The end of the Millennium Era and one of the more divisive yet memorable Godzilla films, “Godzilla: Final Wars” turns 21 years old today. This will mostly be spoiler-free.
As someone who be came a huge Godzilla fan later in life, Godzilla: Final Wars stands out as one of my all time favorite Godzilla films. This movie contains of the hardest-leaned-into sci-fi concepts in a Godzilla film since Destroy All Monsters (1968) and Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991), with aliens, mutants, monsters, mazer cannons, the Gotengo ship (as seen in Atragon (1963)), and United Nations leading the world. For as many old concepts and monsters that were brought into the fold here, it is a little sad that there wasn’t room for Android M-11 to make an appearance.
This particular Godzilla movie is divisive among the community due to the fact that it is one of the most ridiculous Godzilla films ever made. Godzilla: Final Wars came off the heels of the more serious duology of the Kiryu saga, which explored the concept of a cursed Mechagodzilla built around the bones of the original 1954 Godzilla. Though the saga was planned to be a trilogy, Toho unceremoniously gave director Masaaki Tekuza the boot due to low ticket sales and opted for the controversial choice of hiring Ryûhei Kitsmara, who was best known for his film Versus (2000) for Godzillas 50th anniversary.
Godzilla: Final Wars has been memed into oblivion in the last 2 decades, from the motorcycle chase to everything involving Captain Gordon, but I sincerely view it as the best love letter to the Godzilla franchise as a whole. Does it “rip off” (I hate that phrase) popular movies at the time like X-Men and The Matrix? Of course it does. Because those movies are cool! Versus is cool! It’s clear that Toho wanted to celebrate Godzilla’s 50th anniversary in a way that the fans found exciting while still honoring Godzilla and how far the franchise had come since 1954. The Heisei era of Godzilla capped off with, in my opinion, the greatest kaiju film of all time, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), but that was a sad, somber farewell to the King of the Monsters. Godzilla: Final Wars was meant to be the final film in the franchise for an extended amount of time, and they certainly went out with a bang.
To prepare for this write up, I watched the movie over Discord with my wife, Katie, and good friend, Jess, as part of our regular Godzilla Fan Club meeting. I must have unmuted about 50 times to say how much I love this movie. I don’t actually want to spoil anything about the movie and give you a boring, milquetoast breakdown of the film itself. It is a movie that needs to be experienced with as many friends (and Godzilla fans) as possible. Instead, here’s a quick rundown of my favorite moments.
1. Any Time Anguirus is on Screen
I am and always have been a massive fan of Anguirus since I began this lifelong Godzilla journey. He has always been scrappy and had so much heart and personality to him. Besides Jet Jaguar, he is the kaiju that I feel the most personal kinship with. In Final Wars, however, they took him to an entirely new level. Final Wars was his first appearance in a Godzilla film since Godzilla vs Gigan in 1972. He thunders onto the screen as one of the first monsters we see in Godzilla: Final Wars, and he looks amazing. They absolutely perfected his suit design and moveset in this movie, and he gets to shine (albeit hilariously) in a battle straight from the Showa-era alongside Rodan, King Caesar, and of course the Big G himself. I am rooting for Anguirus’ eventual return in any possible form. My vote? Godzilla Minus Zero.
2. “Listen kid, there are two things you don’t know about the Earth…”
This is, inarguably, one of the best quotes of the entire series. Everything about Captain Gordon immediately puts him in the top 3 Godzilla human characters ever, and the contrast between him and the Xilien Controller (yes, that is his actual name) leads to so many great moments.
3. The Final Battle (Spoilers Ahead)
The final battle is one of the most memorable in the entire franchise. It is not only one of the best final kaiju battles, but the human-mutant story is compelling enough at the end to make for the final showdown between XC and Ozaki (and the whole team so far really) to be as ridiculous as it is to be believable in this world. As for the kaiju battle, Mothras defeat of Gigan by using his own nipple blades against him is one of my favorite Mothra moments in general. Of course, the real fun starts when Keizer Ghidorah arrives. I have to give special credit to the sound design team when Godzillas arms are bent backwards, I still cringe at that every time. Capping the movie off with Minilla was a great choice too, even if he looks like that. They certainly tried to remaster him like the other OG’s that returned. That being said though, this iteration of Godzilla was unstoppable until Minilla came along. The King of the Monsters, in all his glory, shows that even he has the capacity of love in his heart for the ugliest of creatures.
And that is what I have to say about Godzilla: Final Wars on its 21st birthday. Sit down, throw back some shots, and watch this absolute banger of a film and I promise you’ll have a great time.
★★★★★
Anatomy of a Film 
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