GFW Reviews Thread & Discussion (Spoilers)

[dvdspaz]

Matolen,

You are 100% right when you say it was more like watching a music video than an actual movie. I was thinking that a lot while I watched it.

[Robert Saint John]

[Goji66]

I just watched GFW in its entirety, and unfortunately, I'm feeling pretty damned sour about what I saw. IMO, they might as well take Godzilla's name off of the title card and just leave it "Final Wars". This a HUMAN story more than anything, with kaiju serving as nothing more than window dressing.

To those who have not watched it yet, this is what you can expect:

10 minutes of human babble, followed by 5 minutes of monster rampage, then 20 minutes of human fighting, followed by 3 minutes of monster fighting, then cut to another 20 minutes of human/alien babble and fighting, ad nauseum.

The ratio of human focus vs monster focus in this film is woefully in favor of the former. We get so much mutant/X/human scenes shoved down our throats that the entire human drama completely wears out its welcome by the time Godzilla appears. At that point, you'd think the movie is kicking into kaiju gear, but it never does. Even Godzilla himself is a mere backdrop to yet more posing and posturing between the humans and aliens.

I remember Mike S and company chatting on commentary during G2000's G vs Orga fight, saying that the fight was going on too long. Later I read about Mike S saying he wouldn't change a thing about GFW, so it's pretty obvious he favors blink-and-miss-it monster battles. Now I no longer hope that GFW gets a US theatrical release. It's direct to video for this turkey.

I'll try to cool myself off a bit by focusing on a few positives:

--Rodan is amazing. Everything about Rodan works, from the suit design to the CG flying scenes. Rodan is simply awesome during his NY sonic boom rampage and in his battle with Godzilla. The best version of this kaiju since 1957, which should have gotten more screen time.

--Gigan looks fantastic every minute he is on the screen. You can count those minutes on your fingers, though.

--Godzilla vs Monster X/Kaiser Ghidorah. I thought MX was great, as it was about time we got to see a brand new monster. He looked like a combination of Alien and Seebozu from Ultraman. An excellent back and forth battle between G and MX hampered only by idiotic inter-cutting with the now over-exposed human action. KG also looked great onscreen, and the way it used its gravity beams was extremely similar to Space Godzilla's use of the Gravity Tornado/Corona beam. G vs Kaiser gets enough steady screen time that I thought "Hey, this FINALLY feels like a Godzilla movie!" because at this point the human and alien characters are actually paying significant attention to the monster battle. Prior to this, it's like a feature length human sci-fi movie has been playing intercut with an extremely short Godzilla SPFX reel. Outside of a few reaction shots from the X-seijin and Frye, you'd think they weren't even aware that giant monsters were battling nearby, or that the monster battles even mattered at all.

In a way, it makes sense that the monsters are quickly teleported about by the aliens, since the monsters themselves are so carelessly teleported in and out of a script they don't seem to belong in. Godzilla and company are merely biological weapons, onscreen chesspawns relegated into the background of the narrative. It almost reminds me of Kazuki Omori's 'embarrassed' approach to G vs Biollante, where he scrapped so much monster footage in favor of endless spy nonsense. Here, Kitamura waxes his obvious Matrix fixation at the expense of kaiju instead. It could have worked if the human battles were cut back and consistent monster footage replaced it, but in its current edit GFW is a seriously repetitive bore. So many monsters, so many opportunities, yet all we get are endless scenes of people in leather giving staredowns at one another. Ooops, did I miss that kaiju scene? Time to wait 10 or 20 minutes for the next one, yawn...

The less said about the musical score, the better. The opening and ending credits were ruined by music that sounded like it came from a god-damned Super Nintendo game from the 90's, specifically a game called UN Squadron. That's just pathetic.

Mothra, Minya, Hedorah and King Seesar should have been cut from the film altogether. They contribute absolutely nothing to the film. The old man and the the boy could also be cut entirely -- they're a complete waste of time. Godzilla should have had an extended fight with Rodan and Angilas, and should've been the one to eliminate Gigan the second time. Rodan, Angilas, and Ebirah were handled very well, and Kamakuras/Kumonga were just fine in their limited roles.

Minya is so bad, that I think anyone at Toho who ever wants to bring him back needs a good swift kick in the head. Seriously, my brain is just flooded with insults directed at those who decided to include Minya in GFW. I'm a pro wrestling fan, and it's very similar to being a Godzilla fan in that there's moments in both mediums that make you wish you were never a fan. Moments that make me sink into the couch when my wife and her friends walk in the door and see me watching crap that I'm such a 'fan' of. Whether its Triple H screwing a mannequin or Minya clubbing the side of a pickup truck like Rain Man in a Pillsbury Doughboy costume, its moments like those where my woman will give me this look that says "I know you're a rational, educated, intelligent adult man and I love you... but why the f**k do watch this garbage?"

It's a shame that a movie that supposedly celebrates 50 years of Godzilla barely even takes the time to celebrate Godzilla within it's own narrative. Thank God for the live-action hiatus. I say give Godzilla over to the big anime studios and see what happens from there.

[Robert Saint John]

Lots of LOL moments for me in this review. I'm with you on most everything, a little more forgiving on some things, a lot less forgiving on others. The things that seem to strike a chord, good or bad, with people really do seem to be a matter of taste and priorities.

[Diabolik]

so...has everyons seen this movie now ? lol Is there a special trick to doing so ?

[Robert Saint John]

No, and yes... and no it may not be discussed. Remember folks, banning and boot rules are in effect.

[Godzilla]

I watched the movie too.

[Matolen]

[Kaiju Nexus]

[Diabolik]

[Elliot Gay]

[Robert Saint John]

[gfanikf]

[akuash]

[Kaiju Nexus]

[Robert Saint John]

[Robert Saint John]

[emeGoji]

[Robert Saint John]

[akuash]

[Elliot Gay]

[Nippon]

[Goji66]

[akuash]

[PyrasTerran]