Godzilla Final Wars

I feel as overwhelmed and blown away as if I just watched a Sega Genesis commercial.



Where do I begin? I know for a fact I would have sold some fuck's internal organs to see this movie when it came out. 2004, prime 9 year old Godzilla fan, it would have been like seeing Nirvana! The literal paradise not the band, though I still like the band but anyway! Uh, wow this movie was a trip man. To try to put this plot into basic terms, it's essentially a remake of Destroy All Monsters but turned up to 11, with of course an alien race that controls all the kaiju looking to turn humanity into the largest meat factory in the cosmos and when all else fails it is time to call in the big guns. Would you believe me if I said I legitimately forgot Godzilla was in this Godzilla movie because of the constant action explosion being thrown at me? Cause I would not be lying to you. Like this movie only takes brief breaks in action scene after action scene just enough so that your head doesn't explode. It really is blast processing for a Godzilla movie! Now I am an individual who is a huge Godzilla fan, I can respect and indeed love both sides of a story greatly, kaiju action and human story alike, yet I'm actually more split on the reception this movie got upon release. Apparently it's a greatly divisive movie for fans, now on one hand it is an action extravaganza with monster brawls and martial arts fighting people and I can understand why that would be a lot to digest and make even the Michael Bay Transformers movies seem peaceful in comparison, but also Godzilla fans love to see the kaiju throw down and if I had a dollar everytime I heard someone say they just want all fighting I'd have a good retirement fund. But the beauty of this series of films is that there is tons of variety, you want grim and serious allegory of nuclear weapons watch the 1954 movie or Shin Godzilla, you want ample sci-fi with your kaiju there's Invasion Of Astro-Monster and Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, you want some whacked out bizzare stuff take a hit of Godzilla Vs. Hedorah or All Monsters Attack. There is as much a valid place for total non-stop action here as well as any other tweak to the formula. True the editing is a bit quick and we swap from conflicts in quick succession, but the choreography and effects don't feel shoddy or rushed nor do you have much trouble keeping track of who's who. Now is there clear and definite inspiration from films such as The Matrix movies and Star Wars? Oh hell yeah there is! But it doesn't dilute the movie or the reference, it's just a stylistic choice for the plot. It certainly doesn't turn it's back on the history of the series, the abundance of monsters, returning actors like Akira Takarada, the choice selection of stock footage from previous Toho films, it feels like a big fuck off celebratory bash for the 50th anniversary of the King Of The Monsters. They went out with the biggest bang they could muster, and it really did seem like the true end. It's very odd to think but I was born just one year after the death of Godzilla in the Heisei series and wasn't even a decade old when Toho decided to call it a wrap at least for a good few years. And how fitting that the final Godzilla film I've seen is Final Wars. I'll believe it when I see it if we get a new Godzilla movie from Japan this year. Christ I'm not even sure if I should or even could rank all the movies, that would take some thought! It's just a lot to process man, as a movie and as the end of an era for me. Almost too much to talk about throughout so I'll just highlight some things. The monster designs are much more sleek and look fantastic, with easily the lightest Godzilla suit yet. The main controller alien played by Kazuki Kitamura is having the time of his life going friggin' nuts and over the top, but with the exaggerated nature of the film it never feels out of place or too much. I would like to express my joy to Toho for buying the rights to Zilla and giving an extra special fuck yourself to the 1998 movie, shove it up your ugly ass by the way Emmerich. Also beautiful work presenting a fully accurate potrayal of New York City Toho, gold star for you. And if you honestly can't laugh at someone taking the piss out of America for once, you're not living to the max. God bless these american dubbers though, I mean to be perfectly on the level here dub work is pretty involved and hard work to get right but they tried and did not succeed in these pronunciations, my absolute favorite being they pronounce Minilla (I always said it 'mean-yuh') as Milla as in Milla Jovovich. Greatness. Really neat to actually see a great deal of different cities and nationalities, it does make this seem like a global attack so props to the director for that sense of scale. Don Frye as, to take a note out of Cinemassacre's book, this Sgt. Slaughter looking dude was great, I mean this man has zero shits to give maybe to his detriment in this modern world, when he gently smacks an alien woman on the cheek which knocks her clean out as if she got decked by the Hulk, it's ridiculous and unrealistic but that's why it made me laugh. Everything is over the top, the kaiju body count puts Jason Voorhees to shame, there's mutant soldiers, and Godzilla's power levels jumped over 9000 by taking a nap. This movie's wild. If you want sheer action pornography it's a 9 or a 10/10, but for me as a whole and as a Godzilla movie I give it 4 stars, 8.5/10! And with that my journey is complete, my only wish is that I hope both the Heisei and Millenium series can also get the special treatment here in the States of a Criterion Collection boxset and preferrably before I kick the bucket. For a series turning 70 years old next year, the thunderous steps and triumphant roar of Godzilla hasn't faltered through the decades and I'm sure generation after generation will follow in his destructive wake as loving fans just like me.

Ebirah Horror Of The Deep

Or Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster if you want the late night cable version.

I know people consider this to be one of the lesser Godzilla movies but I don't think it's bad at all. True it focuses primarily on the human characters, more so than usual even, with a man named Ryota searching for his brother lost at sea before the weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was tossed before setting foot on an island used for creating nuclear weapons. Soon he and his companions find a woman from Mothra's island and very soon Godzilla as well. So it's a matter of evading military forces, avoiding Godzilla, and trying to find a way past Ebirah the eponymous sea monster. Most Godzilla movies have about half if not 60% of the runtime devoted to the human characters, but here I'm almost willing to bet 85% of the runtime is devoted to the human characters. You don't get a lot of monster action or fighting until the last quarter of the movie. Originally this was supposed to be a King Kong film and it seems abundantly clear when you take that fact into consideration when watching the movie, but my question is would Mothra still be a part of the movie to get everyone off the island? Now why they swapped Kong for Godzilla is beyond me, he still has a lot of traits of the Toho King Kong and I don't mean the 30s japanese King Kong, and I do feel it would have worked better with the ape. This happens to be a significant entry not for plot elements but production elements, this is the final Godzilla film to feature Akira Takarada who's been around since the first film until the Heisei series, this is the directorial debut of Jun Fukuda in the Godzilla series who will pop up more as we go along, it's the first Godzilla movie not to have Eiji Tsuburaya doing the special effects since he was heading his own special effects company though I would say the effects are on par for the series, and both the adult Mothra and the twin fairies also wouldn't be seen till the Heisei series. So quite a few events to take note of for an entry that's less than good. It's not horrible by any stretch, the pacing is decent, the cast does well I even strongly approve that there is zero romance subplot with Daiyo, the plot though scarce of monster action isn't the worst I've seen, but I think it's safe to assume this is a definite skip in the filmography. 2 stars, 5.5/10, and we get a divisive entry in the series next time.

Invasion Of Astro Monster

Or pick whatever title you want, Monster Zero, Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero, it's a dime a dozen for these Godzilla movie titles.

Out of the Showa era, this is probably my favorite of the King Ghidorah entries. Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster was good, do not get me wrong and you could argue this could be a remake of that movie with a lot more sci-fi in it. The year is 196X, yeah back when movies had to be vague and stuff like this could actually happen, two astronauts voyage to a previously unknown planet orbiting Jupiter brilliantly named Planet X, we get one more and this will be the first Godzilla movie with a XXX (hoo-hoo), where an alien species makes first contact with Earth and requests their assistance. The aliens are attacked by Monster Zero or the kaiju formerly known as Ghidorah, and they want both Godzilla and Rodan to defeat it in exchange for the literal cure for cancer. We're not science fiction we are in fact, science fact over here at Toho. This movie was released in 1965, man had not yet landed on the moon but we're taking manned flights to Jupiter. I would be 86 years old and we still wouldn't have gotten to that point. Hell Star Trek wasn't even out yet, those 60s was the space age man. I was very happy to rewatch this movie again and to see it in it's native japanese was really nice. One curious thing to note is an american actor, Nick Adams was put in the movie for better international releases yet this is the only occurence at least in my memory that such a thing has occured in a Godzilla film. And even more so strange, he was dubbed in the japanese version which okay fine this is the edit for audiences in Japan, but that's never occured in another movie. I expected english audio with perhaps japanese subtitles, like when I watch something like Shin Godzilla with the japanese audio but english subtitles. Huh, how about that. I watch these to fully experience the performances sans dubbing, and yet I get dubbing in the original version. Blows my mind man. But enough of that, how's the rest? Pretty good, performances are really good, I like the designs of the spaceships and aliens, it's really friggin' cool to see Godzilla fight in outer space, I mean this is the movie that gives us the Godzilla victory dance for crying out loud, it's just a fascinating entry. And while the alien invaders plotline will get so dull even you'll want me to say something else happens, and this is where stock footage is first used albeit sparingly, I can't give this movie any good grief. It's solid, they play their cards right and still make a entertaining, special effects heavy, monster movie that doesn't go too weird or too quick. Keep in mind, weird is highly relative when it comes to this show. 3.5 stars, 7/10, and the directorial chair will be swapped out for Jun Fukuda next time.

Hail To The King: 60 Years Of Destruction

After watching that new trailer so many times and rewatching some Godzilla films lately, this popped into my head and I really wanted to spread the word about it.

I think, and this seems pretty definitive, this is my favorite documentary ever. And I've seen my fair share, I've seen Woodstock, 101 Biography Channel presentations, many making of film documentaries but this one really hit a chord with me. It's told from the perspective of a podcaster Kyle Yount, hardcore kaiju fan and Godzilla connoisseur as he treks to Tokyo to see how the japanese population is celebrating the then 60th anniversary of Godzilla. 65 years now and still going damn strong. And I think the reason why this is my favorite documentary like ever is the fact that, it doesn't just state facts for the record. It isn't a seminar on how the 1954 movie came to be and the subsequent impact on culture throughout the decades this series has made. It has passion to it, it's done in a loose but still highly professional manner and showcases both fans and creators in nothing short of a loving, respectful, and engaging fashion. It's not trying to be anything else than what it is and show the dedication and immense love held by the fans of this genre, tokusatsu. And the amazing part is not only does he interview and spend time with fans in a restaurant, or talk with an independent film director, he somehow...I don't know how got to sit with Godzilla acting alumni and talk with them about their involvement and appreciation for the films. That, is incredible. I was seriously shocked when I first saw it and are still just stunned watching it now. And this was not an official documentary. This was fan funded, independent, limited number of cameras, but because of the participation of fans in the production it grew into more. It's such a strange example because you have so much Toho material here, on YouTube 100% free, and yet it isn't officialy made by a television or news company, though I'm sure Toho gave it a stamp of approval. That just never happens. But they do it admirably and shine a light on various bits of culture peppered throughout, and not just focus on the monsters. Hell it could be argued it's as much a love letter to super sentai as well as kaiju, there's some love to your Ultraman's and Kamen Rider's. It really is a celebration of the whole genre as much as this film series. It's very genuine, you can tell there's a lot of passion, a lot of commitment, a lot of enjoyment, and man you just can't beat that. I know documentaries have as much production as movies, Christ even more than movies but it still feels real and free of bullshit. Big thumbs up from me, 4 stars, 9/10! Whether you just like Godzilla or have more than just your toes dipped in the water, give this a watch. At just a smidge over an hour, you can't lose much.

Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1964)

Ohhhh yeahhhh!!

You knew it was coming, there's a new Godzilla movie out Friday it's time again to dive into the kaiju action! And we start with one of the shining films of the early Showa era, a beloved fan favorite, and it deserves the credit. Godzilla Vs. Mothra is a great movie in the Godzilla series, with excellent production design, a good human story, a pretty good share of both monster and military action, with the return of the winged goddess herself Mothra and one of the best designed Godzilla suits ever made. This does have sentimental value for me cause waaaaay back, before I was even 9 years old I owned this movie and three other Godzilla movies on DVD, so watching it again not only put a smile on my face but brought back good memories. It has a simple story but it's more about execution than really anything in a kaiju movie, a massive monster eggs gets swept away in a typhoon and lands on japanese soil, and a greedy buisnessman takes possesion of the egg even after he's made well aware it's the egg of Mothra. People all over the city wonder what the egg could contain and that's where our main characters come in who are reporters, but soon Godzilla emerges and causes devestation in his wake while our heroes try to get Mothra to fight him. So it's one of the good entries of the series where the humans have a significant stance on the story and it doesn't feel like filler. The monster side of things is exemplary, with better production value after Toho gained major financial results after King Kong Vs. Godzilla, the Godzilla suit itself has one of it's best redesigns already after a great design in the last, and the sets and miniatures are greatly done and most of them are in broad daylight with little to no faults in them. Mothra herself is a formidable opponent for Godzilla and isn't a pushover, with a lovely design and as far to my knowledge the first instance of her theme which is wonderful and only got better in the Heisei series in my opinion. Plus you can't bring up Mothra without mentioning her twin fairies that she guards, and the way they handle the special effects of their mini size must be commended, and I wonder if they will take some shape or form in the new Godzilla movie. It's a fan favorite and highly regarded for a reason, it does everything right in all aspects and entertains everybody regardless of age. You can obtain a copy of the movie easily on Amazon, or you can rent it, or if you know the right places watch it for free and it's worth it. The copy I reviewed was the japanese version, though I had the english dub way back in the day and I think both versions are very good. The next one we talk about however is one even I haven't got to which is surprising because it is the movie that introduced not only Godzilla's archnemesis but also the monster rumble we would see in many other future sequels. Until next time G-fans!

Godzilla (1954)

Well I did say I wanted a monster movie, so how about the original King of the Monsters, Godzilla!

The original Godzilla made in 1954, directed by acclaimed Japanese director Ishiro Honda is a not so typical monster movie focusing more on human emotions and their consequences on testing nuclear weapons. The story of the movie follows mysterious disappearances of fishing boats and the subsequent investigation soon discovering a giant prehistoric monster mutated by testing of underwater atomic bombs, and the destruction that this famous monster wreaks on Japan and the humans efforts to try and destroy the beast once and for all. The main shining point of this movie besides the incredible special effects of Eiji Tsubaraya and the King of the Monsters himself is the outstanding cast of characters. We have Takashi Shimura as our main lead who is father to a young woman played by Momoko Kochi, who has been engaged to a strange and mysterious scientist played by Akihiko Harata who has actually developed a weapon that could kill Godzilla but because of it's terrible power of destruction he is hesitant to use it, thinking it could be used as a weapon more powerful than a hydrogen bomb. Suprisingly, there is lots of human conflict in this movie but only once is it physical. It's more of an internal conflict based on how the characters are dealing with the situation and what they should do next. It's a very well made film, with great acting, outstanding effects, memorable music by Akira Ifukube, gritty cinematography, and an overall foreboding mood. The film is very dark, treating it's subject matter completely seriously, we see Godzilla trample through several cities but after that we see the disturbing aftermath of it all. We see hundreds of people in a hospital, people dying, families embracing knowing that their lives will end soon, a memorial chorus for the dead, and so very much more. It is nothing like the Godzilla movies made in the 60s and the 70s where they were more campy and made for kids. This is the best Godzilla film ever made, and if you have never seen a Godzilla movie before, this is the one you need to watch. And if you don't even know what he looks like, it makes the movie even better because you don't see him at all until past the twenty minute mark, and it builds this suspense as to what this creature looks like. I love it. This is a truly remarkable film that many more people should see. And here's a fun fact: This movie premiered in the United States on April 27th, 1955. 40 years to the day before I was born! That makes me proud! So if you want to buy this movie, buy only one version which is The Criterion Collection. Best version you can buy, worth every dollar, go see this movie. See you next time.