Godzilla: Final Wars
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| Godzilla: Final Wars | |
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| Directed by | Ryuhei Kitamura |
| Produced by | Shogo Tomiyama |
| Written by | Isao Kiriyama (screenplay) Ryuhei Kitamura (screenplay) Wataru Mimura (story) Shogo Tomiyama (story) |
| Starring | Masahiro Matsuoka Rei Kikukawa Kazuki Kitamura Don Frye |
| Music by | Keith Emerson Akira Ifukube Nobuhiko Morino Daisuke Yano |
| Cinematography | Takumi Furuya Fujio Okawa |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | November 4, 2004 |
| Running time | 125 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥4,000,000,000 (est.)[citation needed] |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Godzilla: Final Wars (ゴジラ ファイナルウォース Gojira: Fainaru Uōsu?) is the 50th anniversary film and the 28th installment in the Godzilla film series.
The movie was released theatrically in Japan on December 4, 2004 grossing an estimated ¥1,200,000,000 ($10,000,000[1]. Godzilla: Final Wars has the largest budget ever used in the Godzilla franchise around ¥2,000,000,000 ($20,000,000)[2]. The film was released on DVD and Video in Japan on July 22, 2005, and in America on Columbia/Tri Star DVD on December 13, 2005.
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 recent, made appearances as main characters or cameo appearances. This goes for the monsters as well, as most of the monsters in the film had been missing from the screen for more than 30 years.
Contrary to the title, this will not be the final Godzilla film—Toho has decided to temporarily "retire" the character for a period of 5-10 years (possibly around 2013 [3]) in order to renew interest in the series.
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[edit] Plot Summary
In the early 21st century, extensive warfare and careless science had mutated or awakened great beasts of all sorts. During that period, the frequent occurrence of enormous monsters had become commonplace, and thus, the Earth Defense Force (known in short as the EDF) was established by the Japanese government. The sole purpose of the force was to combat the monsters and hopefully restore peace to the world. During the worldwide wave of monsters, mutant humans with superhuman strength and extraordinary physical capabilities were discovered whose origins or mutations were not yet understood. The EDF realized the potential and effectiveness of the mutants as super soldiers, and established a subdivision known as the M-Organization. Utilizing the mutants' handy physical feats and superior piloting skills, along with the militaries' best war machines, the threat was slowly subdued and the monsters were slowly but surely defeated. However, many years earlier in 1954, the greatest enemy that the EDF faced first appeared and died from that point on but had returned completely reborn and frequently attacked Japan in the 1960s during the great monster wars. This monster was the King of the Monsters, Godzilla. While they succeeded in defeating all the other monsters, Godzilla was the only one remaining and continually threatened mankind. One year, the EDF's best battleship—the Gotengo—was battling Godzilla deep in Antarctica. It was only with the help of a large earthquake that the crew of the Gotengo was able to finally triumph against Godzilla. The earthquake had caused the ground to split and cave in beneath Godzilla, causing him to fall into a seemingly bottomless pit which was followed by an avalanche of ice and rock caused by missles fired from the Gotengo that buried Godzilla and imprisoned him in an eternal icy tomb.
Decades later in the near future of the mid 21st century, peace has been recognized worldwide with the exception of very rare, but occasional monster attacks. The EDF has easily defeated such threats, and the monster-scare has become a thing of the past. During this time a mysterious mummified monster is found off the coast of Hokkaido and is being suspended by large support cables in the EDF warehouse/hangar and being researched. It was calculated at being 12,000 years old and composed of organic and machine tissue, making it a cyborg. It is also discovered that the monster's D.N.A. contains M Base, which is also found in Earth's mutant soldiers. The creature's name is later discovered to be Gigan, an evil monster from space that was sent to wipe out life on Earth, but was subdued by Mothra.
Suddenly the largest group of monsters appear at one time simultaneously and attack major cities of the world. The EDF is dispatched and valiantly attempts to defeat the monsters. A supersonic pteranodon creature known as Rodan streamlines through New York leaving it in flames. The giant hybrid iguana-lizard, Zilla, tramples Sydney, Australia. The armored, spiky ankylosaur, Anguirus destroys the buildings and scenery in Shanghai. In Okinawa, Japan, the giant shisa—King Caesar marches through an oil refinery. Kamacuras, a high-speed mantis, cuts through Paris, and tears the city to shreds. A trailer home in Phoenix, Arizona is crushed by a giant desert tarantula, Kumonga. In Tokai, Japan, a petrochemical complex gets smashed by the giant crimson lobster, Ebirah.
Astonishingly, during the international devastation, an alien race known as the Xilians apears and captures the monsters, and proposes a peaceful union with mankind. Later on, when the true intentions of the race and their association with the monster attacks are discovered by the crew of the Gotengo, they release the monsters to resume their attacks on the cities and send out an army of small fighter ships to assist in leveling and decimating the human civilization. The Gotengo crew set out on a risky, last resort plan to defeat the Xilians. Releasing Godzilla. When it succeeds, Godzilla battles with Gigan and wins, though it is later revealed that he does not actually kill him, despite that the cyborg was completely decapitated by Godzilla's atomic ray. Next, the crew leads him to Sydney, where he defeats Zilla. He then proceeds to defeat Anguirus, King Caesar, Rodan, Ebirah, and Hedorah before he is finally brought to the Xilian mothership, where the battle between humans and Xilians takes place, while Godzilla battles a new, final foe known as Monster X while Mothra battles Gigan. Mothra and Gigan perish as the remaining crew are victorious. Godzilla is still fighting Monster X, who soon transforms into his true form, Kaiser Ghidorah, who starts to drain the lifeforce of Godzilla. Ozaki transfers his energy to Godzilla and restores his strength and empowers him. Godzilla destroys two of his enemy's heads and tosses him around the ruins of Tokyo. Finally, he hurls Kaiser Ghidorah into the air and fires his over powered red atomic breath to destroy Kaiser Ghidorah. Godzilla then tries to kill the crew of the Gotengo, but his son, Minilla, calms him down. Godzilla lets out one final roar for 50 years of destruction.
[edit] Reaction
Godzilla Final Wars received mixed reviews from fans. It was intended to be a "monster mash" to celebrate Godzilla's long history, but due to the large cast of monsters, each was only allowed limited screen time. Furthermore, the movie departed from previous films in the series by introducing elements of human-focused action — an addition that was variously praised and condemned. The film makes a number of obvious references to The Matrix, Independence Day, X-Men, and Star Wars, which attracted some criticism from audiences.
The monster fights in Final Wars are unusually short for the series, with many of the beasts apparently suffering from the stormtrooper effect. This was done to make Godzilla appear far more powerful than he had in the past, and to solve the problem of having 14 monsters jammed into one film. This decision has been proved generally unpopular with Godzilla fans.
[edit] Box Office
Any hopes Toho had of Godzilla: Final Wars ending the series with a box office bang were crushed when the film opened in Japan on December 4, 2004. In its opening weekend, it came in third at the box office, with a mild $1,874,559 gross. It was crushed at the box office by Howl's Moving Castle and The Incredibles, and ended its run with an unprofitable $12 million[4].
[edit] 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. Some critics expressed concern with the music of Final Wars, arguing that Emerson's score would be better suited for television or video games, while others pointed out that it made a refreshing change from the music of previous Godzilla films. Most kaiju fans missed the music of the original, especially the contributions made by composer Akira Ifukube.
[edit] DVD Releases
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
[edit] Goofs In Sony's DVD
- The name of the alien invaders is spelled "Xilian" in the film and Japanese publicity materials, and "Xilien" is Sony's press sheets.
- The Son of Godzilla has no less than three names on the Sony disc; the Chapter Menu uses the American name "Minya", the subtitles use "Minilla" (a direct translation of the Japanese name Minira, as in "Mini Gojira"), and Toho's English dub calls him "Milla".
[edit] External links
- Godzilla: Final Wars at the Internet Movie Database
- Official Site in Japanese
- Godzilla: Final Wars at Toho Kingdom including several reviews
