While attending Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque offers plenty of fun opportunities to get a first look at features I’m looking forward to, there are also all of the chances to look back at some classics and cult favorites. The joy of that only increases when it comes to Godzilla, one of my favorite cinematic icons, and Beyond Fest delivered a real treat by screening 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars. Director Ryuhei Kitamura’s entry in the classic Toho kaiju series originally arrived on the 50th anniversary of the franchise. It served as the last Godzilla film for a while, until Legendary’s MonsterVerse kicked off in 2014. Toho released its own new entry, Shin Godzilla, in 2016. With that in mind, while Godzilla: Final Wars has generally stood as a divisive entry among fans, the kind of energy the film possesses allows it to stand out as a Godzilla film perfect for a midnight crowd.
Playing as a sort of greatest hits entry for fans of the Showa Era of Godzilla films (1954-1975), but modernized for the 2000s, the plot of this film is exactly as silly as one would expect. Years ago, the Earth Defense Force (made up of genetically superior humans known as mutants) was able to trap Godzilla in a glacier in the South Pole, inadvertently leaving Earth defenseless to potential massive threats. Cut to 2044, where the aliens known as Xilians have arrived to invade the planet, unleashing a wide variety of monsters to destroy all the big cities. With no other choice, the EDF decides the best course of action is to unleash Godzilla. Once released from captivity, Godzilla angrily takes on all the giant monsters the Xilians unleash, giving the remaining mutants a chance to take on the Xilians at their mothership and stop the invasion once and for all.
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Director Kitamura was in attendance for the screening, participating in a Q&A before the film began. As he has noted before, much of his intention for this film was rooted in wanting to call back to the older Godzilla films that he had a much higher fondness for, compared to the more recent entries at that time. He’s also a director who came up through scrappy means, having made the independent cult favorite action film Versus before applying that same style to larger-scale films. Having the chance to dive into the Godzilla franchise, for him, was indeed a dream, but it also meant doing things his way. Now, Toho certainly has a way of doing things, and even with Kitamura going wild with this film, the final edit is what it is. Still, the movie stands out as far as what this era of Godzilla had to offer.
Personally, having seen this film a few times (though this was the first with an audience), I think it’s one of the stronger entries in the Millennium era of Godzilla films, but it does sort of sit in the middle of the pack overall. There’s plenty of fun I do have with this film, which I’ll get to, and having a pumped audience around to watch it with certainly does help. That said, this movie is packed with plot, characters, and monsters, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but you can feel the 2-hour runtime. It’s the sort of thing where it’s fun to see things taken to the level of extreme, but knowing how to best balance that quality goes a long way when it comes to this sort of film.
Given that so much of this film feels like a mashup of ideas found in The Matrix, X-Men, Mission: Impossible 2, and Independence Day, one must be in a certain mindset to truly go along with the intention of building a classic Godzilla story around a 2000s-era feature. There are entertaining results, for sure, but with so much of the film relying on the human story to come through, holding onto the camp value that is this alien invasion story can be a lot to ask when the runtime is extended this far (never mind having to hold back Godzilla for such an extended portion of it as well).
That said, humans also have their wacky fights, involving motorcycles, Danger Room-like arenas, outdoor factory areas, spaceships, and other settings and vehicles to inflict damage. Are the characters themselves endearing? Well sure. Most of them are largely over-the-top caricatures, but it’s fun to see how this all plays out with the personalities this film chooses to establish, long as it takes to get there. All of that in mind, there’s also the Godzilla of it all.
The design of our King of the Monsters is interesting this time out, as the intention was to make the costume as light as possible so we could really see Godzilla in brawler mode. Yes, this was Toho, still largely using suitmation and practical effects (making the CG elements not stand out for the better), so getting to see the final modern take on this approach does allow for some pretty fun fights between monsters. I may not consider this one of my preferred looks for Godzilla, but I can’t complain about the amount of motion he’s able to have for this one-off entry.
Additionally, the fights are epic by Godzilla standards. Once he’s in play, our hero gets to go up against so many fan favorites, including Gigan, Rodan, Anguirus, Hedorah, King Caesar, Ebirah, Kamacuras, and, briefly, even the CG monster mess referred to now as “Zilla” from the 1998 Roland Emmerich movie. And naturally, the true final features an extended battle against King Ghidorah, who takes on different forms and really brings a whole lot of challenge Godzilla’s way.
If seeing all of these names and reading about how this film is essentially non-stop action sounds appealing, then one can believe Godzilla: Final Wars delivers on a certain kind of thing. I do think it often feels like the kind of move many people assume most Godzilla films are like, which is unfair to the charm of the majority of the series, but so be it. It’s a giant swing as far as these films are concerned, and there’s enough to like here. There’s an argument to be made that the film’s length is too long, which sort of dulls the desired effect, which is why I place this film lower than other entries. Still, as a sort of maximized, modernized version of 1968’s Destroy All Monsters, there’s enough to like about efforts made to deliver something fresh here. And that’s only amplified by having a giant crowd around to take it all in together.
Godzilla: Final Wars is currently available on digital and VOD.
Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque takes place from September 23 to October 8, 2025.
For the full lineup, tickets, and more information, check out the Website.
