6/10
This is More Like It
13 January 2006
The story of "Godzilla Final Wars" is like "Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero", "Independence Day", and "Matrix" rolled into one. An alien from Planet X comes to earth pretending to warn earth people about the danger of planetoid Golath which will be impacting earth in 11000 hrs. They also remove monsters that are on rampage in several cities around the world. But of course this is all just a show to win favors from the earthlings. They are secretly out to destroy civilization and transform earth people into human cattle. Earth has seen birth of mutants which have special powers. They all have the same "M" gene that people from planet X has. Ozaki (Masahiro Matsuoka) is one of them, and like Neo in Matrix, he's the only mutant who's powerful enough to beat the Planet X invasion force leader (Kazuki Kitamura). Earth's last chance to save itself is the core Earth Defence Force team on Gotengo (Atragon), and Godzilla who's kept in hibernation. Gotengo goes on a mission to wake Godzilla up and confront all the monsters under the influence of Planet X leader and destroy their mother ship.

Out of all Godzilla movies made in the 21st century, which was on again off again at best, this one in my opinion is the best. Being the 50th anniversary Godzilla movie, this movie doesn't skimp on nostalgia. The old faces like Akira Takarada (Gojira '54), Kenji Sahara (Rodan), Kumi Mizuno (Matango) shows up to say fare well to the franchise that lasted 50 years. CGI special effects are also more realistic on this movie than say the '90s Mothra franchise.

On the minor note, music by Keith Emerson is terrible, and acting is as soul less as the actors themselves. Wardrobe is unbelievably bad, and the plot - well, there's really no plot to speak of.

Godzilla fights the following monsters: "Gigan (1)", "American Godzilla (Called here Zilla)", "Kumonga", "Kamacuras", "Anguilas", "Rodan", "King Caesar", "Hedorah", "Ebirah", "Monster X", "Gigan (2)" and "King Gidorah". Mothra and Minilla (Son of Godzilla) makes appearances as well. I had some loathing about Toho's poor selection of talents, and sometimes cheezy special effects until I heard they make these movies for under $10 million, and I had renewed respect for Japanese efficiency (average Hollywood picture costs $64 million). This movie seems to be made on slightly bigger budget than usual and effects are better. So after some disappointing shows since the death of Heisei Godzilla, this movie recaptures the excitement of Godzilla movies, and in my opinion, this is more like it !
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