Cinematic Point Of View

‘Godzilla: Final Wars’ (2004) is absolutely bonkers. It hits the ground running and rarely lets up. Far from my favorite Godzilla film in the franchise, I do have a soft spot for it. Sometimes you want Prime Rib and other times a chili cheese dog hits the spot.

‘Godzilla: Final Wars‘ is the chili cheese dog with mustard and onions of Godzilla movies.

It had been quite a while since watching it, so my 10 year old son and I popped it into the Blu-Ray player on Sunday and had a blast. This was actually the first time we had ever watched it in Japanese, as the digital versions seem to all be English dubs. As always, original language versions are far superior.

There are just so many goofy choices in this movie. Cartoon sound effects. The ridiculous New York pimp and cop scene. The absolutely amazing no-context old man, grandson, and Manilla scenes throughout the story. And of course, the incredible Don Frye.

We were laughing our heads off. It was just what we needed to close out a great weekend.

As you may or may not know, Director Ryûhei Kitamura‘s ‘Godzilla: Final Wars’ was the last Godzilla film produced by Toho, or any studio, until the 2014 Gareth Edwards film. This fact honestly blows my mind. It’s really hard to believe there was such a long stretch without any Godzilla movies. That said, there was a brief and prophetic Godzilla cameo in Takashi Yamazaki‘s Always: Sunset on Third Street 2.

So when you’re in the mood for a loud, silly, illogical, over-the-top, non-stop, Godzilla film with a ton of monster brawls, space aliens, motorcycle fights, and much, much, more, ‘Godzilla: Final Wars’ delivers it all.