Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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Trust me. Your favorite kaiju is in this film!

For the 50th Anniversary of the Godzilla franchise, Toho Studios pulls out all the stops with a film chock full of elements from the history of the series. It has a little something for everyone, if kaiju’s are what you’re interested in.

First Impressions

The trailer lets audiences know that for Godzilla’s 50th anniversary, Toho Studios is not taking any shortcuts. A number of aliens have released monsters all over the globe, including Anguirus, King Caesar, and Kamacuras. Plus, there’s a giant spider, and Rodan was thrown in for good measure. The human task force opens up Area G, at the South Pole, to unleash Godzilla to fight Operation: Final Wars!

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

The film opens with Godzilla fighting a warship, called Gotengo, in the Antarctic, when an earthquake occurs causing the giant kaiju to fall into a trench and get trapped. An abundance of exposition explains the creation of the Earth Defense Force (EDF) and the rise of humans with superb physical abilities, called mutants. These highly evolved people form M-Organization, whose purpose is to be in place to fight Godzilla. One member of M-Organization, Shin’ichi Ôzaki (Masahiro Matsuoka) has been assigned to guard  Dr. Miyuki Otonashi (Rei Kikukawa) as she investigates the 12,000-year-old mummified remains of kaiju.

Dr. Jinguji (Kenji Sahara) lets Miyuki and Ozaki know that the creature has M-base in his DNA, just like the mutant soldiers. Soon all three are teleported to Infant Island by the Shobijin fairies (Masami Nagasawa & Chihiro Ôtsuka) who tell them that the creature is Gigan, and warn Ozaki that he too has evil in his blood, but it’s his choice to decide who he is. They provide an ancient amulet that is sure to be needed later. Suddenly, reports of giant monsters begin popping up all over the world. Ozaki and his rival in M-Organization, Katsunori Kazama (Kane Kosugi), battle Ebirah at a chemical plant in Tokai, while the warship Karyu fights Anguirus in Shanghai. As quickly as they appeared, they are suddenly teleported away by an arriving alien ship belonging to the Xiliens.

The Xiliens (who hail from Planet X) send down the United Nations Secretary General, Daigo (Akira Takarada), who they rescued during the monster attacks. He lets the EDF Commander, Akiko Namikawa (Kumi Mizuno), know that they absolutely mean no harm, and actually want to help save Earth from a rogue planet, Gorath, that will crash into us. Newscaster (and sister to Miyuki), Anna Otonashi (Maki Mizuno), has her suspicions about Daigo, so she gets a sample of his blood and has it tested. He is totally a Xilien imposter, as are Commander Namikawa and Major General Kunikida (Wataru Shihodo) of the EDF. All three imposters are shot by the EDF when discovered; Daigo on national television.

With their ruse ruined, the younger Xilien Controller (Kazuki Kitamura) shoots his boss, the older (and balder) Xilean Commander (Masato Ibu)–also on TV. He reveals the Xiliens are here to use humans as cattle and use telepathic powers to control all the members of M-Organization, except Ozaki who is immune somehow. Ozaki is forced to fight Kazama again, this time on motorcycles. Luckily Ozaki is able to gain the upper hand. The Xilien Controller awakens Gigan and re-releases the monsters on the world. Colonel Douglas Gordon (Don Frye) suggests gathering a team, stealing the Gotengo, and heading for Area G at the South Pole to awaken Godzilla. He is joined by Ozaki, Miyuki, and Major Komuro (Jun Kunimura).

After being awakened, Godzilla recognizes the Gotengo and follows it, taking the head off of Gigan. Godzilla then defeats Zilla–a reptilian dinosaur in Sydney, Kumonga–a giant spider, in New Guinea, and Kamacuras–a giant praying mantis, in Japan, before taking on Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar. The Shobijin fairies release Mothra who battles Ebirah–a giant crayfish, and Hedorah–a mud monster, taking major damage itself when a resuscitated Gigan re-enters the fray. Elsewhere, Samon Taguchi (Shigeru Izumiya) and his grandson Kenta Taguchi (Kenta Suga) save Minilla (aka Kid Godzilla) from being shot. As the Gotengo battles the Xilien mothership, Kazama, who has stowed away on the warship, takes off in a lone fighter, sacrificing himself to take the Xilien shields down.

The crew of the Gotengo are captured by the Xilien Controller who reveals that he and Ozaki are both “keisers,” mutants with greater abilities in their M-gene. They fight as Gordon and the rest rescue the real Daigo, Namikawa, and Kunikida. Godzilla continues to fight Gigan and Monster X, gaining the upper hand after defeating Gigan (again). Ozaki defeats the Controller who dies and releases some of his keiser-energy to mutate Monster X into its final form, Ghidorah, a three-headed dragon. Godzilla is drained of his energy, so Ozaki funnels some of his keiser-energy through the Gotengo’s laser and helps Godzilla win the battle. The humans land amidst much destruction. Godzilla comes for them, still upset that he was imprisoned by the EDF. But before Godzilla can blast the survivors, Minilla stops the beast, and the two walk off into the ocean together, roaring a final screech.

“Hello, people of Earth. We come in peace.” – Xilien Controller

History in the Making

Godzilla: Final Wars represents the culmination of 50 years of films about everyone’s favorite atomic-fire-breathing dinosaur, Godzilla. It celebrates the event by creating a film that references fifty years of creatures, characters, and events rolled into a single, action-packed movie. It also references plenty of other cinematic films (both Japanese and American) from the previous fifty years. And as the name implies, it’s the last Godzilla film–at least for a decade. Final Wars marked the 28th overall Godzilla film, which excluded the American films to date–two reworked versions of Godzilla and The Return of Godzilla (known stateside as Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) and Godzilla 1985), plus the 1998 TriStar film, Godzilla. This film was also the last film in the third Era of Godzilla films, which was known as the Millennium Era–due to the name of the initial film being Godzilla 2000: Millennium. At the end of the film, when Godzilla and Minilla head back into the ocean, he ends up laying dormant for 12 years, until the release of Shin Godzilla in 2016 (or only 10 years for fans that also revere the Legendary Films “monsterverse,” and the 2014 release also titled Godzilla).

For those readers who have been following Sci-Fi Saturdays for some time, this marks the fifth film from this franchise that I’ve tackled. The Godzilla franchise has, without fail, released a film every ten years for the anniversary of the original movie, and there’s been an article for each. Starting with the original Godzilla (1954), and continuing with Invasion of Astro-Monster, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, The Return of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. These films all represent entries from the two previous Eras of films, the Shōwa and Heisei Eras, and help provide the basis for the plot elements of Final Wars.

Besides the plot elements, which I’ll delve into shortly, Final Wars also features a number of cast members from previous films in the franchise as a way to celebrate the series and excite the fan base. Three of the actors appeared in all of the three Eras of Godzilla films including Akira Takarada (UN Secretary General Daigo) who is the only actor to appear in both Godzilla (as Hideto Ogata) and this film, Kenji Sahara (Dr. Jinguji), and Kumi Mizuno (EDF Commander Namikawa) who also played Miss Namikawa in Invasion of Astro-Monster. Between the three of them, they have credits in nearly half the Godzilla franchise. The film also includes Akira Nakao (original commander of Gotengo) who appeared in the two previous franchise films, Godzilla: Tokyo SOS and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla as the Prime Minister, and Tsutomu Kitagawa, who played the titular role of Godzilla in this and four of the previous five films. It also was the acting debut for Don Frye, who is a former MMA fighter and professional wrestler.

Genre-fication

As a tribute to the history of Godzilla films, it was only fitting that Final Wars include a spectrum of monsters from the franchise’s history, as well as reference many of the previous 27 films. The film is a monster free-for-all with Godzilla having to fight a dozen other monsters, in much the same way as Destroy All Monsters. Many of the monsters seen hadn’t been featured in a film in over 35 years including Kumonga and Manda (a giant dragon), which were last seen in Destroy All Monsters (1968), Kamacuras and Minilla, last seen in All Monsters Attack (1969), Rodan (a giant pteranodon) last seen in 1993s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Anguirus (a giant armadillo), last seen in 1974s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Gigan (the cybernetic dinosaur) last seen in Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973). It also revived monsters that hadn’t been seen since their inception including King Caesar (based on the Japanese Shisa, a guardian lion) after his first appearance in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), Ebirah, in his second appearance after his 1966 debut in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and Hedorah, also in his second appearance after Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971). Mothra (a giant moth, naturally) appears as an ally of Godzilla after multiple films of her own, helping to fight a new creature named Monster X/Keizer Ghidorah, which is a variant of King Ghidorah which has appeared in every Era of the franchise as a major for to Godzilla. A final monster that appears in a couple of minor scenes is known as Zilla. It’s the version of Godzilla seen in the 1998 American film by TriStar Pictures. It easily gets eliminated by the King of Monsters.

Director Ryûhei Kitamura wanted to bring back a lot of other elements from previous Godzilla films. Many of these elements surround the various monsters, but appearances by Infant Island and the Shobijin fairies refer to the Mothra series of films. The Xiliens first appeared in Invasion of Astro-Monster, sporting similar outfits and eyewear, controlling monsters to fight Godzilla. But Kitamura did not just include Godzilla films in his list. There are also references to other classic films from Toho Studios, such as Gorath (1962)–which features a dwarf star that threatens to crash into Earth, and Atragon (1963)–which first featured the debut of the “undersea warship” Gotengo and the dragon-entity Manda. Final Wars also utilizes references to a number of popular American sci-fi franchises over the decades. These include Star Wars (or potentially Return of the Jedi/The Phantom Menace)–which is referenced when Kazama flies into the center of the Xilien ship to destroy the reactor, The Matrix–which inspired much of the fight choreography and the Xilien Controller’s wardrobe, along with Independence Day and V: The Miniseries–which deal with destructive alien invasions and beings that disguise themselves as humans.

Societal Commentary

After several decades of Godzilla films that were more focused on the technology of the humans and the battles with the monsters, Final Wars returns to feature some thoughtful themes on humanity and life. The film opens reminding audiences that the reason these monsters exist in the first place is due to “relentless wars and environmental destruction.” While the arrival of these monsters did lead humanity to stop fighting and band together, it created a much larger (literally) problem. There are also some interesting lines that can lead to thoughtful reflection, such as the M-Organization leader telling Ozaki, “You aren’t practicing to beat your opponents,” that he’s, “to become stronger than what you were yesterday.” That leads to the main themes of the film: compassion and choices.

These themes are illustrated by the characters of Kazama vs Ozaki. Kazama follows the training of M-Organization and believes that because he is a mutant, his goal is to kill. He is a warrior through and through. Ozaki, though equally trained and capable, has a heart when it comes to fighting. He is not just about following orders, but being thoughtful in his execution of that power. Kazama tells him that he’s too soft after defeating him in the training battle at the movie’s opening. But it’s Ozaki’s compassion that prevents him from killing his friend after he has been mind-controlled by the Xilien. This is also the compassion that Minilla evokes in Godzilla in the closing moments as he urges the titan to leave the humans alone.

Final Wars’ other theme is choice. The choice to fight or not to fight. The choice to be good or bad. It’s simplistic in a sense, but these films are not hard sci-fi meant for adults. Their intended audience, as director Kitamura sees it, has always been for children. Ozaki is told by the Shobijin fairies that he has a choice in deciding who he is. That’s some heavy foreshadowing. Later, when Ozaki realizes he has the power of the Keizer, and that he’s “the one,” he chooses to use it to defeat the Xilien, and not join them. Good lessons for everyone to remember.

The Science in The Fiction

Dubious science is a hallmark of any Godzilla film, especially after the original version. Here, the franchise reveals that mutants have evolved on Earth (possibly due to the popularity of the X-Men superhero films of the time) with something called an M-base; a fifth base present in DNA. This links the modern human/mutants with the 12,000-year-old Gigan as related organisms. The alien experiments that created these creatures also evolved over time to affect humans and transform them. Yet, this M-base makes mutants susceptible to the telepathy of the Xiliens, because…reasons. It’s an inelegant plot point that is used to separate certain characters as more privileged than others. And then only two of these characters, Ozaki and the Xilien Controller, have super abilities far beyond those of normal mutants–the Keiser abilities. It’s the fantastical myth of The Force, or the messianic tale of The One, that allows for good to triumph and evil to perish.

The Final Frontier

With this being my first viewing of Final Wars, there was some confusion between two of the Xilien characters. After the aliens appear and wish their goodwill to the world, an alien appears on a radio show and proclaims he has adopted the name of X (Kenji Kobashi). This character is very enigmatic and the confusion was that he was the same character that kills the Xilien Commander on television later. This is incorrect. X and the Xilien Controller are two different characters, played by two different–yet similar–actors. It’s a shame since during the final battle between the Controller and Ozaki, I was under the assumption that it was X vs ‘O’. Game and match!

Godzilla: Final Wars is a hoot. The trailer revealed the monster craziness and the film did not disappoint. Are there some inconsistencies and strange cuts in the film? Sure, it’s not perfect. But this “final” entry into the Godzilla Universe is a great entry point for newcomers–showcasing a number of monsters that they may want to check out–and also a fun trip down memory lane for fans of the series.

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