Godzilla: Final Wars
It’s time to put my revisiting of my favorite movie monster to bed (it was a helpful part of my Godzilla twelve-step program) with a review of the final, and most bad ass Godzilla movie of all time! Godzilla Final Wars is the final film of the Millennium series and the 28th film in the entire Godzilla franchise. Despite its title, this is not the last Godzilla movie, but rather a time for Toho to “temporarily retire” the character for a period of time. The latest Godzilla gossip has his probably return in 2013 or 14 for the 50th anniversary of the king of monsters.
Before we look at this film, I need to spend some time talking about the Millennium series of Godzilla films. Unlike the Heisei-era of films, the storyline in these movies do not extend beyond the picture itself. Many times we even see a reinventing of the Godzilla lore in order to tell the story. The only exception is the Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla III and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. where the stories do actually tie together. I chose to skip these two movies because Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla III is not available for streaming, and it’s even more Power Rangers than MechaGodzilla II. (Personally I kinda dig the Power Rangers, but don’t tell DJI…) If you are going to check out any other Millennium series movies, be sure to rent Godzilla 2000. Here we see Godzilla’s new look, and the new look and feel of the series as a whole. Toho released this film right after Sony’s lame version of Godzilla here in the U.S. Here we are reminded of what a true Godzilla movie should be like. You can still tell it’s a guy in a suit, but its so much more polished that it’s easier to suspend your disbelief. The only things that is really lacking in the film is the truly awful English dub.
Godzilla: Final Wars was released as part of the 50th anniversary of the Godzilla franchise. Many of the actors and monsters from the previous films made appearances as major characters or cameos in the film. Some of the monsters had not been seen on the silver screen in more than thirty years! Another awesome cameo in the film is the space combat vehicle Gotengo. The Gotengo (or the Atragon) is a submarine battleship that has appeared in several Toho Studio films starting with the movie Atragon in 1963. The ship is heavily armored and has a giant drill on the bow of the ship. If you have ever been up late and caught a Japanese sci-fi film from the 1960s or 70s, you’ve probably seen this ship. Seeing the Gotengo in the film sent my geek hairs on edge. Truly epic.
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