is the fiftieth anniversary film and the twenty-eighth film in the Godzilla film series.
It was directed by
Ryuhei Kitamura
and produced by
Shogo Tomiyama. As a
50th
anniversary celebratory film, a
large group of actors from previous
Godzilla films, both classic and new, made
appearances as main characters or cameo appearances. This goes for
the
kaiju (monsters) as well, as most of the
monsters in the film had been missing from the screen for more than
thirty years. This is the only
Godzilla film, from the
Japanese series, to receive a
PG-13 rating by
the
MPAA. The only other
Godzilla film
to receive this rating is the
American remake of
Godzilla.
Despite the title, this is not the final
Godzilla film;
Toho has decided to temporarily "retire" the
character for a period of time (possibly around 2013 or 2014) in
order to renew interest in the future for Godzilla's 59th or 60th
anniversary.
Plot
Endless warfare and environmental pollution has brought forth
giant monsters, which are a grave danger to
the world. As a result, the Earth Defense Force (EDF) is created to
protect the planet, uniting every nation. The organization is
equipped with some of the best of technology and weapons, warships
and soldiers, as well as mutants with super-human abilities.
Godzilla, a giant mutant dinosaur, is
claimed to be EDF's only unstoppable opponent.
The EDF's best combat
vehicle, the Gotengo, manages to
corner Godzilla at the South
Pole
and bury him under the Antarctic ice, cryogenically freezing him.
Decades after Godzilla was buried, the EDF discovers a mummified
space monster. Mutant soldier Shinichi Ozaki and
U.N. biologist Miyuki Otonashi are sent to
research it. The Shobijin, fairies of the guardian monster
Mothra, reveal to them that the monster is
Gigan, an alien cyborg sent to destroy the Earth
12,000 years ago, and that a forthcoming battle between good and
evil will eventually arrive.
Suddenly, monsters all appear around the world at major cities and
the EDF promptly swings into action, attempting to drive away the
monsters, but achieves little success.
The various monsters
and locations include Anguirus in Shanghai, Rodan in New York City
, King Caesar in Okinawa
, Kamacuras in Paris
, Kumonga in Arizona
and Ebirah
near Tokyo
.
Then,
after destroying much of their cities, the monsters vanish as an
enormous alien mothership hovers over Tokyo.
Aliens called the Xiliens then reveal themselves, insisting they
are friendly and that they have eliminated the monsters. They also
warn the Earth's governments about impending danger in the form of
an asteroid called
Gorath that will crash
into Earth. Consequently, the Space Nations is established, an
alliance that would unite the universe. Ozaki, Miyuki, and several
others distrust them. After much researching and undercover work,
they discover the Xiliens are up to no good. Finally, the Xiliens
turn out to be evil and unleash the monsters to destroy Earth.
Gigan is also revived and joins in the frenzy. The EDF eventually
loses and Earth's cities are destroyed.
Elsewhere
at Mt.
Fuji, a hunter
and his grandson discover Minilla, later
revealed to be Godzilla's son. The trio are successful in
outrunning the Xiliens' assault, traveling here and there in order
to keep a low profile.
Ozaki and the protagonists, the leftover crew of the EDF, settle on
a final, risky decision: free Godzilla. They pilot the
Gotengo to Antarctica and are chased by Gigan. As soon as
Godzilla is released from his hibernation, he quickly destroys
Gigan by blowing the cyborg's head off with his atomic ray.
Spotting the
Gotengo, Godzilla immediately follows it with
the intention of destroying the ship. The
Gotengo returns
for Tokyo, with the plan that Godzilla will unwittingly help defeat
the Xiliens.
Along the way the Xiliens send all the
monsters they control, which includes the giant Lizard Zilla, the giant spider Kumonga, the giant praying mantis Kamacuras, the giant Pteranodon Rodan, the guardian of Okinawa monster
King Caesar, the giant
Ankylosaurus Anguirus, the smog
monster Hedorah, and the sea monster
Ebirah. Godzilla defeats all of them
in short battles. The
Gotengo and Godzilla then arrive at
Tokyo.
The battleship heads for the mothership and a pitched battle
occurs. Eventually, a meteor falls to Earth. Godzilla destroys the
meteor; however, a powerful space monster,
Monster X turns out to be inside, and a
vicious battle between the two titans ensues. Gigan, who has now
been upgraded, aids Monster X, but Mothra arrives to engage him
into battle. Mothra sacrifices herself to kill Gigan.Mothra enters
her fire mode and destroys Gigan. Inside the Xilien mothership, the
humans enter final confrontations with the Xiliens and their Kaiser
commander, a human-Xilien hybrid, and after an extended battle, the
humans eventually win when Osaki awakens his own Kaiser powers and
kills their leader. With Gigan and Mothra dead, Godzilla continues
his battle with Monster X, who eventually transforms into the
three-headed dragon
Keizer Ghidorah, a
type of
Ghidorah. After a long,
painful battle, Osaki infuses Godzilla with his Kaiser powers,
enabling Godzilla to obliterate Keizer Ghidorah once and for all
with the Super Breath. He then attempts to destroy the
Gotengo and the humans, but Minilla convinces him to stop.
Godzilla then returns to the ocean with his son and roars in
victory.
Cast
Monsters
Monsters Appearing in Cameos VIA Stock Footage
Production
Music
The music in
Godzilla: Final Wars was composed by
Keith Emerson, Daisuke Yano and
Nobuhiko Morino, while the band
Sum 41 contributed the song "We're All To Blame" to
the soundtrack (and received high billing in the film's opening
credits sequence). Some critics expressed concern with the music of
Final Wars, arguing that Emerson's score would be better
suited for a campy made-for-television movie or video games, while
others pointed out that it made a refreshing change from the music
of previous
Godzilla films.
Akira Ifukube's themes were mostly
absent from the movie, though Godzilla's original theme can be
heard at the beginning of the film. However,
Keith Emerson did cover the Godzilla theme
which is available on the film's official soundtrack. The cover is
entitled "Godzilla (Main Theme)".
The bands
Sum 41 and
Zebrahead contributed the tracks "We're All To
Blame" and "Godzilla vs. Tokyo" respectively, to the film , however
neither song was on the film's soundtrack.
Filming locations
Godzilla: Final Wars began filming in July 2003.
The
locations of filming included Sydney
, Egypt
, New York City, Paris
, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Critical reception
Godzilla: Final Wars has received mixed reviews from fans
and critics. It currently holds a 50% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes, based on eight reviews
(four fresh, four rotten).
Steve Biodrowski of
Cinefantastique
called the film "utterly fantastic" and "a rush of explosive
excitement." Jim Agnew of
Film Threat
gave the film four and a half stars out of five, saying "the good
news for
kaiju fans is that
Godzilla:
Final Wars is a kick-ass giant monster flick."
Drew McWeeny of
Ain't It Cool News remarked,
"
Godzilla: Final Wars earns a special place in my heart.
It's fun. Pure lunatic fun, every frame." Sean Axmaker of Static
Multimedia said, "Directed by a true fan of the old school, it's
lusciously, knowingly, lovingly cheesy." Craig Blamer of the Chico
News & Review called the film
"a giddy and fast-paced celebration of the big guy."
Conversely, David Nusair of Reel Film gave the film one and a half
stars out of five, saying that "the battles are admittedly quite
entertaining" but felt that director Ryuhei Kitamura "is absolutely
the wrong choice for the material." David Cornelius of eFilmCritic
gave the film two stars out of five, calling it "the dullest,
weakest Godzilla movie I've seen in a long, long time." Ty Burr of
the
Boston Globe gave the film one and
a half stars out of five, saying it focused too much on action and
not enough on story, and calling it "35 minutes longer than is
necessary."
Among
kaiju-related websites, J.L. Carrozza of
Toho Kingdom "absolutely love[d]"
Final Wars, saying
"[it's] no masterpiece, but it is such insane fun that quite
frankly it's hard not to adore it." Mike Bogue of American Kaiju
said "the film is flawed, but nonetheless entertaining," saying
there are "too many [
Matrix-style] battles" but that the film
"makes excellent use of its monsters" and "Kitamura keeps things
moving at a brisk pace." Japan Hero criticized the "[lack of]
character development" but concluded that
Final Wars is "a
very entertaining movie," saying that "Kitamura did a wonderful job
making it an interesting and great looking film worthy of being the
final [Godzilla] movie."
Stomp Tokyo said "the monster scenes are generally well done" but
criticized the film's "incoherence," saying: "It's a shame that
Kitamaura couldn't choose a tone for the film, instead shifting the
movie's mood wildly from scene to scene." Lenny Taguchi of Monster
Zero criticized Keith Emerson's soundtrack but gave
Final
Wars an overall favorable review, calling it a "fun and good"
movie that "tries many things, and generally succeeds at almost all
of them."
Box office
At roughly $19,500,000,
Godzilla: Final Wars was the most
expensive Toho-produced Godzilla film of all time.
Any hopes Toho had of
Godzilla: Final Wars ending the
series with a box office bang were smitten when the film opened in
Japan on December 4, 2004. In its opening weekend, it came in third
at the box office with $1,874,559. At the holiday season box
office, it was clobbered by
Howl's Moving Castle and
The Incredibles, both which
also pursued the family market. It eventually grossed roughly
$12,000,000 at the Japanese box office, with 1,000,000 admissions.
Not only was it the least-attended film in the Millennium series,
it was also the least attended film in 29 years since
Terror of Mechagodzilla.
DVD
Sony Pictures
- Released: December 13, 2005
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.40:1)
anamorphic
- Sound: Japanese (5.1), English (5.1)
- Supplements: Behind-the-Scenes featurette
(comparison of B-roll footage to finished film); Trailers for
Final Fantasy VII
Advent Children, Steamboy, Dust to
Glory, MirrorMask, and
Madison
- Region 1
- MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences
of violence. Despite not being mentioned in the rating, there is
much swearing in the film.
Trivia
In a scene that involved a fight between a police officer and a
pimp the word "fuck" was meant to be mentioned several times. These
words where replaced with "friggin'" and "hell" out of concern that
the film would get an R rating. No Godzilla film has ever gone
above PG-13.
Another unexpected story is that according to producer
Shogo Tomiyama in a "G-Fan" magazine
interview, he intended to revive Godzilla Junior for the 50th
anniversary film
Godzilla: Final
Wars. In the first draft screenplay he and
Wataru Mimura wrote, this Godzilla was
Godzilla Junior from the Heisei series (which is why everything is
on the 100 meter scale again) and Godzilla was imprisoned in the
ice at the South Pole in the late 90s. The main action of the film
was to have taken place in 2032. When
Ryuhei Kitamura and his writer rewrote the
script to their liking, this plot device was pretty much removed,
making the specifics of the action of the film unknown. The result
becomes something up to the audience to decide.
References
- [1]
- [2]
- Godzilla: Final Wars, Rotten
Tomatoes
- Review by Steve Biodrowski,
Cinefantastique
- Jim Agnew, Film Threat
- MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUIT! Moriarty Attends
The World Premiere Of GODZILLA FINAL WARS In Hollywood!! -- Ain't
It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book
news.
- Review by Sean Axmaker, Static Multimedia
- Review by Craig Blamer, Chico News &
Review
- Review by David Nusair, Reel Film
- Review by David Cornelius, eFilmCritic
- Review by Ty Burr, Boston Globe
- Review J.L. Carrozza, Toho Kingdom
- Review Mike Bogue, American Kaiju
- Review Japan Hero
- Review Stomp Tokyo
- Review Lenny Taguchi, Monster Zero
- [3]
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