Toho Kingdom

When were you ever hinged?....

goji89 wrote: When were you ever hinged?....

That's a very valid point.

szmigiel wrote:I think if this poll was reversed, the people who hate the film would be pointing to the top of the thread and saying, see people think it sucks.

As for the fights, I enjoyed the more samurai style, all it takes it is to land one clean blow and the fight is finished. I personally got tired of the Heisei, Godzilla is superpowerful yet the underdog at the same time, lets see each monster "kick out" of their opponents finisher over and over.

I can understand fans wanting longer battles (Trust me, I'd like to think that I do too), but the way I see it it's that the number of monsters are only making a cameo, and are not the main plot of the movie. At the same time, I don't know how I would feel for the fights taking longer time that they did in the movie. Maybe it would feel like an overload, I don't know, but I think I lean towards 'the more the merrier' side.
Personally, I don't think the fights truly ended as quickly. I assume that probably some of those fights actually took hours, but we are only shown the endings, for obvious reasons.
Regardless, I am just EXTREMELY glad that we got to see old monsters, even for a short time, rather than not.

I also appreciate that Kitamura made it possible for Zilla to make an appearance, otherwise we would probably still have discussions over who would win in a fight.

It wasn’t a fitting 50th anniversary film that was intended to be the last Godzilla film, that’s for sure

GodzillaRangerPrime wrote:It wasn’t a fitting 50th anniversary film that was intended to be the last Godzilla film, that’s for sure

Couldn't agree more, tbh I think this is the biggest failure in the franchise

I am... rather split on Final Wars, to be quite honest.

On one hand, as an anniversary film, it is terribly inappropriate in many ways. In spite of common perceptions, Godzilla was starting to evolve past his more... quirky days, and started to become a "legitimate" series of films, so to speak. In other words, it does not represent what Godzilla typically stood for; instead, Final Wars is a zany and chaotic action film. Due to this, I completely understand why Final Wars is very contested among Godzilla fans.

... On the other hand, Final Wars is such an utterly insane film that I can't help but adore it. In spite of how strange and poorly conceived the plot was, it is at no point boring. If anything, it is a touch overwhelming. Final Wars is a fine example of a "popcorn and beer" film; not necessarily good, but certainly entertaining under the right circumstances.

While it is not a proper send-off for the Godzilla franchise, I see it as the end of an age for Godzilla (and perhaps even kaiju in general) as a whole. Ever since Final Wars, general perception of kaiju has shifted from outright mockery to legitimate investment, thanks to films such as Godzilla (2014) and its upcoming sequels. Sure, monster films are by no stretch of the imagination high-class entertainment, but they have evolved past the so-bad-its-good and cult classic days. Not to mention, this is among the final major uses of rubber suits to portray monsters, so it can also be perceived as a send-off to them as well.

In summary, I see Final Wars as a teenager's final year of trick-or-treating; one final indulgence into costumes and sweets before moving on to bigger and better things. The Monsterverse, Shin Godzilla, and the Godzilla Anime Trilogy have all went against common Godzilla conventions in their own ways, and it appears that this trend will continue in the coming years. In that sense, Final Wars is a comfort movie for me, if admittedly for the wrong reasons. To be completely fair, however, I have the benefit of hindsight, as I had only gotten into the franchise after the Millennium Era came to a close, so I imagine perceptions of this film were far worse back then.

It's been interesting to see how opinions shift over time. At least on TK, GFW used to be universally despised at the beginning of the decade and people were appalled if you ever spoke highly of it.

GFW has plenty of flaws, but at least as many unique or good elements, even if it hasn't ended up a good movie in the end.

Seventeen years later and still the best Millennium Godzilla film.

Still a pretty shifty movie. That said, I'd rather watch it over the anime trilogy or Shin Godzilla.

This movie feels like what would happen if a 70's Godzilla film but with (at the time) modern day effects and a heftier budget and I love it for that (It's not my favorite but still.), I mean it really kinda checks off on all the stuff one should expect from those films
Classic Alien Invasion Plot: Check
Monsters doing a ton of fast and acrobatic moves despite their sizes: Check
A fucking Kenny: Check (sadly)
Even little things like having an English-speaking actor that needs to be dubbed into Japanese in the same vain as Nick Adams or how when the Xiliens first shown and the heroes investigate to try and uncover their sinister intentions emulating an old spy and espionage film just like in Godzilla vs. Gigan

.....the 70s films are my favorite Godzilla movies....so why do I think GFW is trash?

It doesn't really feel like a 70s Godzilla film at all. So it's silly at points and has a lot of monsters in it. But the aesthetic, the tone, the cinematography...none of that brings to mind the 70s at all. Between the color filters, action sequences and music, it's clear what Kitamura's favorite movies were, and they weren't kiddie matinee 1970s Godzilla pictures.

Sharing similar elements doesn't make it a throwback to one specific decade.

I dislike this movie so much. It doesn't feel like a Godzilla movie.

I love Final Wars. I praise Final Wars. Simple as.

This movie needed less Matrix/action movie sequences, but it's not all bad. We do get to see classic kaiju that haven't been seen for years, and we get a couple of interesting characters. The trouble is the movie tries to be something big, but never feels that way.

Kaltes-Herzeleid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 06, 2022 9:44 am I love Final Wars. I praise Final Wars. Simple as.

Can I sig this m8?

Major sssspielberg! wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 3:17 pm

Kaltes-Herzeleid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 06, 2022 9:44 am I love Final Wars. I praise Final Wars. Simple as.

Can I sig this m8?

You may.

Obviously Toho has no reason to make it happen, but I'd be curious to see Kitamura recut the film just as a novelty. As with some other films, there appears to be so much unused material that one could actually cut this into a reasonably different version of the movie (tonally the same). I'd like to have the more extended Hedorah battle and minimize some of the Keizer subplot, for examples. You can't really "fix" the film overall but like I said you conceivably could revise it in some interesting ways.