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| Godzilla Final Wars(2004); Discuss the film here. | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 8 2006, 09:36 AM (7,543 Views) | |
| packmule | Feb 8 2006, 09:36 AM Post #1 |
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In December of 2004, Toho, to celebrate Godzilla's 50th birthday, and also his "retirement" at the same time, released Godzilla Final Wars. This film is, to say the least, a departure from previous G films, and seems to have polarized Godzilla fans everywhere. Post your thoughts and opinions on this film here. :) |
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| Legionmaster | Feb 8 2006, 06:38 PM Post #2 |
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I'm at the "This film kicked ass" pole. Captain Gordan is the best G-Character ever, and Gigan finally gets to be seen in his full glory. All the kaiju returning are awesome, and Keizer Ghidorah was sweet. The Gotengo was so cool, and it had some hot chicks! |
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| packmule | Feb 9 2006, 08:16 PM Post #3 |
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I take it you are referring to Rei Kikukawa and Maki Mizuno. Assuming you are I would agree they are very hot 
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| Legionmaster | Feb 9 2006, 08:53 PM Post #4 |
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Nah, I was talking about the old EDF lady. [/sarcasm] |
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| Ro-Dan | Feb 10 2006, 04:42 PM Post #5 |
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That old EDF lady, Kumi Mizuno, was an absolute beauty back in the 60's. Anyway, I'd say GFW was a breath of fresh air after the last two run-of-the-mill Tezuka outings. Much like GMK, at least GFW attempted to push the envelope. Sure it fell short on certain things but at least it was bold and brash. 2013 seems like such a long way away, doesn't it? |
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| packmule | Feb 14 2006, 05:57 PM Post #6 |
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Seems like it...course I was probably saying the same thing back in 1999 about this year -I was not terribly disheartened(maybe a little for a time) when it was announced that Godzilla was going to be on hiatus-I think, with all that has been said about his declining popularity in Japan, it is indeed the right thing to do, giving G a rest, and letting interest in Godzilla films build back up. In the meantime I, as a fan and collector of Toho and other Asian films, still have plenty to whet my appetite: the 2006 Gamera movie, the remake of Submersion Of Japan, in addition to titles being officially released for the first time ever e.g. Latitude Zero. Also, there is Ultraman, past and present TV series to blow my wallet on. :)
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| Ro-Dan | Feb 16 2006, 10:17 AM Post #7 |
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Toho absolutely made the right decision to give the Godzilla series a rest. I think the chief factor that lead to the previous series' demise was overexposure. There was a new film every year. Godzilla became passe. Hopefully when they ressurect the series they won't release the films annually. Toho should really put more thought and time into each film instead of just churning out a product like on an assembly line. |
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| packmule | Feb 16 2006, 05:36 PM Post #8 |
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Agreed. I think releasing a Godzilla film every two to three years might keep the franchise from going stale. The Spiderman and X-Men films are spaced apart similarly. ;) |
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| Legionmaster | Feb 16 2006, 06:20 PM Post #9 |
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Yeah, good call. Anyway, it's hard to keep up with a film a year. :( |
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| packmule | Feb 17 2006, 11:10 PM Post #10 |
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Indeed. It's also harder to buy them, at least from my financial standpoint, when they come out more often.
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| Ro-Dan | Feb 19 2006, 10:48 AM Post #11 |
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It also allows excitement to build between films. I used to love/agonize over the long three-year waiting periods between Star Wars films. Each time a new SW movie was released it felt like a special event. That's how Godzilla should be. |
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| china | Feb 24 2006, 10:18 PM Post #12 |
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This is easily my pick as worst Godzilla movie ever. To me it's just dumb. There was little effort to make a quality movie. Just a bunch of random ideas taped together very loosely. To me this is Charlie's Angles style movie making but with a few scenes of monsters thrown in... A big 0 out of 4...Sorry! |
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| packmule | Mar 13 2006, 09:28 PM Post #13 |
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Indeed a good analogy. The Charlie's Angels films disrespected the 1970's TV series of the same name. Not suggesting the 70's "Angels" TV series was Emmy material mind you but there were regular characters and coherent plots, unlike the rapid-fire, kaleidoscopic mess of the CA films, whose campiness and far-fetched action scenes were mostly way to unbelievable for Packmule. I also think this applies to GFW in respect to the other Godzilla films. eyebrow |
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| china | Mar 13 2006, 11:27 PM Post #14 |
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Yeah! They are very similar. Both have fake CGI kung Fu, bad humor, washed out cinematography, unreal characters that seem to live a world that is not our own. All style no substance. And the style to both these movies were just ripped off from other much better made movies. Godzilla Final Wars should have been called Godzilla Full Throttle haha! |
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| packmule | Mar 14 2006, 08:37 PM Post #15 |
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Another thing I neglected to mention was the wireworks, used ad nauseam in both McG's Charlie's Angels films and GFW-your alternate title suggestion for GFW is pretty much correct. bravo clap |
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| Queen Bee | Mar 19 2006, 08:14 PM Post #16 |
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I rather liked the new GFW movie, mainly since it had been quite some time since I had seen one. You know, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I did see part of the new Charlies Angels, and there isn't any way GFW could even come close to the lameness of that flick. Another very dissappointing one, Starsky and Hutch- what a wash out. If you had been around for the original series, it was more of a action/drama series, not a lame comedy(if you can even call it a comedy). The new one didn't even reflect any of the action or suspense of the original. Remakes of old movies or series are making me a bit ill as of late. If the series or movie was a success in it's original form, why would they tamper with the plots??!! dead |
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| packmule | Mar 23 2006, 06:46 PM Post #17 |
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Overall I think GFW is a fun movie. From a critical standpoint I can see why this film has been assailed, even blasted by hardcore fans. The fact that I am not a film critic by trade takes a lot of pressure off me trying to analyze this film under a microscope. The good: 1. The Godzilla suit-lean and mean, though his eyes are a little hard to see 2. Godzilla's demeanor and role in this film: G's demeanor is dark and malevolent, his berserker grudge against the Gotengo used to help mankind fight the other menacing monsters 3. Gigan-the rendering of the cyborg monster is, IMO, very good-that said what Gigan boasts in appearance is mostly offset by the monster's bumbling habit of jacking himself up-recall how he chops off his head with his own flying, bladed weapons, and also gets his head blasted off by Godzilla(their first encounter) 4. Captain Gordon(played by Don Frye)-the burly, gruff, no-nonsense and straight ahead Gotengo Captain has a definite presence, and some great one liners as well-----The bad: 1. Wireworks effects, used ad nauseam for the "Ebirah vs the mutants" battle scene 2. The kaiju battles-mostly looked rushed 3. King Seesar-IMO resembled an overgrown, upright walking bobcat 4. Minilla-good-hearted, albeit still annoying, and in need of Taggart's Driving School 5. Kaiser Ghidorah-looked too much like Death Ghidorah from ROM(1996)
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| KaijuFanatic | Mar 25 2006, 12:04 PM Post #18 |
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I just watched this film, again and I'm rather fond of this film. Sure, it uses a lot of bits of more popular films of the day which may or may not work for some fans, but overall, the film as a whole is enjoyable for me. I think a mistake often used in trying to add a new fan base to a franchise is to update it and make it resemble the popular films of the day....in this case, The Matrix and it's sequels come to mind. I'm not a fan of the Matrix films, but did find the fast pace of this film to my liking. Do I think it's the best of the Godzilla films? No. Do I think that it 'ended' the series on a positive note? Yes. I agree with the feeling that a Godzilla film being released every two to three years is a good idea....the anticipation builds and it gives the filmmakers a bit more time to put some serious thought in what they give the public and fans. On one hand, I hate the thought of waiting for a new Godzilla film, but if the wait offers fans a better film, then how can I argue? |
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| packmule | Mar 25 2006, 09:29 PM Post #19 |
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Given the choice of an average G film annually or a superlative one every three years I would unquestionably choose the latter option. I would also dislike the wait, but there are things that can get me through the "down" time between G films: Ultraman movies and TV series on DVD, other Toho genre films-this is new territory for me but I undertand that this studio makes some fairly good horror films, and lastly Gamera films-of course American and British horror films do the trick also, like Saw or Twenty Eight Days Later. Mr Green |
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| Ro-Dan | Apr 29 2006, 09:19 AM Post #20 |
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All of your points in your above post closely mirror mine, Pack. However, I think that the fact you can't really see Godzilla's eyes (as they are obscured by shadow) makes him seem all the more life-like. In the past, a lot of the G-suits had eyes that looked very phony and Muppet-like. G:TSOS and G '85 are two examples that spring to mind immediately. With the GFW suit's eyes partially hidden it perpetuates the illusion that Godzilla is a living, breathing animal. |
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| packmule | May 2 2006, 05:37 PM Post #21 |
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I understand what you are saying. Given the choice I also would rather have a Godzilla with squinty(or hard to discern)eyes as opposed to eyes that are similar to past renderings of the Monster King's orbs, some of which are serviceble, others anything but. :rolleyes: |
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| CYBER BLACK ONE | Apr 11 2007, 09:53 PM Post #22 |
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xillian leader call zilla the good nothing tuna breath monster |
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| packmule | Apr 12 2007, 05:29 AM Post #23 |
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lol That was a funny thing he said in this movie. Godzilla Final Wars(2004) had some great one liners: Captain Gordon to his comrades: "Godzilla can take care of the monsters. Me, I wanna kick that Xialien kid's ass." Captain Gordon to his comrades, after tossing the Xialien carcass on the floor: "Well, at least we'll have souvenirs." Iwazaki, standing on top of the dead kaiju Ebirah: "Sorry, I'm a vegetarian." Iwazaki, with his comrades staring down the Xialiens in an early standoff: "Hey! Watch it X-man!" These, while all good one liners, are still not my favorite. My favorite occurred in Godzilla vs Biollante(1989): Colonel Gondo to Godzilla, looking at the giant monster from a balcony, Godzilla standing beside the building Gondo is in: "That intravenous stuff'll kill you. Stick to smoking." lol |
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| TrentonFella | Apr 12 2007, 06:38 PM Post #24 |
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Godzilla Final Wars...talk about a movie getting shredded by fans lol I thought it was about 5.5/6 on a 10point scale. It's good to watch when there's nothing else to do in my book. There were quite a few decent parts but some really cruddy parts as well. I've said it on MZ before, if this movie wasn't the "last" Godzilla film for a long time it would not have been slammed like it was by the fans. |
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| packmule | Apr 13 2007, 04:41 AM Post #25 |
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I agree. Amidst all the speculation over what the last "Godzilla" film should have been, before putting this series on hiatus, I have often thought about what I would have wanted to see in a 50th Anniversary Godzilla film. While several ideas come to mind the one that I would have wanted to see most would be a straight remake of Destroy All Monsters, even retaining the same title for the updated film. Imagine the 1968 film, but with better special effects. Would this have worked Trent? At any rate I think a remake of DAM would have been better than GFW. Just my opinion. |
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| TrentonFella | Apr 13 2007, 05:53 AM Post #26 |
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GFW is DAM in a way...just not half as good lol But even if they did title it a remake of DAM, it would have to be mind blowing...that's the feel I got from the fandom about the "last" Godzilla movie; it had to be the greatest....which is impossible. So any movie would have been doomed from the start. |
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| packmule | Apr 13 2007, 04:16 PM Post #27 |
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Perhaps, but Ryuhei Kitamura, the director of GFW, IMO "doomed" GFW by blowing the majority of his budget on the location shooting. To me a final "Godzilla" movie that was going to be top notch had to have: 1) a good story 2) good acting and 3) great special effects. Being an "effects" guy I have usually, Trent, managed to enjoy films that suffered in the other two aforementioned categories(story and acting). With GFW we get lots of action, but effects which are, IMO, still uneven. The story seems straight forward enough, though hardly original: we've seen this "aliens vs mankind" plot in films like Destroy All Monsters(the Killaaks), Invasion of The Astro Monsters(the Xians), and even Terror Of Mechagodzilla(the Black Hole Aliens). Just like the 1998 American "Godzilla" movie I always think about "what could have been" regarding GFW. I for one hope Toho keeps Godzilla in hiatus, as long as they feel necessary until they feel confident they can return him to the big screen properly. nod |
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| TrentonFella | Apr 14 2007, 01:16 PM Post #28 |
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Yea spending majority of the budget on location was definitely not a good idea. But that was just 1 of the many problems with GFW, it doesn't have any strong points really...maybe a few neat scenes but that's it. And I agree, when Godzilla returns hopefully they put some real effort and thought into the movie. |
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| packmule | Apr 18 2007, 05:42 AM Post #29 |
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Thread drift: what would you like to see, Trent, in the next Godzilla movie? Any preferences? eyebrow Another aspect of Godzilla Final Wars(2004) I didn't like much was the score-seemed too "electronic", for lack of a better word. There were a few sequences where I found the music okay, otherwise I was left wanting to hear something more along the lines of Ifukube. |
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| TrentonFella | Apr 18 2007, 07:58 AM Post #30 |
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I have no idea at this point...a whole new approach might be in order...better than what was done in GMK and way better than what was done in Godzilla '98. And throw in a fresh new monster...that's a start lol |
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