 2 hours so that bit of indulgence is forgivable.
There are so many cool things to say about this film. For one, I liked how Ogata from G '54 and Miss Namikawa from Monster Zero both get to face off against Godzilla in the last scene. If only they could have somehow brought horny ol' Nick Adams from the dead!
Anyways, I love this film as a high-budget fan-film slash labor of love slash Showa tribute. Practically every shot/sequence could be footnoted with fan-service notes. It even has a reference to Rebirth of Mothra 3 with the Mothra Sword! Anyways, this is one of my top 10 - and the probably the last Godzilla film for me which is entirely "in the tradition".

[Voyager]

I’ve said it before, but... this movie is literally an attack on the senses.

[Lesko]

I like FW not sure why it gets a lot. Ok well not really I can definitely see why some hate it. If you just appreciate it for what it is, a nonsensical Showa celebration than there is some entertainment value. Sure the human stuff is beyond crazy with lasers and martial arts flying around not to mention the whole mutant thing just makes it feel like fan fiction gone wild. However the fights themselves are entertaining even though they are extremely goofy and certainly feel rushed at times. You can tell they tried to cram as much kaiju in this as possible which actually adds to the fast pace of the movie. I don't think longer and more drawn out fights would really fit in with the spirit of this entry anyways. We got to see a lot of our favorite Showa kaiju again after not seeing them for a long time and not going to see them for a long time afterwards. Of course there are tiny references sprinkled all throughout. My personal favorite being the shot at Gamera and how Godzilla didn't kill the three kaiju that are well known to be his allies.

[Voyager]

It kind of redeemed FWGoji to me when he spared Rodan, Anguirus and King Caesar. But then the rest of the movie happened...

[Terasawa]

The Showa Godzillas and GFW have quite a few similar plot elements but there aren't many more similarities between them. It owes so much more to contemporary Hollywood films, which is one reason I find it almost intolerable.

[eabaker]

The Showa Godzillas and GFW have quite a few similar plot elements but there aren't many more similarities between them. It owes so much more to contemporary Hollywood films, which is one reason I find it almost intolerable.

Yup, it's a handful of kaiju movie trappings grafted onto a typically ugly, hyperactive mid-2000s action flick. It's like Ecks vs. Sever if they were both giants.

[mikelcho]

I like FW not sure why it gets a lot. Ok well not really I can definitely see why some hate it. If you just appreciate it for what it is, a nonsensical Showa celebration than there is some entertainment value. Sure the human stuff is beyond crazy with lasers and martial arts flying around not to mention the whole mutant thing just makes it feel like fan fiction gone wild. However the fights themselves are entertaining even though they are extremely goofy and certainly feel rushed at times. You can tell they tried to cram as much kaiju in this as possible which actually adds to the fast pace of the movie. I don't think longer and more drawn out fights would really fit in with the spirit of this entry anyways. We got to see a lot of our favorite Showa kaiju again after not seeing them for a long time and not going to see them for a long time afterwards. Of course there are tiny references sprinkled all throughout. My personal favorite being the shot at Gamera and how Godzilla didn't kill the three kaiju that are well known to be his allies.

Actually, I think the original intention was to have a scene in the film showing all three of them being killed all at once by Godzilla firing a blast of his atomic heat ray on them while they were still unconscious and causing them to explode, but it was never filmed due to Toho wanting to use the three suits for promotional purposes.

[Lesko]

I like FW not sure why it gets a lot. Ok well not really I can definitely see why some hate it. If you just appreciate it for what it is, a nonsensical Showa celebration than there is some entertainment value. Sure the human stuff is beyond crazy with lasers and martial arts flying around not to mention the whole mutant thing just makes it feel like fan fiction gone wild. However the fights themselves are entertaining even though they are extremely goofy and certainly feel rushed at times. You can tell they tried to cram as much kaiju in this as possible which actually adds to the fast pace of the movie. I don't think longer and more drawn out fights would really fit in with the spirit of this entry anyways. We got to see a lot of our favorite Showa kaiju again after not seeing them for a long time and not going to see them for a long time afterwards. Of course there are tiny references sprinkled all throughout. My personal favorite being the shot at Gamera and how Godzilla didn't kill the three kaiju that are well known to be his allies.

Actually, I think the original intention was to have a scene in the film showing all three of them being killed all at once by Godzilla firing a blast of his atomic heat ray on them while they were still unconscious and causing them to explode, but it was never filmed due to Toho wanting to use the three suits for promotional purposes.

Really? That is very interesting. Although that is an amazing coincidence that three monsters known to be allies of Godzilla were the only ones to never shown to be killed. Could that have perhaps been a secondary reason?

[mikelcho]

I like FW not sure why it gets a lot. Ok well not really I can definitely see why some hate it. If you just appreciate it for what it is, a nonsensical Showa celebration than there is some entertainment value. Sure the human stuff is beyond crazy with lasers and martial arts flying around not to mention the whole mutant thing just makes it feel like fan fiction gone wild. However the fights themselves are entertaining even though they are extremely goofy and certainly feel rushed at times. You can tell they tried to cram as much kaiju in this as possible which actually adds to the fast pace of the movie. I don't think longer and more drawn out fights would really fit in with the spirit of this entry anyways. We got to see a lot of our favorite Showa kaiju again after not seeing them for a long time and not going to see them for a long time afterwards. Of course there are tiny references sprinkled all throughout. My personal favorite being the shot at Gamera and how Godzilla didn't kill the three kaiju that are well known to be his allies.

Actually, I think the original intention was to have a scene in the film showing all three of them being killed all at once by Godzilla firing a blast of his atomic heat ray on them while they were still unconscious and causing them to explode, but it was never filmed due to Toho wanting to use the three suits for promotional purposes.

Really? That is very interesting. Although that is an amazing coincidence that three monsters known to be allies of Godzilla were the only ones to never shown to be killed. Could that have perhaps been a secondary reason?

I honestly don't know about that last part, but I can tell you where to find the basis for my statement: the Cut Scenes section in the TK article for this film in the Movies category.

[Platypus Prime]

I saw it last night on COMET and Gigan must have secretly been a Sentai actor, with his 'pose with blades crossed as the explosion happens behind him' thing occurred. Then he died, but whatever...

[Legion1979]

Compared to the anime films this one doesn't seem as bad anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's still terrible, but at least it's entertaining. Sometimes.

[Rando Yaguchi]

Compared to the anime films this one doesn't seem as bad anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's still terrible, but at least it's entertaining. Sometimes.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Compared to the anime films this one doesn't seem as bad anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's still terrible, but at least it's entertaining. Sometimes.

4 years too late

I think in a similar fashion though, KOTM became a lightning rod for aspects of the franchise I dislike. KOTM has all the dumbness that GFW has, but tries to pretend it has some grander or greater meaning.

Despite my current disdain for the film, until suits are used again, this film will be stuck in my memory as the last major Godzilla film to use suits, and the end of an era. There is that aspect of the film I can appreciate.

[attilagodzilla]

I rewatched it recently. And it is a terrible movie. But a terrible movie I love.

[Chrispy_G]

Loved it as a 13 year old. Spent my 20s hating it.

Now at 30...I have to say I really love the insanity. In the same way I ebbed and flowed on the early 70s films, so to have I on this one.

There is a flavor of Godzilla for every day of the year. The serious stuff is great, the PG-13 blockbuster stuff is great, and yes...the corny and wacky insanity occupies its own greatness.

Is Godzilla teaming up with a sentient giant robot to fight a giant beatle-cricket and a giant space-chicken the dumbest thing ever? Or is it sublime visual artistry?

Likewise, Godzilla: Final Wars works insanely well as a retro-film harkening back to the 70s but also as a gung-ho flashback to the mid-00s.

The soundtrack is catchy as all hell most of the time, the movie has a little bit of everything, and frankly...between all of the super fights, martial arts, and powerups feels much more "Anime" than the ACTUAL Godzilla anime that have been made. Hell, if this film had been done as an anime it would probably be an absolute fan-favorite.

Plus, Japanese Suitmation Godzilla decimating CGI American Godzilla to the tune of Sum 41's "We're All to Blame" is Pure Kino as far as I'm concerned.

It is relentless and unapologetic in being EXACTLY what it is. I love it for that and in the ocean of Godzilla films it truly is a one-of-a-kind, which is something special.

[Insert Thanos "Perhaps I judged you too harshly" meme]

[Voyager]

^ Perhaps I have… if I enjoy stuff like the first 3 Bayformers films, I think I can bear this one.

If I want a film to hate, I think I’ll just continue to bag on SpaceGodzilla.

[Ivo-goji]

I really don't get why some fans have these tortured attitudes towards the quality of the Godzilla movies and construct elaborate narratives about the evolution of the franchise to justify liking certain entries in the series while exaggeratedly hating others.

Every Godzilla movie is good, except for Tokyo SOS.

[godjacob]

I really don't get why some fans have these tortured attitudes towards the quality of the Godzilla movies and construct elaborate narratives about the evolution of the franchise to justify liking certain entries in the series while exaggeratedly hating others.

Every Godzilla movie is good, except for Tokyo SOS.

I don't appreciate this slander. Especially one that thinks All Monsters Attack is a good movie

Personally not sure why FW still gets people salty here to this day. It's a fun popcorn kaiju flick that doesn't pretend it is anything more, and given how many Godzilla films people appreciate for doing what they set out to do it is sad that same energy isn't extended here.

[Ivo-goji]

I don't appreciate this slander. Especially one that thinks All Monsters Attack is a good movie

I mean, Godzilla's Revenge isn't very high on my list of favorite kaiju movies, it's takes a lot of mental fortitude to watch it and appreciate it's ideas. But it's not as purely potboilery as Tokyo SOS.

Personally not sure why FW still gets people salty here to this day. It's a fun popcorn kaiju flick that doesn't pretend it is anything more, and given how many Godzilla films people appreciate for doing what they set out to do it is sad that same energy isn't extended here.

I know right? Like people constantly tell me such and such Godzilla film is "worse" than than Godzilla vs Megalon or the like because the latter films "succeed at being exactly what they're intended be". By that logic Final Wars is the greatest cinematic masterpiece ever made by human hands.

[Terasawa]

IMO GFW is aesthetically much closer to a 2000s Hollywood action movie than any previous Godzilla movie. OK, yeah, there are still guys in rubber monster costumes, and the plot owes a lot to Monster Zero and the other alien invasion Godzilla movies; but everything else from its score to its color grading to its editing to its production design (and virtually all else in between) is very much of a kind of movie that I can't enjoy. I hated it when it was new, but I was also a angsty teenager back then -- I've cooled on it a lot in the years since, and I think the fact it's no longer the last Godzilla movie (or even last Japanese Godzilla movie) helped me accept it for what it is.

But I still don't like it: if it weren't a Godzilla movie, it's just not the kind of flick I'd ever watch.