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Japan
/ 2004
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring
Masahiro Matsuoka
Rei Kikukawa
Don Frye
Color / 125 Minutes / PG-13
Format: DVD / R1 - NTSC
Sony
Pictures Home Entertainment
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This
coming March (2006), Eccentric Cinema will celebrate its fifth
anniversary. In all this time, over the span of nearly 600 reviews,
we've covered exactly three Japanese daikaiju (giant
monster) films: Rodan (1956), Destroy
All Monsters (1968) and Godzilla
2000 (1999). Needless to say, none of us here at EC are
really kaiju fans. It's not that we have anything against the
genre or choose to ignore its importance within the cult movie
universe... It's just that I (EC's editor and head writer) lost
virtually all interest in these movies even before puberty hit.
Back in the late 1960s and early '70s I wouldn't dare miss a
kaiju film when they were run on local TV, usually on Saturday
afternoons, and even saw a few of them in the theater. My memories
are dim — I can't recall the particular movie — but I distinctly
remember being disgusted as a young lad by my first exposure
to Minilla, Godzilla's diminutive, smoke ring-blowing offspring.
For me, even at the tender age of 10 or 11, that was the moment
when the whole daikaiju thing "jumped the shark" — I
wanted (and expected) to see fierce, gargantuan monsters stomping
cities to rubble, not some cutesy, Barney-like kiddies' mascot.
I was growing up at the same time that Toho, the Japanese studio
that unleashed Godzilla and his brethren upon the world, was
going all-out to make their films even more appealing to the
smallest of children. I was just then getting my first taste
of 'serious' science fiction via the original Star Trek
TV series (during its initial run in syndication), after which
the increasingly juvenile silliness of stuff like Lost In
Space — and Toho's daikaiju films — rapidly lost
their appeal.
Thus I was pleasantly
surprised that I rather enjoyed the latter-day entry Godzilla
2000, which I watched on a whim. (For one thing, that
accursed Minilla was nowhere in sight.) On a similar impulse,
the other day I picked up the newly-released DVD of Godzilla:
Final Wars at Wal-Mart for ten bucks. I'd read that it's
supposedly the last Godzilla film Toho will produce (at least
for awhile), an extravagant 50th anniversary blowout for "Big
G" and friends. Mainly I was curious to see just how the venerable
franchise would ride off into the sunset.
The plot is
basically a modern reimagining of Destroy
All Monsters. Without warning, various daikaiju
appear out of the blue all across the globe and go on a rampage
of unparalleled devastation, among them Rodan (the supersonic
flying reptile), Ebirah (the giant crab from Godzilla
vs. the Sea Monster), gargantuan spider Kumonga, the
serpentine dragon Manda, spike-armored Anguirus, deadly mantis
Kamacuras, and "Zilla", the behemoth from Roland Emmerich's
1998 version of Godzilla. The United
Nations' military arm, Earth Defense Force (whose uniforms look
disturbingly Stalinist), launches a desperate counterattack
which kills two of the creatures but is otherwise overwhelmed
by the sheer scope of the cataclysm. The major cities of the
world are being systematically destroyed by the monsters when
unexpected help arrives from space — aliens calling themselves
Xillians (from Planet X) 'beam' the giant beasts up from the
planet's surface, preventing them from causing any more mischief.
The Xillians proclaim their friendly intentions and desire to
form a "United Space Nations" with the grateful people of Earth.
With extraterrestrial
allies, mankind seems poised on the brink of an unprecedented
new age of advancement. But not everyone is so eager to sign
on to the program. With clues provided by her sister, a TV news
anchor, pretty U.N. scientist Miyuki (Rei Kikukawa) comes to
suspect that Xillian imposters have taken the place of key United
Nations personnel. Earth Defense officer Ensign Ozaki (Masahiro
Matsuoka), a specially trained mutant with near-superhuman abilities,
joins with the ladies to eventually unmask the alien doppelgangers
during a worldwide broadcast. Their deception exposed, the Xillians
declare all-out war and transport the monsters back to Earth,
where they begin the carnage anew under the alien leader's direct
command. (Yep, the Xillians were responsible for unleashing
them to begin with.) Between the rampaging kaiju and the super-technology
of the Xillians the U.N. forces have little chance for survival,
much less victory. Our planet seems doomed. Gruff Captain Gordon
(Don Frye), skipper of the last surviving E.D.F. battlecruiser,
the Gotengo, comes up with a desperate plan... Because
of his unique DNA, only one known daikaiju cannot be
controlled by the invaders — Godzilla, King of the Monsters.
For decades Godzilla has lain dormant in Antarctica, imprisoned
beneath the ice to keep humanity safe. (Decades? Apparently
continuity has never been a major concern in these movies.)
Godzilla must be freed to take on his natural enemies, the other
daikaiju, while the Gotengo attacks the Xillian
flagship. But even should the gambit prove successful and the
aliens ultimately defeated, Earth will still have Godzilla to
contend with...
Godzilla:
Final Wars supposedly contains numerous tips of the hat
to the films which preceded it; not being familiar with daikaiju
lore means I wasn't able to spot most of these tributes. (The
high collars and skinny sunglasses worn by some of the aliens
I recognized as a nod to 1965's Invasion
of Astro-Monster, AKA Godzilla vs. Monster Zero.)
The main problem with the movie is that — at least in the scenes
not involving the monsters — it's actually more of a rip-off
of recent Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters than homage to Toho's
past glories. There are three prolonged Wire Fu fights, complete
with "Bullet Time" effects, which could've been lifted straight
from The Matrix; battles between
the Gotengo and the Xillian ships look an awful lot like
something from Independence Day
and the Star Wars prequels; the
idea of a special team of mutants is of course borrowed from
X-Men. And some of the graphics
have a distinct "you're in the video game!" appearance, especially
the kamikaze 'heroic sacrifice' made by one of Ozaki's mutant
comrades (played by Kane Kusugi, son of B-movie martial artist
Sho Kusugi). Even with a 50-year legacy of iconic filmmaking
behind it and a fan base spanning generations, the tentatively
final chapter in the Godzilla saga is aimed squarely at the
average Playstation owning 11-year old.
Those in it
strictly for the giant monster sequences will have to endure
a lengthy stretch during
which the arrival of the aliens and the rather easy detection
of their plot to enslave mankind is established. That isn't
to say that the non-monster portions of the film are boring;
things zip along at a rapid pace and the filmmakers are determined
to throw some kind of eye candy up on the screen every five
minutes or so. The cornucopia of special effects on display
range from the genuinely spectacular to the spectacularly cheesy
(and every gradation in between). Except for Zilla (and some
shots of Rodan and Mothra during their flying sequences), the
monsters are realized the old-fashioned way: they're men in
rubber suits. Amazingly, this still works surprisingly well.
If you're sick of all the CG creatures overrunning the multiplex
these days then this film should provide at least a partial
antidote. (Anguirus, the spiky armadillo-like creature that
can roll itself into a ball and knock down buildings like ninepins,
is particularly cool.) I especially dug some of the incredibly
intricate miniatures.
Derivative as
hell, Godzilla: Final Wars is purely
— and cynically — a case of mega-style over substance. I'd like
to think that loyal daikaiju fans around the globe deserved
better from Toho. (The community is apparently split on the
issue.) That being said, the film is packed with enough nonstop
sci-fi action to keep most kids entertained while providing
a few moments of nostalgia for the oldsters like me. Even the
appearance of the execrable Minilla (mercifully limited to only
about five minutes of total screen time) doesn't put too much
of a damper on the proceedings. And on that note...
Good-bye, Godzilla.
I hardly knew ye.
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| Arriving
on Region 1 DVD exactly a year after opening in Japanese theaters,
Godzilla: Final Wars boasts a flawless,
razor-sharp anamorphic widescreen transfer in the film's original
aspect ratio (2.40:1). Excellent 5.1 Surround audio tracks are
available in Japanese and English, with optional English subtitles
provided; non-Japanese characters such as Capt. Gordon speak English
in both versions. The Japanese mix is marginally fuller sounding
but either track will give subwoofers a major workout — this is
one bombastically loud movie, y'all. As to be expected,
the dubbed English version contains a number of laughably cheesy
line translations which, for some of us anyway, are part and parcel
of the fun. For extras the disc offers an 18 minute behind-the-scenes
featurette, From "B" Roll To Film (which shows
some of the monster battle sequences being rehearsed and shot),
a compilation promo for Sony's recent Godzilla DVD releases, and
trailers for five non-daikaiju related titles.
12/20/05 |
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