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Film: Godzilla: Final Wars (Gojira: Fainaru uôzu)
Year: 2004
Director: Ryûhei Kitamura
Writer: Isao Kiriyama and Ryûhei Kitamura
Starring: Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa and Don Frye
Review:
This film begins in the past with a submarine like ship is fighting against Godzilla. It looks like the ship is going to fail, but they blow up a mountain of ice in the South Pole and it traps Godzilla.
We are then informed that the world was attacked by monsters, so a global defense group known as Earth Defense Force is created. There are also some humans who are mutated from normal individuals. They are sought out and trained to be an elite fighting force. We see them using the same ship that trapped Godzilla under the water against Manda, a water dragon. They take a lot of damage, but defeat it. The leader of the ship is Don Frye.
The first Japanese UN Secretary General is played by Akira Takarada. We meet two soldiers. One is played by Masahiro Matsuoka and he is fighting Kane Kosugi. Kosugi wins and we learn that they were training. It is pointed out that Matsuoka cares about saving people and that weakness is how he lost this fight.
We learn that Frye is locked up for the battle with Manda. Matsuoka is given an assignment to protect a molecular biologist. She is played by Rei Kikukawa. He finds her to be quite attractive. Together they meet a paleontologist, played by Kenji Sahara. A giant monster was found, but it is encased in rock. The monster is Gigan and has been like this for 12,000 years. Kikukawa learns from it that it has an M-base that normal humans don’t have, but Matsuoka and the other mutants share it.
There is a newscaster, played by Maki Mizuno, who interviews Takarada. Mizuno is also the sister of Kikukawa.
It is at this time that a bunch of monsters start to attack cities all over the world. Rodan, Anguirus, Zilla, King Caesar, Kamacuras, Kumonga and Ebirah are among them. EDF is called into action and they do battle with Ebirah in Paris. As they go to kill it, it disappears. That is when aliens appear, known as Xiliens. Takarada’s ship is also destroyed.
Takarada shows up and he was not killed. He pushes to have a Space Nations council. The leader of the Xiliens, along with his son Kazuki Kitamura, wants this to happen. The Twin Fairies who worship Mothra show Matsuoka, Kikukawa and Sahara that the monster they have found is Gigan and that Mothra will help defeat it.
There is a plot that the Xiliens really want to take over the planet. Matsuoka, Kikukawa, Frye and Mizuno are out to prove this plot. They expose that Takarada and Masakatsu Funaki are imposters. Kitamura kills his father. He is now in charge of the Xiliens and they attack the world.
It is then decided to free the only monster that cannot be controlled by the Xiliens and is also the strongest of them. They have to fight their way, but they free Godzilla. Kitamura sends Gigan, who is now awake to defeat him. Godzilla makes short work of it and then follows the ship, thinking that he is still in the last battle it had with it. I also want to point out that Minilla, the baby Godzilla, is alive and following what the larger one is doing.
Kitamura tries to send the other monsters against Godzilla, but he is constantly frustrated when they are defeated. The EDF members have decided to take the fight to the Xiliens, but will they be strong enough to do so? Can Godzilla take on all of the monsters that come at it? Gigan is not completely defeated and there is a secret weapon that Kitamura has, Monster X. It also has a final form that is a familiar monster as well. He won’t have to fight alone as Mothra arrives to help. Can they save the world?
My favorite part of this film is that it is like a video game, in that Godzilla has a ton of monsters to defeat and goes from city to city to defeat them. I love that this film brings back a lot of the older monsters, even if it is for a short time. I think that the surrounding story isn’t all that bad either. I like that is kind of an updated version of Destroy All Monsters, having Planet X controlling monsters and Godzilla needing to defeat them. The fight scenes by the giant monsters are only a small part of this film. There is a lot more fighting between the humans, mutants and Xiliens, so there is a lot of action.
Now I do have some issues with this film though. I don’t like that there is really along about 35-40 minutes of giant monster fighting. There is a lot of filling in the back-story and fighting between the human actors. I wanted more of the giant monsters, since there is so many of them in this film. I also feel that this film is a little bit corny at times as well.
With that said, I would recommend giving this one a viewing. The big thing about this film is that it brings back the most monsters of any of the films in the series, which I really liked. This one is also the only one to be PG-13, so they went a little bit darker than most films have. There is a lot of action, but most of it is between the human actors and not so much from the giant monsters. I will say that this is one of the better films in the series. It can be watched by itself or this one could be watched to finish the Godzilla line from Japan.
My Rating: 7 out of 10