GFW Reviews Thread & Discussion (Spoilers)

[cybot sawaguchi]

[DannyBeane]

[plyometrics]

[Nippon]

[Robert Saint John]

combined, thanks for the report Robert

[Hajime Kudo]

[Aaron Smith]

[Robert Saint John]

Phillip Provencio (Anguirus Dude) was one of the winners of Henshin! Online's GFW contest, and took the time to submit a of GFW and the Premiere Event, published in full at http://www.monsterzero.us/editorials/ed ... tentID=640. There are spoilers.

Personally I liked it, and I'm giving it 4 out of 5 Anguirus Dude Stamps of Approval.

[Elliot Gay]

[Super Jet]

Coming in late here but I just have to add my 2 cents....

Saw final wars for the first time on Monday, as I was back home for Christmas vacation before this, and must say I loved it.

This movie ROCKS!!!! It was soooooo much fun! And fun is what it comes down to. From my experience, there are two kinds of Godzilla fans; the serious, and the light hearted. My group of friends and i have always enjoyed the humorous aspects of Godzilla (rediculous story lines, silly fight scenes... etc), along with the universally enjoyable aspect of seeing monsters fight each other.

This movie will apeal to the more light-hearted fans. It's loaded with humor and great action throughout. Yeah, the story is silly, some fights are too short and the music score sub par but with all honesty, this movie is not meant to be serious. It's a return and celebration of the sci-fi, pulp action, serial-kaiju era. I can understand some disappointment in regards to it being a 50th anniversary film....as it doesn't carry any deep meaning as the original and GMK did.

However, it is fast, furious and fun to watch. Definetaly aimed at a younger audience....which is the type of audience TOHO has been making Godzillas for, afterall.

All in all, I give it 4 out of 5

Story wise, not as good as GMK but I had WAY more fun watching Final Wars.

[GoDziLLaX]

thats a pretty good review right there.. just goes to show how varying the opposite sides of the spectrum can be

[Godzilla90s2000]

[Robert Saint John]

I looked to see if this was already referenced, but I think we missed it. It's a review from the , published back on 12/15:


By MARK SCHILLING
-------------------------
Godzilla: Final Wars

Rating: * * * (out of 5)
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Running time: 110 minutes
-------------------------


"Godzilla: Final Wars," Ryuhei Kitamura's send-off to the Big G, who's going into retirement after a 50-year run, is like one of those documentaries dedicated to blues or rock or R&B greats. The old guys can still play the notes and crank up the energy, but though they once shook the world, now they're in the nostalgia business.

A wunderkind with a gift for action, Kitamura is the master of the cool move, the eye-popping fight sequence (see "Versus," "Alive," "Sky High" and "Azumi" for examples) -- and he uses his talents to the full in "Final Wars."

Like one of his role models, Quentin Tarantino, he's also a pastiche artist whose assembly of the best bits from 27 Godzilla movies gives fans the shocks of recognition they're paying for -- Look! There's Ebirah! Hedorah! Gigan! -- with more style and flair than they're used to. (With an ancient "TohoScope" banner, he even references the Shaw Brothers tribute that Tarantino slipped into the opening credits of "Kill Bill Vol. 1.")

Kitamura also tries to rope in nonfans (or former fans who tired of the corny effects and absurd stories soon after their 10th birthdays) with self-referencing humor formerly verboten in the Godzilla oeuvre. (One of the funnier bits is a TV panel discussion with a well-known UFO crank and skeptic -- with the crank winning the argument.)

Mostly, though, he plays down the middle, while providing meticulous "fan service," including cameos from such series veterans as Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara and Akira Takarada (the last two cast members from the original 1954 film). This is no doubt what series producer Shogo Tomiyama wanted -- no major messing with that corporate symbol! -- but those expecting a fresh, hip, post-millennial Godzilla movie will be disappointed.

As with so much of Kitamura's work, "Final Wars" is less an integrated film than a series of gonzo action-sequences that, after the initial rush, have much of a sameness.

"Final Wars" begins with Big G being buried in the Antarctic ice by blasts delivered from the Goten, a submarine helmed by a mustachioed side of beef named Captain Gordon (Don Frye).

To guard against this sort of monster eruption, we learn, the United Nations has formed the Earth Defense Forces, which has developed special monster-fighting technology. In the EDF vanguard is the M-Organization, an elite unit of mutants with superhuman fighting skills.

Among the best of the unit's best are Shinichi Ozaki (Masahiro Matsuoka) and archrival Kazama (Kane Kosugi) -- whose training session in a steeply sloping pit perfect for flying (i.e., wirework) moves would be a hyperpaced death match in almost any other film. Ozaki is less focused -- and snarkier -- than his grim-faced foe. More vintage Bruce Willis, in other words, than Keanu "Neo" Reeves.

Dispatched to a museum in Hokkaido, Shinichi encounters and quarrels with Miyuki Otonashi (Rei Kikukawa), a U.N. molecular biologist with model looks and an unusual research subject: a monster named Gigan whose mummified remains contain a mysterious "M-base" compound" also found in the mutants.

Then Shinichi, Miyuki and the elderly museum head (Kenji Sahara) are instantaneously transported to Infant Island, where twin fairies (Masami Nagasawa and Chihiro Otsuka) tell them that Gigan was defeated by Mothra 12,000 years ago -- and that if he revives, the world will once again be threatened with destruction.

Soon after, monsters start springing up in Shanghai, Sydney, Paris, New York and other corners of the globe. A small boy and his hunter grandfather even encounter a baby monster, Minilla, near Mount Fuji. The EDF swings into action and eliminates one of the beasts (in what must be a series first), but the monsters are too many and too much. Then help arrives from an unexpected source: a giant UFO piloted by human-looking aliens called Xilians. But though the newcomers profess friendship -- and are even endorsed by the U.N. secretary general (Takarada) -- they have their own plans for Earth.

Where does Godzilla come in? He reappears as an unlikely ally in humanity's battle with the aliens. There is more monster action, as well as a planet on a collision course with Earth. By its third act "Final Wars" devolves into a mishmash of everything from "The Matrix" to "Independence Day," "Armageddon" and "Return of the Jedi," not to mention many an old Godzilla pic.

Kitamura doesn't filter this material through his own sensibility, as Tarantino did with Asian B-movies in "Kill Bill," so much as assemble it, like a club mix of Motown tunes, all with the same hammering beat.

Some fans will dance, others will reject "Final Wars" as a last desecration. Meanwhile, having already made his Hollywood calling card, Kitamura is moving on.

The Japan Times: Dec. 15, 2004

[Cookie]

Not that bad of a review by MARK SCHILLING. I think I will like the mix of The Matrix, Independence Day, Armageddon, and Return of the Jedi and not to mention Kaiju in the same movie. I think GFW sounds like the perfect G-Film for me.

[ebirahsmeg1]

Well, since there have been a gazillion reviews already posted, I will keep it simple and brief and just list the good and bad points. By the way, I don’t know if any of the below are considered spoilers anymore, but if your too dense headed to realize that a movie reviews thread might contain some spoilers, then that’s your problem :turnbad:


The Good:

- Not movie related, but I loaded up on G goodies in the theatre lobby Japanese theatres ROCK! My fav. Is the Bandai brownish red version of Angilas.

- Wow, I never thought in a million years I'd say this....but Wakasa actually made a G suit I like Nice G suit....

- Outstanding opening credits and an exciting battle between G and Goten/Atragon. Speaking of which, very little has been said about Gouten. Definitely one of the best Mecha in years.

- The kaiju were impressive for the most part. For those who continuously whine about "the suits look fake!"...puhlease They look no more fake that Kiryu, Megaguirus, Baragon, Orga, KINO, Frogzilla, etc. The worst was probably King Seasar, but he doesn’t look *nearly* as bad as many have said and I felt it was grossly exaggerated (unfortunately, he didn’t have his eye reflector beam weapon). Believe it or not, I thought Monster X was the most disappointing kaiju. He moved way too human-like for my tastes. I was really surprised by how well TOHO pulled off CGI with GINO…a short, classic scene where Godzilla crushes him.

- Battle between Ebirah and the Mutants…one word: Outstanding. One of the best human vs kaiju scenes ever.

- Though I wasn’t thrilled with his pre-production pics, Angilas comes off nicely in this film and I thought he stole the show whenever he was on screen.

- Tough for me to judge since he was dubbed in Japanese (is this normal for all versions in Japan?), but for all the ripping on him, I thought Don Frye had a great screen presence and will prove naysayers wrong about him.

- I wasn’t too thrilled about KG having 4 legs and to be honest, I don't like this design nor the sorry looking wings, but in terms of power and impressiveness, this version of KG nails it. He literally manhandles and pounds Godzilla to a pulp until Godzilla finally manages to finish him off. Very impressive and reminded me of the early showa era of how KG was Godzilla’s deadliest enemy. Kind of makes up for the dreaded KINO from GMK...I still do not see why they couldn't have the Mothra 3 suit or something in that vein


- The human characters, albeit annoying with their Matrix homages, were, in contrast to recent G films, actually somewhat interesting. The Xian leader, as everyone already knows by now, steals the entire film.
The Xians in general made great villians and it was a welcomed returned of an alien race as the main villians of a G film.

Not so good:

-Musical score…..disappointing would be an understatement. I thought an electronic/techno type of score was done well in GMK, but here it sounds cheap and rushed. This filmed deserved a much more worthy score.

-I thought this film had one of the most creative, exciting plots we have seen for quite some time…but that is also its downfall….it has too many angles/directions going on at once and I felt it gave the film a choppy feel to it. Nevertheless, I would rather have TOHO try to do “too muchâ€

[Robert Saint John]

[Elliot Gay]

[Legacy_Of_Gamera]

[Elliot Gay]

[Robert Saint John]

[Elliot Gay]

[Master Fwiffo]

[Elliot Gay]

[PyrasTerran]

[emeGoji]