|
 he
last five years have seen the "Godzilla" continuity
"re-imagined" no less than four times. While this likely
resulted in much hair pulling and teeth gnashing on the part of the more
obsessive, "Trekkie"-ish Godzilla fans, it's also allowed
filmmakers to lead the character in new directions, and in the process
rejuvenate a series that had become the epitome of repetition and
self-parody. "Godzilla: Final Wars," the 28th movie in the
series and the Big-G's 50th Anniversary, is yet another reinvention of
the Godzilla universe, and though it's been obsessively hyped as the
last "Godzilla" movie, its main selling point outside Japan is
likely hotshot marquee director Ryuhei Kitamura. The prospect of the man
behind "Azumi"
and "Versus"
at the helm of a "Godzilla" movie oozes with potential, and if
the final product isn't absolutely all that it could have been, it's
certainly not for a lack of effort.
The fun starts at the South Pole sometime in the
1960's, where, during a pitched battle against the flying supersub
"Gotengo," Godzilla is lured into a glacial fissure and
promptly trapped under an avalanche of ice, effectively burying him
alive. Jump ahead a few decades to the near future, where atomic testing
has given birth to a whole posse of kaiju (giant monsters) as well as a
new strain of mutant humans that represent the next step forward in
human evolution. To combat this new kaiju problem, the U.N. has formed
the Earth Defense Force, and among the EDF's ranks is the elite
M-Organization, a sort of highly trained anti-kaiju SWAT team made up
entirely of mutants.
One such mutant is Shinichi Ozaki (Masahiro
Matsuoka), who is assigned to escort hottie scientist Miyuki Nemu
(actress/model Rei Kikukawa) to study the mummified remains of a giant
creature unearthed in Hokkaido. Without warning, major cities around the
world fall victim to simultaneous monster rampages. No sooner has the
EDF jumped into action are the monsters teleported away by the X-seijin,
an alien race that has arrived on Earth with news that a runaway planet
is on a collision course with our fair planet, and offers their
assistance in averting the coming apocalypse. The X-seijin are welcomed
with open arms, but Ozaki, Nemu and nosy reporter (are there any other
kind?) Anna Otonashi (Maki Mizuno) have their suspicions.
If the storyline of "Godzilla: Final
Wars" sounds familiar, it's supposed to be. "Final Wars"
rejiggers the plots from 1965's "Godzilla VS. Monster Zero"
and 1968's "Destroy
All Monsters." I'm hardly a hardcore "Godzilla" fan,
but I've seen a good number of the previous entries over the years and
"Final Wars" prove to be a good time despite its share of
missteps. The film features the largest cast of kaiju since
"Destroy All Monsters," and they all get their chance to go up
against Godzilla thanks to X-seijin mind control.
Many of the monsters have been updated, either via
refined suit designs or slick CGI that gives the creatures more life
than a man in suit or puppet ever could. There's even an appearance by
the American Godzilla, aka GINO (Godzilla In Name Only). Unfortunately,
as proof of Godzilla's full ass-kicking quotient, the kaiju fights never
last more than a couple of minutes, and the movie burns through its
roster of villainous monsters way too quickly. Compounding this problem
is that outside of the opening scene, Godzilla is MIA for the much of
the film's first half.
Of the
human cast, a pair of terrific performances stands out. The X-seijin is
an update of the visor-sporting Devo look-alikes from "Godzilla VS.
Monster Zero", now pimped out with leather trenchcoats and eyeliner
in the person of Kazuki Kitamura as their leader. Kitamura is also the
proud owner of the most diabolical and smug grin in cinema history, and
struts about arrogantly, stopping long enough to fume whenever Godzilla
defeats one of his monsters. The only other cast member that matches
Kitamura's screen presence is former New Japan Wrestling Champ Don Frye
as Captain Douglas Gordon, the disgraced former commander of the Gotengo
and the film's token Westerner.
What happens when Ryuhei Kitamura directs a
"Godzilla" movie? You get a movie that feels totally unique to
the series despite the presence of a derivative storyline. The moody
cinematography compliments Kitamura's trademark camerawork, lending a
distinctly cartoonish vibe that suits the juvenile storyline and
energizes the talking head scenes. The movie packs a lot of plot into
its 2-hours plus running time, but things rarely slow down for too long
before there's another action set piece. "Final Wars" feels a bit like "Scream"
in that the filmmakers are aware their audience has seen this kind of
movie before, and uses that familiarity to tweak the conventions a bit.
Like most of Ryuhei Kitamura's films, there's a lot to like and hate
about "Godzilla: Final Wars"; but even if it isn't the best
the series has to offer, it's still a fun ride.
|
