The Godzilla Thread

[Agent_Ispep]

What a Bummer, only one G film left to review.

Do you plan on reviewing any other Giant Monster Movies?

[Bob]

I talked to several "Kennys" and they would like for you to review Gamera.

[Zandrax]

An old friend has all of the 90s Gamera films. So that could be a possibility.

[gojikranz]

i cant follow you on the gamera journey though i have been mildly curious the dvds of the originals are just to horrid to contemplate.

ill throw some mini reviews of some other toho flicks after this is all done though.

[Zandrax]

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)



Did not live up to the hype. I was expecting  wall to all monster mayhem in a 21st Century update to Destroy All Monsters. What I got was Matrix Power Rangers... oh and Godzilla is here too.

Not to say the movie is truly bad, it just doesn't live up to Godzilla's final hurrah for a while.

Earth now has an Earth Defense Force, made up of "mutants" or people genetically gifted to be stronger and faster than most humans. Their reason for being is to protect Earth from giant monsters, more specifically Godzilla. Dashing young Ozaki is one of them. Leading the team is (presumably non-mutant) Captain Gordon, who is none other than Don "The Predator" Frye. He helped in a mission that froze Godzilla at the South Pole.

Cue the Xillians, who look to be a tribute to the aliens from "Monster Zero", right down to the visor glasses. They have secretly kidnapped some of the EDF leaders, and replaced them with alien lookalikes who never blink. Somehow Ozaki, Gordon, and company never realize this until it's pointed out to them.

Anyways, the Xillians can control the dozens of monsters that inhabit the Earth, as well as most of the mutants, and turn them loose on the world. Somehow Ozaki is unaffected. Captain Gordon leads Ozaki and the remaining EDF to the South Pole where they awaken Godzilla, and send him on an anti-Xillian rampage.

X, the Xillian leader, is able to capture Gordon, Ozaki and most of the rest until Godzilla shows up to cause havoc. During the climactic battle between G and "Monster X" X reveals why Ozaki can't be controlled by the Xillians. Because he is The One a Kaizer. He can control his powers differently than other mutants, and soon he is stopping laser blasts and deflecting them. Ozaki has a knock down dragout with X at the same time Godzilla is battling Monster X (no relation) who is later revealed to be an old nemesis.

Again, it's not a bad movie as far as Japanese sci-fi goes. It just doesn't feel like a Godzilla film. The heroes look like Matrix ripoffs in a Power Rangers setting. That's like 70% of the movie. It's literally almost the entire first hour is all about Ozaki, his rivalry witha  fellow mutant, discovering the Xillians, and a lot of sci-fi kung fu. There are almost no monsters of any kind, sans Ebirah (the giant lobster, from Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster) jobbing to the mutants. The fights are way too short, and there's probably less than 15 minutes of giant monsters in the 2+ hour movie. The martial arts fight scenes also look ripped straight out of Matrix, complete with the slow motion spinning camera stuff. Yet monster fights looks right out of the 60s most of the time complete with the generic mountain range background. It's like they spent all their budget on the spaceships and human fight scenes, and just went with the standard fare for the monster parts.


"Take the blue pill. Whoa...."

In a way, it was almost like a giant monster version of TNA Impact, with giant monsters being the metaphor for wrestling. We got a lot of promos, sci-fi kung-fu fights amongst humans, aliens this and aliens that, and then quick 2 minute monster squash matches. And they are squash matches. Although I admit Mothra's demise is pretty cool (and no, Mothra is not a bad guy in this).

That being said, Don Frye is very much a guilty pleasure Captain Gordon. He pretty much just looks mean while saying quick lines, but it works given the badass character he's supposed to be.


Would you question this man's judgment?

Overall, I give it a 5.5. Entertaining if you're not looking for a monster film. As I said, I was expecting a Godzilla film and got a Matrix/Power Rangers story that just happened to have Godzilla in it for about 15 minutes.




And we're done... at least until Godzilla 3D To The Max ever gets made. But don't hold your breath.

[gojikranz]

i have to say i love this film.  i know a lot of people despise it but it just so fun to me.  i love all the throwbacks from the plot to the old school monsters(not to mention atragon and gorath) to the cast (kumi mizuno, akira takarada, kenji sahara).  i can see some complaints over the matrixy stuff but i kinda like it alot.  its all done very jokingly with a wink.   the lead xilian is just delightfully over evil.   and of course captain gordon is hilarious.  loads of laugh out loud moments here.  if you wnjoy this sort of humour definately check out versus from the same director as final wars.

also i love the guys hanging out in the south pole listening to my favorite satoh godzilla track.

well it may be a bit low on monster action i enjoy what there is, but i think your right maybe cuttign ten minutes of the human fighting and adding ten more of monsters would be a lot better.  Gigan is majorly badass.  and of course probably one of the great moments of all godzilla films the incredible godzilla vs zilla fight.  i wont spoil it but it is amazing.  "i knew that tuna eating monster was useless" .  and the final battle is really pretty good,

although it has so many great throwbacks a whole lot of the movie is completely different from other godzilla movies so it satisfies my love of classic stuff and my desire for new things.  Kieth Emerson (of emerson lake and palmer) provides a very different score which im still not sure if i like or hate, sometimes it works very well other times it is just bad.  i do love the titles though with the classic clips put in a very nice way. 

i can see not thinking its a great sendoff flick though but ill just consider it another godzilla flick, as i wait till toho gives in, and i will give it a 9 out of 10(was tempted to give ten of ten but minilla stopped me). 

[Zandrax]

And here we go, the moment you've all been waiting for.

Zandrax ranks the Godzilla movies

All of 'em. Even gave separate entries for versions that were significantly altered for American release (King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla 1985, etc...)

1   Gojira (1954)   10
2   Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (2002)   8.5
3   Godzilla, King Of The Monsters (1957)   8
4   Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)   8
5   Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003)   7.5
6   Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995)   7.5
7   Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)   7
8   GMK: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001)   7
9   Terror Of MechaGodzilla (1975)   6.5
10   Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II (1993)   6.5
11   Godzilla 1985 (1985)   6.5
12   Invasion Of Astro-Monster/Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965)   6.5
13   Godzilla 2000 (2000)   6.5
14   Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster (1964)   6
15   Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)   6
16   Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)   5.5
17   Godzilla vs. King Ghodorah (1991)   5.5
18   Destroy All Monsters (1968)   5
19   Return Of Godzilla (1984)   5
20   Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (1974)   5
21   Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)   4.5
22   Godzilla vs. Megaguiras (2000)   4.5
23   Godzilla Raids Again (1955)   4
24   Gigantis (1959)   4
25   King Kong vs. Godzilla (Japanese) (1962)   3.5
26   King Kong vs. Godzilla (American) (1962)   3
27   All Monsters Attack (Godzilla's Revenge) (1969)   3
28   Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)   2.5
29   Son Of Godzilla (1967)   2.5
30   Godzilla (1998)   2.5
31   Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966)   2
32   Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)   1.5
33   Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971)   1

[Simian Sam]

Ugggh Final Wars was by far my least favorite Godzilla film. If I wanted to watch Matrix fight scenes then I would have watched The Matrix, damn it! God I hope Mike Nelson and Co riff this!

[MSTJedi]

Ugggh Final Wars was by far my least favorite Godzilla film. If I wanted to watch Matrix fight scenes then I would have watched The Matrix, damn it! God I hope Mike Nelson and Co riff this!

While a Final Wars Rifftrax would be sweet, I liked it for the schlock value and the amount of monsters that got thrown out there. That and seeing "Zilla" (Godzilla with the "god" taken out) get his ass kicked was worth it.

[gojikranz]

i promised i would write some mini reviews, and i will once my finals are done, but until then this review was just put up today of the highly underrated MATANGO and you might notice who told mr jahnke to review it .   his thoughts match mine fairly well so check it out. 

scroll down past the drag me to hell review to see it.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/jahnke/jet060209.html

[Claude]

33   Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971)   1

Last place?!?!

Godzilla fighting a giant poo-creature that flies around killing people with horrendous gas to the tune of "Save the Earth" is worse than all those terrible modern Godzilla movies?

I like this one. It's weird as hell. They may have been eating too much pills, but it's not the worst Godzilla movie ever made.

"Too many fumes in our oxygen!"

[Henry88]

check this out godzilla vs type moon  http://imiju.jp/Novel/GxTM00-0.htm you may need a translation tool to read it