Godzilla: Final Wars

To bring him back once more to put a temporary seal on the series, the latest Japanese craze Ryhuei Kitamura is tackling the subject of Godzilla. In this melodramatic action film, we are treated to a Godzilla film with not so much Godzilla. Although this is a offense punishable by death, what we are given is a retarded feel-good Japanese film every little bit of a mix between his earlier works Versus and Alive with a dash of a monster bonanza.


Godzilla: Final Wars could have been an easy production. Just make a souped-up Destroy All Monsters! with a bigger budget and bigger monsters. The roster wouldn't be so much a problem if they had included the popular and bad ass monsters, and by bad ass, I do not mean King Caesar. Why this creature became a licensed Toho creation is beyond me. It closely resembles a Fraggle on meth.


This is a Godzilla film that officially "tries too hard". Whereas most Godzilla films feature that quick ten minutes of hating Godzilla, then relying on him, then hating him at the end, this film features a meaty plot about Mutants, Aliens, Body Snatchers, and Dragonball Z genomes. Might be a little too much for the average Gojira enthusiast but it fits nicely in a film that was never meant to be taken seriously in the first place.


The last 30 or so minutes is when Godzilla makes his appearance and it is decidingly not as epic as imagined. He does the tail whip here and there and employs his Atomic Breath when needed but mostly sticks to Lizard boxing which befuddled me. In his most glorious moment, Toho decided to really insult the 1998 Godzilla film by having the real Godzilla pick up the tuna-eating monster and vaporize him in a bout of humility.


Godzilla: Final Wars is pretty intense. It is a fine helping that I will allow to cap off this generations Godzilla flow. It just seems tedious to watch the entire world become completely leveled in a matter of days only for civilization to be completely rebuilt several years later. Only time can tell when Japan's bogeyman will be awakened for his next world-saving mission. I just hope I'm around to see it.

-mAQ