Gojira: Fainaru uôzu (2004)

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Isao Kiriyama (screenplay)
Ryûhei Kitamura (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

4 December 2004 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Earth: Out-numbered, Out-monstered, Out-done.

Plot:

Godzilla's 50th Anniversary project, in which Gojira (Godzilla) travels around the world to fight his old foes plus a new, mysterious monster named Monster X.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Godzilla | Gojira | Tokyo Japan | Wedding Anniversary

Cast

Masahiro Matsuoka	...	Earth Defense Force Soldier Shin'ichi Ôzaki
Rei Kikukawa	...	UN Molecular Biologist Miyuki Otonashi
Kazuki Kitamura	...	The Controller of Planet X
Don Frye	...	Douglas Gordon (Captain of the Gôten)
Akira Takarada	...	UN Secretary General Naotarô Daigo
Kane Kosugi	...	M-Facility Soldier Katsunori Kazama
Maki Mizuno	...	Newscaster Anna Otonashi (Miyuki's older sister)
Masami Nagasawa	...	Shobijin (Twin Fairy)
Chihiro Ôtsuka	...	Shobijin (Twin Fairy)
Kenji Sahara	...	Paleontologist Hachirô Jingûji
Kumi Mizuno	...	Earth Defense Force Commander Akiko Namikawa
Masakatsu Funaki	...	M-Unit Commanding Officer Kumasaka
Masatô Ibu	...	The Xilian General
Masanobu Takashima	...	Major Kita
Mick Preston	...	New York Cop
Darren Schnase	...	New York Gangster Pimp
Shigeru Izumiya	...	Samon Taguchi, Kenta's grandfather
Kenta Suga	...	Kenta Taguchi, the boy
Jun Kunimura	...	Major Komuro
Shelley Sweeney	...	Commanding Officer of French Aerial Battleship Eclaire
Ryûhei Kitamura	...	DJ Interviewer
Kenji Kohashi	...	X
Tsutomu Kitagawa	...	Gojira
Motokuni Nakagawa	...	Kingu Shîsâ / Monsutâ Ekkusu
Naoko Kamio	...	Radon / Minira (suit actress)
Toshihiro Ogura	...	Angirasu / Ebira / Hedora (suit actor)
Kanae Uotani	...	Xillian
Tak Sakaguchi	...	Xillian
Ray Sefo	...	Glenn
Hideo Sakaki	...	Crew Member on Eclair
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroko Akune	...	Xillian
Samuel Pop Aning	...	Earth Defense Force Operator (as Samuel Pop)
Robert Baldwin
Cynthia Cheston	...	Tower staff
Michael Croaker	...	Ritchie
Delcea Mihaela Gabriela
Gary Goodridge	...	Area G worker (Glenn's friend)
Mike Han
Ryô Hashidume
Jun Hashizume	...	Daigo's Aide
Yumi Kikuchi	...	Female earth defense force soldier
Daisaku Kimura	...	Guy on TV
Reika Kirishima	...	Xillian
Jonathan Legg	...	Earth Defense Force Soldier
Shôichirô Masumoto
Minoru Matsumoto	...	Gôten Crew Member
Brad McMurray	...	Johnny
Kenji Motomiya
Akira Nakao	...	Original Gôten Commander
Kazuhito Ohba	...	Gôten Crew Member
Haruka Orth
Shirô Sano	...	Assassin
Shinji Suzuki	...	Mutant Soldier
Koh Takasugi	...	Captain of the Karyu
Yasuhiro Takeuchi	...	Gôten Crew Member
Shosuke Tanihara	...	Man On Sofa (watching TV)
Toshimichi Tasaki
Michael Tomioka
Kôichi Ueda	...	Original Gôten Deputy Captain
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Narrator (voice)
Elisabeth Hayward	...	Street runner (uncredited)
Matthew Scott	...	Street runner (uncredited)

Directed by
Ryûhei Kitamura

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Isao Kiriyama		screenplay
Ryûhei Kitamura		screenplay
Wataru Mimura		story
Shogo Tomiyama		story

Produced by
Shogo Tomiyama	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Keith Emerson		(as Kîsu Emâson)
Nobuhiko Morino
Daisuke Yano

Cinematography by
Takumi Furuya

Art Direction by
Deborah Riley

Production Management
Takuma Hayashi	....	production manager
Julie Sims	....	production manager: Australia

Art Department
Yasushi Nirasawa	....	designer: Gigan and Planet X Alien
Shinji Nishikawa	....	designer: Godzilla, all other monsters
Yoji Shinkawa	....	designer: Gôten/Atragon Warship
Patrick Tatopoulos	....	creature design: Zilla
Katsuya Terada	....	designer: Monster X

Sound Department
Miki Nomura	....	assistant sound engineer

Special Effects by
Eiichi Asada	....	special effects director
Kakusei Fujiwara	....	lead sculptor
Toshio Miike	....	special effects production designer
Rikiya Sô	....	assistant moldmaker

Visual Effects by
Masato Aonuma	....	cg artist: NTT Media Lab
Takashi Kato	....	miniature model maker
Taro Kiba	....	miniature model maker
Kei Kinoshita	....	miniature model maker
Nobuhiro Kondô	....	CGI director
Yoshiaki Nakaichi	....	digital effects artist
Yuichi Sato	....	miniature model maker
Isamu Tajima	....	miniature model maker

Stunts
Mick Hodge	....	stunt performer
Satoshi Katô	....	stunts
Tsutomu Kitagawa	....	suit action advisor
Philip Partridge	....	stunt performer
Takashi Sakamoto	....	stunts
Kensuke Sonomura	....	stunt rigger
Michihiro Takeda	....	action coordinator
Tomoki Tamura	....	stunts
Hiroyuki Yoshida	....	stunt rigger

Camera and Electrical Department
Stuart Bell	....	grip
Jason Binnie	....	first assistant camera
Motonobu Kiyoku	....	cinematographer: outside of Japan
David Nichols	....	key grip

Music Department
Lynne Hobday	....	music production associate
Lynne Hobday	....	soundtrack associate
Akira Ifukube	....	composer: theme music
Masaru Satô	....	composer: stock music

Other crew
Deborah Alleck	....	production coordinator
Kyle Cooper	....	title producer: main title sequence
Peter Hicks	....	location manager: Sydney
Tak Sakaguchi	....	action choreographer

Production Companies

• Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.
• C.P. International
• Zazou
• napalm FiLMS

Distributors

• Toho Company (2004) (worldwide) (all media)
• Pretty Pictures (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Asia Video Publishing Co. Ltd. (2005) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Marbling FineArts (miniature effects)
• NTT Media Lab (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera dollies
• DENTSU Music And Entertainment  
• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production
• Honda  
• Kobe Film Office  film commission
• Okinawa Film Office  
• Prologue Films  titles
• Toho Studios  sound stages
• Tokyo Laboratory Co. Ltd.  digital intermediate
• U'Den Flame Works  stunts

Also Known As:

Godzilla: Final Wars (International: English title)
The Godzilla (Japan) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence.

Runtime:

125 min | Argentina:125 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Japan | Australia | USA | China

Language:

Cantonese | English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | USA:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

This 28th Godzilla film marked the final use of Toho's Big Pool water tank, which was used for the water scenes for all Tôhô special effects-related films since Hawai Middouei daikaikusen: Taiheiyo no arashi (1960), for which it was constructed. The Big Pool was 88 meters wide and 72 meters long. It was given one final performance when it was last used for this film on September 7th and was demolished on October 13th. Toho's decision to destroy the pool was due to "progress of special-effects technology such as CG, and a large-scale reconstruction plan of the studio." This was considered by many to be the end of an era.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The New York cop's mouth and speech are badly mismatched. This is because actor Mick Preston used the F-word repeatedly during filming and was later required to dub over his original dialog with less-offensive language. Viewers can still see him mouthing the F-word in certain shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Wars and pollution, relentless fighting and environmental destruction, have all awakened vicious monsters. Humankind therefore joins forces with one another in order to drive off the monsters, instead of killing each other. Thus, the Earth Defense Force is born...
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Gojira tai Hedorâ (1971)

Soundtrack:

Godzilla Theme

Didn't like the US Godzilla/Gojira?

Neither did the makers of this movie ... that's why they took the US-Godzilla "for a ride here"! But that's not the only creature from the Gojira/Godzilla past that is brought back. I don't if every creature is on display here, that was in a previous movie, but there quite a few of them. So if you know your Gojira movies, you'll have plenty to enjoy from those "cameos" alone!

You might have guessed it already, but this movie doesn't take itself serious, too. It's a great fun ride and it never aims for anything else than this promise. And since it delivers on that promise/premise, it's a pretty good movie (for me at least)! You will even enjoy it, if you're not familiar with the back story of Gojira, just bare in mind, that this is mostly old-school effects (man in costume kind of effects, so to speak). There are occasionally a few CGI, but it's mostly old school. And that's the fun of it! So it just depends on your expectations, on how you'll like the movie ...