Godzilla: Final Wars

A very unusual Godzilla film.

It Moves very fast. The monster battles are not like any of the previous films and the human side of the story is as much a focus as the Monsters tale is and surprisingly it is interesting. It works mainly as an adrenaline rush though, it's cathartic. The "monsters" have a lean, muscular look and move fast- they are not the puffy slow moving beasts of the past.

No long drawn out scenes of endless wrestling, this is more like boxing and Godzilla is the master dispatching them all. No need to be a fan to find it entertaining.

This movie does something similar to what "Aliens" did way back in '86. It redefines Godzilla as an Action Hero and goes past what any casual viewer might expect. This is a hard core action film that never lets up and leaves you drained.

The main negative is that it cribs way too much from the film "The Matrix". While Matrix lifted from Asian cinema generously, Final Wars does a Xerox of the copy and in several places has a tin ear regarding some things that are now considered trite and overused the world over.

The movie is just a lot of fun.