GODZILLA FINAL WARS

Directed by Ryuhei Kirayama
Written by Wataru Mimura
Music by Keith Emerson, Nobuhiko Morino, and Daisuke Yano
Cast: Masaharo Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Don Frye, Akira Takarada

2004/125 mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
2.40:1 anamorphic/Japanese & English/Japan/NTSC Region 1

Review from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Godzilla is frozen during a battle with Earth Defense System. The Big-G has finally been defeated. This organization uses mutants to defend them from the horrors of monsters like Godzilla. But when, Rodan, Anguirus, and others attack; the earth is helped by a seemingly benevolent group of aliens. Yet, all is not as it seems. The aliens use the mutants to turn on the humans, well, expect one who will not turn, and the monsters, as well. The Earth’s only chance is to unfreeze the King of the Monsters, himself, Godzilla. With only Mothra, and the humans to help him, can the Big-G save us all?

Ryuhei (VERSUS) Kirayama’s film is to be the finale, at least for, of the long running series. Sort of an update of the classic DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (one of Toho’s best and most loved films), this a break-neck paced, exhilarating thrill ride. There is little time to waste between each monster battle and action scene. Perhaps, too much is wasted on the humans, but at least the humans are more interesting than usual. There is much MATRIX-style action scenes, but I would be liar if I told they did not excite me. Because, they did!

Practically every monster is here, Gigan, Manda, King Caesar (looking way better than he ever did in GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA), Hedora, etc. Fuck man, even Zilla (the shitty CGI Godzilla from the even shittier American GODZILLA) is in here. The suits, miniature work, and FX are excellent. The throwdowns with the monsters are fucking killer all the way. The extended and wild climax ranks with the best in the entire series. In fact, this film is easily the best film in the series since GMK.

One, of my few complaints is the decision to use a more techno style score as opposed to the classic marching scores of past kaiju films. But this is really minor in such an exhilarating experience.

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS kicks all of our ass thanks to Sony pictures Home Entertainment; who given us an excellent sounding and looking DVD. Presented in it’s original 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen; the movie looks incredible. The colors are rich and vibrant and the black are thick and rich. While, the sound is just absolutely crushing! This one will kick the living shit out or your speakers!

Sadly, the disc lacks in the extras department. The only one is behind the scenes footage called “The Godzilla B-Roll”. Some of the stuff they show is pretty cool, in particular seeing the actors perform in the monster suits. This bought a little smile to my face.

The trailer to the film is not provided (a bad trend with some of these Godzilla discs), but we do get trailers for: STEAMBOY, FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVANT CHILDREN, GODZILLA COMPILATION, DUST TO GLORY, MADISON, and MIRROR MARK. The disc comes in a keep case which, in turn, has an inlay card. Said card serves only as advertisement for other releases and does not list the 28 chapters that the disc is broken up into. The menu for the disc is a static one.

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Review by Giovanni Deldio. All Right Reserved. 2006. ©