TALKBACK #28: Godzilla Final Wars

by **walshiam** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:53 pm

Absurdly fun AND definitely not boring in any way.

by **MekaGojira3k** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:39 am

It's good fun, and I think it has the most memorable cast since the Showa era. Not great performances, but they stand out more than any of the other casts.

Also, Don Frye. Nuff' Said.

by **MrShape666** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:24 am

One part where I thought they really got too stupid for their own good is the idea of the ship leading Godzilla around all over the world to defeat monsters in a few hours. It's a really stupid sequence that is so bad it isn't even fun.

They should have had the aliens recall all the monsters to Japan when the humans start fighting back, and have Godzilla go through them that way.

by **jellydonut25** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 2:27 am

MrShape666 wrote:One part where I thought they really got too stupid for their own good is the idea of the ship leading Godzilla around all over the world to defeat monsters in a few hours. It's a really stupid sequence that is so bad it isn't even fun.

They should have had the aliens recall all the monsters to Japan when the humans start fighting back, and have Godzilla go through them that way.

they never say or even insinuate that it takes placeover only "a few hours" the scenes change between night and day and night a couple of times...

by **MekaGojira3k** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 2:56 am

I always got the impression that the day the crap hits the fan (The TV Broadcast) was day 1, by the end of that day, or sometime in the early morning, they arrive and awaken Godzilla. By the end of Day 2 they arrive back in Tokyo, and it could honestly be anywhere from that night to the morning of the next day. We just know it was night.

by **walshiam** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:35 pm

All the sudden I want to the this movie again (for the 25th time)

by **MrShape666** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:37 pm

And some costume designer should get fired for those Nazi uniforms the mutants were wearing. Yeesh, what a bad idea.

Personally, I find that I enjoy this movie a whole lot more if fast forward through all the scenes with Minya.

by **MekaGojira3k** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:49 pm

I have no problem with the costumes, and I love watching the Minya suit. Also, he occasionally makes me laugh.

by **heroforhirerob** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 12:08 pm

MrShape666 wrote:
Arrow wrote:The movie is downright awful.

And yet, unlike the two Godzilla movies before it, I can't say that I feel as if I've seen it several times before. That, and I've honestly come to enjoy it for being so terrible. That's all I've got to say in defense of it.

It's too bad that another Godzilla movie like this is so unlikely. The story premise behind it was cool and I rather like that Godzilla's final film was to celebrate all his movies and bring back monsters that haven't been seen in decades. If only it were executed better...

Like I said, guilty pleasure. He might have made an absurd Godzilla movie, but you can't say he made a boring one.

Actually, I can. The kaiju fights in this film are among the worst in the series. VERY boring. The human fights scenes are so long and derivative of other films that I lost interest long before it was over. A film with no plot to hold your attention and visually uninteresting action scenes equals boring to me. About the only thing that wasn't boring was the initial appearance of the kaiju army....which they then immediately after make boring again by teleporting the monsters all away and grinding the movie to a dead halt.

by **Gman2887** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 2:21 pm

MekaGojira3k wrote:I have no problem with the costumes, and I love watching the Minya suit. Also, he occasionally makes me laugh.

Same here. So what if they were Nazi stormtrooper inspired? Can't say the Germans didn't know how to dress themselves.

by **jellydonut25** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 2:34 pm

heroforhirerob wrote:Actually, I can. The kaiju fights in this film are among the worst in the series.

The Heisei series disagrees with this statement.

by **Arrow** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 3:52 pm

One thing about GFW I do like is the fights. I know the film is ridiculously light on monster action, the battles scenes are silly and short, and the human scenes aren't nearly done well enough to justify it, but I honestly loved seeing Godzilla smash his way through all his old enemies. After seeing him get blown to pieces in GMK, get injured fighting Kiryu to a standstill in the next film, and then seeing him get wrapped in silk and dumped at the bottom of the ocean in Tokyo S.O.S., it was kind of nice, as a fan of the character, to see Godzilla come out on top again. Just seeing all those monsters - Angurius, Rodan (who is one of my favorites), Kumonga, Hedorah and all the others again was cool enough that I didn't mind how easily they were beaten. Their scenes could have been longer, hell they should have been longer, but I do enjoy them as they are.

Biggest disappointment for me was the King Ghidorah, or whatever that was supposed to be.

by **MekaGojira3k** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 4:25 pm

Arrow wrote:One thing about GFW I do like is the fights. I know the film is ridiculously light on monster action, the battles scenes are silly and short, and the human scenes aren't nearly done well enough to justify it, but I honestly loved seeing Godzilla smash his way through all his old enemies. After seeing him get blown to pieces in GMK, get injured fighting Kiryu to a standstill in the next film, and then seeing him get wrapped in silk and dumped at the bottom of the ocean in Tokyo S.O.S., it was kind of nice, as a fan of the character, to see Godzilla come out on top again. Just seeing all those monsters - Angurius, Rodan (who is one of my favorites), Kumonga, Hedorah and all the others again was cool enough that I didn't mind how easily they were beaten. Their scenes could have been longer, hell they should have been longer, but I do enjoy them as they are.

Biggest disappointment for me was the King Ghidorah, or whatever that was supposed to be.

Yeah, Kaiser Ghidorah is the only monster I feel they did a poor job with. Everything else looked great. Even certain OBVIOUS shots of CG Monsters looked okay (Kamacuras flying through Paris comes to mind)

by **MrShape666** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 8:27 pm

Gman2887 wrote:
MekaGojira3k wrote:I have no problem with the costumes, and I love watching the Minya suit. Also, he occasionally makes me laugh.

Same here. So what if they were Nazi stormtrooper inspired? Can't say the Germans didn't know how to dress themselves.

True, the Nazis were snappy dressers, but this just looked uncomfortable. I mean, all they were lacking was a swastika. It's almost impossible not to wonder what exactly Kitimura was trying to say with that, especially if like me, you come from a Jewish family that is quite a bit smaller now because of that period of history. Given the historical connection between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, this comes of as a pretty bad lapse in judgment.

Unlike a lot of people here, I don't let one or two problems hamper my enjoyment of a film. While GFW'll never make top grade, it's a lot of fun to watch. I sat through my first viewing of it with my jaw hanging open wondering what the hell could happen next.

by **Tyler E. Martin** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:32 am

MrShape666 wrote:True, the Nazis were snappy dressers, but this just looked uncomfortable. I mean, all they were lacking was a swastika. It's almost impossible not to wonder what exactly Kitimura was trying to say with that, especially if like me, you come from a Jewish family that is quite a bit smaller now because of that period of history. Given the historical connection between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, this comes of as a pretty bad lapse in judgment.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your family, but I seriously doubt that Kitamura was trying to say anything. I don't even think it's within his capacity to "say" something with a film, at least not with this one.

by **walshiam** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:40 am

Directors leave wardrobes to the "experts".

by **jellydonut25** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:40 pm

walshiam wrote:Directors leave wardrobes to the "experts".

yeah but don't you think they get some final say or initial concept-word in on the subject??

i mean, the director isn't just gonna say "dress these people"

by **walshiam** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:00 pm

Not unless it interferes wth the script.

by **MrShape666** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:50 pm

walshiam wrote:Not unless it interferes wth the script.

The costume designer will generally meet with the director to find out what he has in mind and then produce several different sketches to let the director pick what they like the most. They don't have carte blance to do what they want as a rule.

Honestly, all they really needed was a different colored arm band and it would have been more Matrix instead of SS.

by **MouthForWar** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:07 pm

I honestly doubt Kitamura was trying to make the heroes of the film look like Nazis.

by **MekaGojira3k** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:00 pm

Yeah, Kitamura probably just said "That looks cool."

by **heroforhirerob** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:49 am

jellydonut25 wrote:
heroforhirerob wrote:Actually, I can. The kaiju fights in this film are among the worst in the series.
The Heisei series disagrees with this statement.

So you're saying you think the fight scenes in this one(FW) are good? To each their own I guess, but I thought the Final Wars fight scenes were beyond bad...heisei series fights may have been slow paced, but they didn't make me cringe as much as some of the stuff from Final Wars. Cartoony Spiga toss....silly three monster mash...two second monster cameos...etc etc etc...just awful in all respects...not fun...not interesting....nothing...

by **MouthForWar** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:26 am

At least there was some actual choreography invloved here that required a lot of physicality on the part of the suit actors.

I'd take the fights in this over the ones in GxMG, which literally consist of Godzilla standing there. Or the beam wars of the Heisei series for that matter.

by **MrShape666** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:33 am

What alwyas gets me is how serious about this Kitimura tries to sound in interviews. It seems a little odd, cause how serious could he be when he included the scene of Godzilla and King Seaser playing soccer with Angillas as the ball.

by **MouthForWar** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:01 am

I dunno, all the times I've seen him talk about it he talks about the 70s movies and emphasizes that he wanted to bring the "fun" back to Godzilla.

TALKBACK #28: Godzilla Final Wars

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