Day 28: Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

We are getting very close to the end of this series, and with Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) we have reached the end of the Millenium era. An era that mostly rebooted itself with each and every film, with only two films in the era being connected. This film does not break that rule, again being a standalone from the rest. It also is the fiftieth anniversary film for the franchise. And it also happens to be absolutely mental. The film opens with Godzilla being trapped in ice by the Earth Defence Force, which was set up to defeat kaiju of all kinds who had been awakened by man due to pollution, scientific testing and other means. Many years after this is the year 20XX, the earth has discovered mutants, humans who have enhanced DNS which enhances their skills and physical abilities. They also discover a large, mummified kaiju which is over 12,000 years old and contains some of the same DNS as the mutant humans. This discovery brings the Mothra twins to Japan to warn them that a disaster is approaching. This warning comes just before a large group of monsters appear all over the world and start to wreak havoc. The monsters are taken away by a group of aliens called Xiliens who claim that they are here to help as a plant is on course to crash into earth and they want to help destroy it before this happens. However, it turns out that this was just a ruse, and the humans decide that only one thing can help them in their fight, that being Godzilla.

First of all, I would like to say that I do not think this is a good film. The synopsis being that long in itself shows that there is so much going on in this film, and it means that there are plot points that aren’t developed enough to mean all that much, despite this being the joint longest film in the entire series at two hours and five minutes long. This is especially true with a little side plot involving Minilla (the son of Godzilla if you remember). This narrative point is so much on the back burner that whenever it drops back into the narrative it surprised me because I completely forgot any of that stuff was happening. The film is also unbelievably 2000s. From the score to the colour grading, to the costumes, to the overall tone and its attempts to be ‘cool’ it absolutely screams of the decade in which it came. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and it felt a little nostalgic to see this style but is also a style that has aged horribly and I’m not the biggest fan in the first place. I would describe it as Godzilla meets The Matrix meets Resident Evil.

And that exact description is also why I can’t not find this film very entertaining. At least for the most part. It is far too long and does drag towards the end. But I was laughing at the ridiculousness, enjoying the massive fights, and pumping my fist at the introduction of every new monster. This film is such a treat if you have watched all the prior films before this one, particular the Showa era films, because there are so many kaiju making their return here and I loved it. Godzilla is here (obviously) and I have already mentioned Mothra and Minilla making appearances, but we also have Rodan, Anguirus, Ebirah, King Caesar Manda, Kamacuras, Kumonga and Hedorah. And that’s not all. We also have Zilla, who for the uninitiated is the 1998 American version of Godzilla. Also, that mummified kaiju? That’s Gigan. And finally, we have a new kaiju called Monster X. But wait, what’s that? Monster X has turned into King Ghidorah! This is my Avengers: Endgame (2019). It is absolutely stacked and I genuinely fist bumped at the introduction of every new monster. It also means there are a lot of great fight scenes which are a ton of fun. But the best is easily the fight between Godzilla and Zilla because it is such a snarky jab at that film and monster. Godzilla basically one shots him and then the alien controlling Zilla says “I knew that tuna eating monster was useless”. Wonderful stuff.

I am going to wrap this up because if I went not every aspect of this film this could be a dissertation. The film is just so mental with so much going on that it is hard to summarise. And overall I do like it, although it falls into the 3-star special category of films for me, alongside films like Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Freddy vs. Jason (2003). If you have seen either of those films, you can kind of guess the tone of this. Despite that, I cannot recommend this unless you have seen all the Showa films and enjoyed the majority of them. Without that a lot of the aspects of what made this film fun fall away and you are left with a bloated, dated, madness of a film.