Swan song for the King of the Monsters...
...of course, I'm talking about the 28th and (at least for the next few years) final Godzilla film, Godzilla: Final Wars. The Special Edition DVD that I had ordered from amazon.co.jp reached me this week (without HM Customs getting their hands on it ^_^) and I was able to watch it through properly yesterday.
Now, I have been for a while now a fan of the director, Ryuhei Kitamura's work (Versus, Azumi etc.). And in many ways, GFW is much more a Kitamura movie than a Godzilla movie.
The storyline, without giving away too many spoilers, very briefly is as follows. It is the near future, and a succession of giant monster attacks has forced the nations of the world to put aside their difference and create a world defence force, staffed by super-human mutant soldiers, to battle the kaiju threat. But suddenly, simultaneous monster attacks take place all over the world. The earth defence force is overwhelmed, until mysterious alien spaceships make the monsters disappear. But are these new friends all that they seem? (Yeah, right! ^_^;)
The theme which pervades so much of his work, that of the duel, is duly present and correct here. The human characters have been given much more to do here (including an absolutely bravura scene where a group of mutant super soldiers battle and take down a rampaging Ehbira), climaxing with a wire-fu battle between the hero and the leader of the bad guys, whilst Godzilla takes on his ultimate nemesis on a huge monitor in the background.
This film took a lot of stick from Western fandom, but I found a lot in the movie to like. First of all, is the return of my favourite super flying submarine, Go-Ten-Go (known in the Western version of the film in which it debuted as Atragon). Now I do like my mecha, and Go-Ten-Go is one of my very favourites. And we get to see it in action versus Godzilla and other kaiju in its original and "neo" guises.
Secondly, we get another Kitamura standby, that of the campy yet cool bad guy. We had the crazy knife wielding yakuza in Versus, the effete but deadly assassin Bijomaru in Azumi. Joining them is the Xiliam Commander, played entertainly with abandon by Kazuki Kitamura. Putting down the ineffectual American Godzilla, jumping up and down out of frustration at the seemingly unstoppable Big G, or taking on the hero in some impressive wire-fu, Kitamura is one of the best parts of the film.
Some critics have said that Kitamura is just a trendy director who doesn't really care about Godzilla. To these snobs I have only one thing to say: bullshit. Whether it is including snippets of the soundtrack to the original Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla in the movie, or whether it is bringing back the entire monster cast of Son of Godzilla for this movie, you can tell that Kitamura loves his kaiju movies too; he nonetheless still is his own man, and will direct his movie his own way. And this brings me to the third thing I love about this movie; the sheer unembarassed horde of homages to his favourite films that Kitamura has shoehorned into Godzilla: Final Wars. I think it would make a fine drinking game, spot the homage, but I fear it may lead to alcohol poisoning ;)
Fourthly, we have the best Mothra scene in any Toho movie to date, bar none. No arguments.
You can probably tell I really love this film, and I do. But there are a few flies in the ointment: occasionally sub-par special effects that betray an overstretched budget, typical idol-style actresses that look cute but can't act (is there any other kind these days in Japanese movies? I do worry!), and a very typically Kitamura flaw. That is to say, just like in Versus, there are too many characters in the film. Or to be exact, one set of characters too many. Just like you had the two psychotic policemen in Versus, in Godzilla Final Wars you have annoying kid, annoying old guy, and worst of all, extremely annoying human-sized Minya. Why Toho, why? Does anyone actually like Minya. Come on, stand up and be counted!
Next up for review, the original 1954 Godzilla and the Mysterians, as seen at London's Institute of the Contempory Arts.
Now, I have been for a while now a fan of the director, Ryuhei Kitamura's work (Versus, Azumi etc.). And in many ways, GFW is much more a Kitamura movie than a Godzilla movie.
The storyline, without giving away too many spoilers, very briefly is as follows. It is the near future, and a succession of giant monster attacks has forced the nations of the world to put aside their difference and create a world defence force, staffed by super-human mutant soldiers, to battle the kaiju threat. But suddenly, simultaneous monster attacks take place all over the world. The earth defence force is overwhelmed, until mysterious alien spaceships make the monsters disappear. But are these new friends all that they seem? (Yeah, right! ^_^;)
The theme which pervades so much of his work, that of the duel, is duly present and correct here. The human characters have been given much more to do here (including an absolutely bravura scene where a group of mutant super soldiers battle and take down a rampaging Ehbira), climaxing with a wire-fu battle between the hero and the leader of the bad guys, whilst Godzilla takes on his ultimate nemesis on a huge monitor in the background.
This film took a lot of stick from Western fandom, but I found a lot in the movie to like. First of all, is the return of my favourite super flying submarine, Go-Ten-Go (known in the Western version of the film in which it debuted as Atragon). Now I do like my mecha, and Go-Ten-Go is one of my very favourites. And we get to see it in action versus Godzilla and other kaiju in its original and "neo" guises.
Secondly, we get another Kitamura standby, that of the campy yet cool bad guy. We had the crazy knife wielding yakuza in Versus, the effete but deadly assassin Bijomaru in Azumi. Joining them is the Xiliam Commander, played entertainly with abandon by Kazuki Kitamura. Putting down the ineffectual American Godzilla, jumping up and down out of frustration at the seemingly unstoppable Big G, or taking on the hero in some impressive wire-fu, Kitamura is one of the best parts of the film.
Some critics have said that Kitamura is just a trendy director who doesn't really care about Godzilla. To these snobs I have only one thing to say: bullshit. Whether it is including snippets of the soundtrack to the original Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla in the movie, or whether it is bringing back the entire monster cast of Son of Godzilla for this movie, you can tell that Kitamura loves his kaiju movies too; he nonetheless still is his own man, and will direct his movie his own way. And this brings me to the third thing I love about this movie; the sheer unembarassed horde of homages to his favourite films that Kitamura has shoehorned into Godzilla: Final Wars. I think it would make a fine drinking game, spot the homage, but I fear it may lead to alcohol poisoning ;)
Fourthly, we have the best Mothra scene in any Toho movie to date, bar none. No arguments.
You can probably tell I really love this film, and I do. But there are a few flies in the ointment: occasionally sub-par special effects that betray an overstretched budget, typical idol-style actresses that look cute but can't act (is there any other kind these days in Japanese movies? I do worry!), and a very typically Kitamura flaw. That is to say, just like in Versus, there are too many characters in the film. Or to be exact, one set of characters too many. Just like you had the two psychotic policemen in Versus, in Godzilla Final Wars you have annoying kid, annoying old guy, and worst of all, extremely annoying human-sized Minya. Why Toho, why? Does anyone actually like Minya. Come on, stand up and be counted!
Next up for review, the original 1954 Godzilla and the Mysterians, as seen at London's Institute of the Contempory Arts.
posted by Pochan at
1:02 am
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