Godzilla Final Wars
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Actors: Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Kazuki Kitamura
Year Released: 2004
Genre: Kaiju, Sci-fi, Action
See Also: Godzilla, Godzilla Vs. Hedorah, Versus, Azumi
It recently occurred to me that my earliest film memories are of Japanese movies. Godzilla movies, to be specific. On Saturday afternoons, after the cartoons and Ma And Pa Kettle flicks had ended, my local Channel 2 would invariably run one of the Big G's adventures, and I'd sit glued while men in heavy rubber suits gamely tossed each other around, my face frozen in a rictus of glee. There are some delights that don't vanish with age, and all-out kaiju (giant monster) wrestling remains perennially enjoyable. Ryuhei Kitamura, director of such violent cult fair as Versus and Azumi, must feel the same way because he's infused Godzilla Final Wars with a joie de vivre not seen in a Gojira (Godzilla's name in Japanese) picture since its late-'60s heyday.
The title gives it away: Final Wars was intended as the last Godzilla picture of the decade, a big-budget 50th anniversary send-off to semi-retirement. It's not the final Godzilla picture, don't worry, Toho is just hoping that if it puts the big guy on ice for awhile he'll eventually become profitable again. Toho tried this once before in 1968 with Destroy All Monsters (Kaiju Soushingeki, "All Monsters Attack"), an all-star kaiju send-off for the box-office-slumping lizard. Destroy All Monsters was a surprise hit but it's not hard to see why, with all of those monsters running amok. It's fitting then that Kitamura should crib so much of Final Wars' plot from Destroy All Monsters—if you're going to go out, why not go out BIG?
Monsters are simultaneously attacking Earth's biggest cities, sending the planet into a panic and giving Australia another opportunity to appear as America in a Japanese movie. Rodan in New York! Anguiras in Shanghai! King Caesar in Okinawa! Zilla in Sydney! Wait, who? Oh, you'll see. The Earth Defense Force has its hands full until some aliens conveniently arrive and easily dispatch the monsters. All well and good, but hasn't anyone here seen V? Pretty soon the Earth Defense Force is waking up the Big G himself and all hell is breaking loose.
It has to be said that Godzilla Final Wars is pretty cheesy. There's some atrocious acting, and the subplot involving mutant humans and their special powers is way too reminiscent of The Matrix. Come on Kitamura, did you think we wouldn't notice? Masahiro Matsuoka even looks like Keanu Reeves! But before you get too riled up, remember: This is a Godzilla movie, done in the classic style, with way too many human actors and too much plot. Just about the point where you start thinking, "Where the hell is Godzilla?" Kitamura pulls him out and provides a full hour of kaiju goodness.
Although it may be full of CGI effects, the majority of monster battles are done—as they should be—by guys in rubber suits. Mothra, Gigan (in mecha form), Kumonga the spider, Kamacuras the praying mantis, Ebirah the giant shrimp (pardon my oxymoron), Hedorah the smog monster, and of course King Gidorah all get in the ring, plus there's the new Monster X, a cross between H.R. Giger's Alien and an Eva from Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's pure kaiju heaven. And for anyone who saw the American Godzilla, vengeance is sweet when Gojira takes on the previously mentioned Zilla, who looks suspiciously like that Roland Emmerich dinosaur disaster. The kaiju battles, of which there are plenty, are fast and damn exciting, with the Big G looking slim and trim for his blow-out anniversary party.
So ask yourself: do you love Godzilla movies despite their faults, or do you love them because of the faults? If it's the latter, then hell yeah, this movie is for you.
Otaku Alert: Famed keyboardist Keith Emerson provides some of the soundtrack music. His organ arpeggios are unmistakable.
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