Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
"Gojira: Fainaru uôzu" (original title)

Godzilla's 50th Anniversary project, in which Gojira (Godzilla) travels around the world to fight his old foes plus a new, mysterious monster named Monster X.

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Isao Kiriyama (screenplay), Ryûhei Kitamura (screenplay),

Stars:

Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Don Frye

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Masahiro Matsuoka	...	Earth Defense Force Soldier Shin'ichi Ôzaki
Rei Kikukawa	...	UN Molecular Biologist Miyuki Otonashi
Don Frye	...	Douglas Gordon
Maki Mizuno	...	Newscaster Anna Otonashi
Kazuki Kitamura	...	The Controller of Planet X
Kane Kosugi	...	M-Facility Soldier Katsunori Kazama
Kumi Mizuno	...	Earth Defense Force Commander Akiko Namikawa
Kenji Sahara	...	Paleontologist Hachirô Jingûji
Masakatsu Funaki	...	M-Unit Commanding Officer Kumasaka
Masami Nagasawa	...	Shobijin (Twin Fairy)
Chihiro Ôtsuka	...	Shobijin (Twin Fairy)
Wataru Shihodo	...	Major Kita
Kenta Suga	...	Kenta Taguchi
Shigeru Izumiya	...	Samon Taguchi
Eve Masatoh	...	Xilian General

Storyline

Evil Space Aliens called the Xilians unleashes all the Earth's monsters to lay waste to most of the world's major cities, including Tokyo, New York, Sydney, Shanghai and Paris. It is up to Godzilla and the Earth Defense Force to vanquish the monsters and aliens to rescue the world in the ultimate "Save the Earth" battle.

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Plot Keywords:

monster | godzilla | gojira | new york city | year 1964 | 

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Taglines:

Gojira Gojû Shûnen Kinen Sakuhin (Godzilla 50th Anniversary Commemoration Production)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence

Details

Official Sites:

kensforce.com - Movie Updates Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan Australia USA China

Language:

Cantonese English Japanese

Release Date:

4 December 2004 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Godzilla - Final Wars

Filming Locations:

Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 2,000,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$293,970 (Japan) (10 December 2004)

Gross:

$2,251,287 (Japan) (31 December 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd., C.P. International, Zazou

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min 125 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As a treat to die-hard Godzilla fans, Zilla, appears in this film. The creature, other than bearing a striking resemblance to the American interpretation of Godzilla, is conceived to directly reference it. This because, according to director Ryûhei Kitamura the 1998 film "has taken the 'God' out of Godzilla." Since the release of the film, Zilla has been accepted as a canonization of the American Godzilla, whereas they are different characters.

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Goofs

After Otonashi's first line, "Sorry for being old and argumentative," there is a shot of Ozaki turning his head away. In the next shot, he is looking at Otonashi again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Wars and pollution, relentless fighting and environmental destruction, have all awakened vicious monsters. Humankind therefore joins forces with one another in order to drive off the monsters, instead of killing each other. Thus, the Earth Defense Force is born. Meanwhile, a new race of humans with supernatural abilities, called mutants, was discovered around the globe. The Earth Defense Force gathers them and puts them into a league called the M Organization. Their greatest enemy ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

After Godzilla and his son wade off into the sea with a final roar, the title monster's name appears on screen one last time. The ending credits themselves play over various scenes from the movie, including some that were deleted or removed from the finished cut. These include Mothra flying back to her home island, Hedorah the smog monster with some brief city destruction, more lead up to Ozaki making his way too Douglas Gordan, a fight between Kazama and Kumasaka in the news room, a new shot of King Caesar running, and several different shots of Godzilla. The credits fade to black with the sound of the original Godzilla roar signaling the end.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Monsters vs Aliens/The Haunting in Connecticut/12 Rounds (2009)

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Soundtracks

"We Are To Blame"
Performed by Sum 41

User Reviews

A fitting end

If this is the last Godzilla as said, then I can say the series had a good run and ended on a high note. Perhaps not the highest note possible, this is a very flawed film. However, it is the second best in the Millennium series (next to Megaguiras).

If you read my Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla review, than you can easily see why i say so. Many of this series have had this annoying habit of having about thirty minutes of plot, then an hour of monster combat. This one gives equal time to storyline and action sequences.

No matter how short, the monster battles are always entertaining, the high point being a fight between Mothra and Gigan. This battle is relatively quick but still very entertaining. Gigan is one of the most powerful foes in the movie, and it was good to see Mothra getting to fight the second most important monster.

Monster X looked like something that would be creepy if it was human size, or maybe a little taller, and crept around in the shadows of a space station. However it didn't matter when he was easily the most powerful monster in the film (or, at least could transform into it).

The human battles were all done very well, accept for an annoying motorcycle chase which had the dumbest use of Matrix style special effects I have ever seen. However, many disappointed fans exaggerate the Matrix influence. It is clearly there in the action scenes, don't get me wrong, but other than the one I mentioned they are well crafted fight scenes.

I rather not talk about the film's flaws, after all, when they are flaws you find in any action film, what are you going to get from going over them. And that in itself is a flaw: This is an action film. Don't expect a monster movie, it is an action film that happens to have a lot of the action being done by monsters.

With an ending that could bring a tear to one's eye. So the Godzilla series (presumably) ends on a good note, much better than Godzilla vs. Destroyah (Terror of Mechagodzilla was not an ending in my opinion). This is a film to be enjoyed, and should have a place in your collection. Its the movie that every now and then you might just want to pop in the DVD player, just because.

***/**** stars