I'm just gonna pop in here and give my comments before I go back to studying for mid-terms (this is gonna be long):
I saw it a couple of days ago... and loved it! Definitely not your average Godzilla movie. It is very goofy but very fun. I'd compare it to Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Mortal Kombat Annihilation. The only problem is that at times it seems to forget it's a Godzilla movie. During the final battle in Tokyo, we spent too much time watching the humans duking it out on the spaceship (though it was fun). I think it should of cut back to Godzilla more.
I did like the whole "everybody's fighting" thing going on at the final battle. It reminded me of Return of the Jedi and Phantom Menace, there's different fights going on in different areas at the same time. I love final battles like that. We had Ozaki and the Controller fighting, Don Frye taking care of two Xilians, the rest of the gang in a lazer gun shoot-out, and Godzilla fighting Monster X all going on at the same time. Pretty cool.
As for the martial arts in general, I was satisfied by them. I was worried they would be poorly choreographed, but they were way cool. I liked the crazy stuff they did like having Ozaki throw his oppenent in the sparring scene all the way across the room. It looked odd, but cool.
Burly Brawl Rip-Off: This has to be one of my favorite scenes. I loved the music and the slow-mo shots. It's actually kind of emotional. That guy was so badass taking on all of those mutants. Really well-done scene.
Bike Chase: Pretty cool, but not my favorite scene. I really liked when Kane Kosugi fell off his bike and the guitar kicked in on the soundtrack. Plus, I don't think you'll see anywhere else a guy getting "roundhouse kicked" by a motorcycle. That was insane! I wansn't expecting it!
Ebirah vs. EDF: One of the best human vs. monster scenes ever, and one of the best action scenes in this movie. It's the best in the movie because it's a knockout scene and it succesfully incorporates both monsters and humans. I loved the cars crashing into everything in the beginning: woot!
Don Frye was awesome. Not that bad of an actor. He stole the show. For some reason I couldn't help but laugh out loud when he exclaimed "God dammit, there's a barrier shield!" because it seemd so sci-fi cliche.
Frye's UFC compatriates who appeared in the South Pole are horrible actors however. The "uh-oh" line had me groaning, he didn't look sligthly afraid or worried that Godzilla was about to blow him to hell. I did like that scene however. It's the end of the world, but these two guys are chilling out in a cozy heated base in Antarctica, reading magazines, eating croissants, and listening to Masaru Sato. I know that's what I'd be doing if aliens took over!

How long were they expecting to enjoy themselves, though? If the Goten and Gigan hadn't mucked things up for them, how long would of they lasted? I just wonder how much food they had there, and if they had a way of leaving the South Pole if they chose? Just something fun to speculate about.
Oh yah, the cameos by Ueada and Akira Nakao in the beginning were great. Loved seeing those two yet again! I was also delighted to catch some cameos by actors who appeared in Versus. The wussy gangster from that movie (see my avatar) was one of the mutants, and I cried out "cool!" when I saw him in the Gotengo during the Manda scene. The villain from Versus was in the Eclaire (with that female captain with the odd blonde hair). Finally, the hero form Versus, Tak Sakaguchi, was one of the Xiliens. It kind of sucked to see him get his ass totally kicked by Don Frye, he was such a badass in Versus.
Now, on to the monsters:
Manda: Nice appearance. The CGI didn't look too bad, but I guess I can't really comment too much on that considering the quality of the version of the film I saw.
Rodan: Great appearance in New York. Just like the oldschool Rodan. Still, I wanted more. Nothing Rodan did in this flick fully brought back my memories of how frickin' cool he was in Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster. He didn't get to do much at Mt. Fuji and after that he was gone.
Zilla: Awesome. It's nice to see GINO get a legit spot among other Toho kaiju. The CGI wasn't too bad (again, consider the quality of the image I was looking at). His scenes were cool. I don't think they could have pulled off the scene where the truck explodes in his jaw with traditional effects very well.
EDIT: I liked how they used SUM 41 in his battle with Godzilla. It ended well too, the music matched the Controller stomping his feet angrily. Then it all stops and... "I knew that tuna-eating monster was useless..... (snaps figners)... next!"
Anguirus: I like him and I don't. On one hand, this Anguirus is completely cool-looking yet unique from the old one (basically, he has a whole new look but he's easily recognizable as Anguirus). He really had attitude. Still, I was hoping he'd look more like he did in Godzilla vs. Gigan. Oh well.
King Caesar: I love this guy. He looks a lot better than he did in the '70s. His hair is neat and trimmed and he's looking good. I wanted to see more of him. The one shot of him running with his arms stretched out to his sides (two shots before the overhead one of them running into each other) made him look totally awesome. That was a great running stance, too bad when he charges Godzilla for the last time he looks like a little sissy girl. Still an awesome kaiju, though. Didn't get enough of him.
Kamacuras: He wasn't similar enough to the old one. He's green this time out, and even though he uses his original cry, they throw in a lot of new "insect" noises too. The puppet sucked ass, but he looked great in CGI. I loved how he gets totally owned by Godzilla (that shot of Godzilla stomping past while Kamacuras twitches pathetically before dying is great! It shows the contrast between the two monsters and makes Godzilla look like a total badass).
Kumonga: They added some weird insect sounds to him as well but he also uses his original roar. His Arizona scene was barely worth it, they should have shown him stomping more trailers. Still, he was very well-done. I didn't mind his "insta-web" either. The only thing that would of made his defeat so much cooler is if we were treated with a shot from space of him exiting the Earth's atmosphere. How cool would that be? :color:
Gigan: Totally awesome, what can I say? He looks great. I only whish he got to use his blades more. I wanted to see Godzilla dodging those things. I also really wanted to see him *%*% somebody up, but oh well. His fight with Gotengo was pretty rad, and his fight with Mothra was a little better than I thought it was going to be (not as good as I'd want it to be, though).
Mothra: Not much to say. She isn't as awe-inspiring as she was in Tokyo SOS; when she makes her windstorm to try and hold Gigan at bay, you can really tell she's a suspended puppet. Her hair blowing around on her face from the winds she created was a nice touch, though.
Hedorah: Even though he was barely in it, his short scene was pretty cool. Nobody ever mentioned the shot looking up at the sky as Hedorah falls towards the camera (think the big leap from GXM). That was pretty funny. Right after that he hits a building and slowly slides down it. Right before he gets blasted (with Ebirah pinned to him) he lets out a cry and waves his arm as if to say "
"OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!"! "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!"!" It really is quite funny. I wasn't expecting that goofy music during his scene, either. Really odd.
Ebirah: He really got a chance to shine in his fight with the EDF soldiers. It was cool to see him back.
Minya: I thought I'd really get a kick out of Minya, but I didn't. They never should have changed his voice. He sounds like one of the monsters out of the "Ghoulies" movies. It's really annoying. Everything went down the toilet when he came toddling into Tokyo at the end. Oh well.
Monster X: Pretty cool but we didn't get to see him do a whole lot. We kept going back to the Mothership battle instead of watching this guy and Godzilla go at it. He's kind of generic (as the other original Millenium monsters have been), but he's pretty cool. I loved how he just floated down into the crater and ran straight for Godzilla.
Keizer Ghidorah: Really cool. He's big and threatening, and he totally owned Godzilla. I like how they took the whole "gravity beam" thing literally this time. He has a crappy roar, though. The wings suck, too. Plus, this isn't totally how Ghidorah should be. Even Grand King Ghidorah wasn't a true version of the triple-headed king. Ghidorah should be totally out of control and beserk. He should be chaos incarnite. His heads should be twittering all over the place and he should be in constant motion. He shouldn't be a cold, calculating evil villain like in Mothra 3 and he shouldn't be a moving mountain like in Final Wars. That's my view.
Godzilla: Totally badass. Not much else to say. He owned nearly everybody, and didn't stop raging until Minya stopped him. He was a lot more flexible than the past stiff Mire-Gojis have been (with the exception of GMK-Goji). And still, he really looked massive in some scenes, particularly when he was stomping away from Tokyo with the heroes in the foreground (that shot reminded me of Godzilla 1985).
Did I miss any monsters? I think I got them all.
Anyway, Final Wars was very enjoyable. I wouldn't want every Godzilla film to be like this, but it sure was entertaining. I think this and Godzilla 2000 (Americanized) are the two most entertaining Godzilla films of the Millenium series. My favorites, however, I think would be Final Wars, and a tie between Godzilla X MechaGodzilla and Tokyo SOS.
One more thing: though I'd like to see this mostly subbed in the U.S., well-done dub would work just fine as well. This isn't exactly a Gamera 3 caliber movie in terms of story and emotion. It's just a fun ride, and dubbing might make it even more fun, if it's done right.
There's so much I want to say about this movie but I can't think of anything else right now. Plus, I've gotta go study. I will say that I can't wait to see this in the theater, or on DVD, translated. Seeing a bootleg didn't ruin my experience. Now I can still look forward to another version!
EDIT: I forgot to mention the little kid playing with the Godzilla toys (with the Gamera jab thrown in). Do you think that scene was making fun of us?

I sure think it is. I liked that he had chocolate smeared all over his mouth, too.
