Godzilla: Final Wars...

[demiurge1138]

I watched every single Godzilla movie this summer (I was bored. Obviously), and Final Wars was a damn good way to end that sort of marathon. The monsters don't get enough screen time, but the human story is actually pretty cool, in a zany over-the-top Matrix ripoff sort of way. And Chainsaw Gigan rocks.

This is a wonderfully goofy movie. I recommend it to everybody. Even you. Yes, you.

Demiurge out.

 

[Richards]

I was hoping to find this under the tree this Christmas. Looks like I'll definitely have to pick it up.

Johnathan

 

[DMH]

I finally saw this and have to say meh. It has been a long time since I enjoyed kaiju movies but I want to at least see all the Godzilla ones. Some of the jokes I enjoyed, but the quick destruction of Manda and Hedora annoyed me. How did the aliens control a smog monster? It is a pile of sewage and doesn't have DNA. And where were the beams from Mothra and King Caesar? This seemed like it was trying (poorly) to be a bit more serious and thus I expect a little more from it.

In the intro there was a monster I didn't recognize- it looks like a squid that walks on two of its tentacles. Which movie is it from?

 

[trancejeremy]

I just watched it again and Versus, and I really think it is Godzilla meets Versus. At least stylistically, it's very similar to Versus. Lots of the same sort of shots. (Matrix style stuff, which was largely absent from the same director's Sky High) .

I don't think it was really meant to be serious. More about action and looking cool than anything else.



Heh, one funny thing I missed the first time, the obnoxious kid playing with monster toys throws a Gamera doll into the fireplace (calling it "loser")

 

[demiurge1138]

In the intro there was a monster I didn't recognize- it looks like a squid that walks on two of its tentacles. Which movie is it from?

Gezora, from Yog, Monster From Space. If you've seen Godzilla Tokyo SOS, the Kameboeus that washes up dead on the beach is from the same movie.

Demiurge out.

 

[JEL]

I haven't had a chance to see the US release yet, anyone know if there are any changes between it and the Japanese release?

 

[Richards]

Well, I bought it and watched it yesterday, and while it was enjoyable, I really wish there had been less of the mutant superhero stuff and more of the hot, steaming kaiju-on-kaiju action. I was a bit disappointed in the fact that many of the monsters got so little screen time, and what's with Ebirah having to fight five superhero mutants with handguns? Giant monsters shouldn't have to worry about human-sized threats! If you want to use lasers/masers/phasers/whatever against a rampaging giant monster, at least have the common courtesy to mount them onto a Jeep or a truck and send them out with the toy tanks that inevitably get melted!

Also, I wasn't particularly thrilled to see the updated Minya (called Milla here, I notice), but if he's going to play a role, shouldn't he have been significantly larger? He really seemed out of scale to Godzilla, even after he mysteriously grew.

I loved the fact that "Zilla" lasted all of two combat moves against the real Godzilla before becoming toast. It would have been even funnier if, instead of calling it "Zilla," they had gone with "GINO," which is the term many Godzilla enthusiasts use. (GINO = "Godzilla In Name Only")

And I loved Mothra's death scene. Mothra's such a good sport; she dies in just about every movie she appears in! I just wish they could have fit in the caterpillar form in as well.

I caught the kid throwing the Gamera toy into the fireplace, too. That was a cute touch.

So was "Monster X" the proto-Ghidorah?

Johnathan