Godzilla: Final Wars

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Movie
German title Godzilla: Final Wars
Original title ゴ ジ ラ フ ァ イ ナ ル ウ ォ ー ズ ,
Gojira: Fainaru Wōzu
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese , English
Publishing year 2004
length 120 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 12
Rod
Director Ryuhei Kitamura
script Ryūhei Kitamura ,
Isao Kiriyama ,
Wataru Mimura ,
Shōgo Tomiyama
production Shōgo Tomiyama
music Keith Emerson ,
Nobuhiko Morino ,
Daisuke Yano ,
Akira Ifukube (Godzilla theme)
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Successor  →
Shin Godzilla

Godzilla: Final Wars ( Japanese ゴ ジ ラ フ ァ イ ナ ル ウ ォ ー ズ , Gojira: Fainaru Wōzu ) is a Japanese monster film ( Kaijū Eiga) from 2004 and the 28th Godzilla film. Directed by Ryūhei Kitamura . The film was released for the 50th anniversary of the first Godzilla film and also ends the Millennium season .

action

Due to wars and ongoing environmental pollution, giant monsters repeatedly appeared on earth, which endangered the continued existence of mankind. That is why the Earth Defense Force was founded by several states . It involves a sub-organization of genetically mutated people who have greater strength and capabilities; the M organization. Your greatest enemy is Godzilla, who was defeated by the Earth Defense Force at the South Pole and frozen in the ice.

The Gotengo (轟天 号, Gōtengō ) under Lt. Gordon finds himself in a fight with Manda years later. This threatens to crush the ship under water. Gordon therefore orders to head for an active underwater volcano so that the heat expels Manda. This allows the Gotengo to free itself, but the temperature inside the ship rises, which puts the crew in danger. Manda is tracking the ship on which the automatic target search has failed. Gunner Ozaki succeeds in targeting Manda manually with the help of his skills and freezing him with a freeze cannon and killing him with the drill.

This mission has personal consequences due to Gordon's deliberate disregard of all safety regulations. He is placed under arrest while Ozaki is tasked with protecting biology professor Otonashi. She is the head of a research team that discovered a millennia-old giant monster that has been given both organic and mechanical structures. However, the origin remains a mystery until the cosmos of Mothra reveal themselves and Otonashi tell the story of the monster. The monster, which is called Gigan, visited the earth 12,000 years ago and fought unsuccessfully against Mothra.

Meanwhile the big cities of the world are being attacked by giant monsters. Anguirus ravages Shanghai , King Caesar is in Okinawa , Rodan is attacking New York City , Zilla is raging in Sydney , Kamakuras is destroying Paris, and Kumonga is in Arizona . The Earth Defense Force sends all ships to defense. An industrial plant and a nuclear power plant in Japan are also threatened by Ebirah. Ozaki, his rival Kazama and their team fire at Ebirah and defeat him. But with the final blow, the giant crab disappears without a trace and all other giant monsters are apparently wiped out.

Behind it are the UFOs of the X-Aliens, who want to show their goodwill towards the people with this action. The Japanese UN Secretary General Daigo mediates between the EDF and the X-Aliens, as they previously saved him from certain death when Rodan destroyed his plane. The X-Aliens want to warn people of the threat to the planet Gorath, which is heading straight for Earth and will collide with it. With the advice to gather all weapons in the world at one point in order to ward off the impact, Daigo heralds a new era and the transformation of the United Nations into the Space Nations .

People are euphoric about the arrival, but Otonashi has doubts about the gesture. These are confirmed by the fact that the planet Gorath is apparently an illusion and that both EDF Commander Namikawa and Daigo are involved in a conspiracy. With a ruse and the help of Lt. Gordon, Otonashi and her sister, who is a nationally known television announcer, manage to expose Daigo as an X-Alien in front of the world. The commander of the Earth Defense Force Namikawa was also replaced by an identical-looking X-Alien.

The original plans of the X aliens come to light. They plan to transform the earth into grazing land so that they can make people their food. Gordon, Ozaki and the M-Organization oppose the leader, but can do nothing against him. With his skills he manages to manipulate the M-Organization and turn it against Ozaki and Gordon. With the help of Ozaki's superiors, the escape succeeds, but the manipulated Kazama is on their heels. A fight against Ozaki breaks out, which Ozaki can win.

The end of mankind seems to be sealed, the leader of the X-Aliens wakes Gigan and frees all captured giant monsters that are now under his control. Not only do they destroy the world's major cities, but also all EDF ships, until only the Gotengo remains, which was previously hidden in a secret location for repair purposes. Lt. Gordon plans the counterattack. In this, he plans to free Godzilla from the ice of the South Pole so that he can defeat the giant monsters while he and the Gotengo crew attack the mother ship.

On the way to the South Pole, the ship is attacked by Gigan and brought to sink. With the help of rockets, the Gotengo manages to break the ice and free Godzilla, who immediately throws himself into the fight with Gigan. Gigan has no chance and is quickly defeated by the giant dinosaur. The Gotengo then lures Godzilla to Japan. On the way there, Godzilla defeats all giant monsters that the X-Aliens put in the way.

Meanwhile, the Gotengo attacks the mother ship, but does not manage to penetrate its shield. Kazama has therefore seized a small flying machine on his own and penetrates the mother ship. Since his machine is badly damaged, he races into the shield generator and can destroy it at the risk of his life, which clears the way for the Gotengo. However, the Gotengo is captured shortly before the reactor is destroyed, Gordon, Ozaki, Otonashi and the higher-ranking officers are captured, the lower ranks of the crew are killed.

Meanwhile Godzilla has reached the destroyed Tokyo , where he sees a comet from space. Godzilla does not manage to destroy it, but survives the impact unharmed. A new monster emerges from the comet and attacks Godzilla. Both receive unexpected reinforcements, Godzilla from Mothra and Monster X from the restored and improved Gigan.

A battle breaks out on the mother ship as well. While the crew tries to break through to the Gotengo, Ozaki fights the leader of the X-Aliens. This reveals to Ozaki that both have the abilities of an emperor, an ability with which they are physically and psychologically superior to all other living beings. Because Ozaki cannot control this ability, he threatens to lose the fight. Godzilla also has problems against Monster X and Gigan. Mothra intervenes and kills Gigan despite severe injuries.

The Gotengo crew manage to free the real Daigo and Namikawa. They are ambushed and Namikawa is wounded. Ozaki can now recall his skills as an emperor and defeat the leader of the X-Aliens. However, this activates the self-destruct mechanism of the mother ship. The crew and Ozaki only manage to return to the Gotengo in time and get out of range of the explosion.

Meanwhile Godzilla is still fighting Monster X, which transforms and turns out to be Ghidorah. As a result, it also unfolds its full strength and can bring the weakened Godzilla to the brink of defeat and suck his energy away. Ozaki supplies Godzilla with energy from the ship, which is enough to revive the dinosaur and provide it with new energy. The dinosaur turns the tide and is able to kill Ghidorah. He then attacks the Gotengo and destroys it for good. But during the final blow, his son Minilla appears, preventing an attack by Godzilla, who retreats into the sea.

background

In Germany, the film was shown for the first time at the Fantasy Film Festival 2005 in Munich . It was released on DVD on July 28, 2006 in two different versions. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on March 28, 2014. The film was published by Splendid Entertainment.

The intro of the film consists of a film collage from all Godzilla films. But also in the flashback all excerpts from well-known Toho films can be seen.

Zilla, the monster that attacked Sydney, is the same monster from Roland Emmerich's Godzilla film from 1998. During the fight between him and Godzilla, the song We're all to blame by the Canadian punk band Sum 41 was played. However, this is not listed on Keith Emerson's soundtrack, which is available in stores.

Don Frye didn't speak a word of Japanese during the entire film, he spoke English. Still, there were no comprehension problems during the film.

reception

The film had a budget of $ 19.5 million. This makes it the most expensive Godzilla film in the series. It premiered on November 29, 2004 in Hollywood , USA as part of the award ceremony for Godzilla's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . The film was released in Japan on December 4, 2004. There he was seen by a million visitors. The film grossed approximately $ 9.2 million.

The film received mixed reviews, with the critics rating the film 45 percent positive and the audience 71 percent positive on the RottenTomatoes website .

“The supposedly last fantasy movie fun about Godzilla. As usual, miniature cities are being rolled flat and extras in rubber costumes are sweating. The naive joy in the orgy of destruction staged without CGI effects is clouded by matrix borrowings in the framework story. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release Certificate for Godzilla: Final Wars . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2005 (PDF; test number: 103 783 V / DVD).
  2. Godzilla: Final Wars. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
  3. ^ Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Accessed August 8, 2019 .
  4. Godzilla: Final Wars. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used