Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) - is the movie for this Sunday's "monsterdon" watch party over on Mastodon, our fediverse sibling!
- Just start watching that movie this Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 9pm ET / 8pm CT / 6pm PT which is 1am Monday UTC
- and follow #monsterdon over on mastodon for live commentary. For example, you can follow that hashtag here: https://mastodon.social/tags/monsterdon
- I usually open two web browser windows side-by-side on a computer. But you could follow the mastodon commentary on a phone app while watching the movie on TV or something.
How to watch the movie:
- someone plans to stream it on https://miru.miyaku.media/ at that time
- don't know how well things stream from archive, but:
- archive (Japanese AND English dub with English subtitles for Japanese speakers): https://archive.org/details/Godzilla-Final-Wars-Japanese-English-Hybrid
- archive (Japanese dub, English subtitles): https://archive.org/details/Godzilla-Toho-Classics/28.+Godzilla+Final+Wars+(2004).mp4
- archive (English dub): https://archive.org/details/godzilla-final-wars-2004-english-dub-1080-p
- tubi (US, England, Canada, Australia, NZ?): https://tubitv.com/movies/100039783/godzilla-final-wars (looks like you need to enable DRM in your browser, so uBlock Origin adblocker might not work!)
- if you want to pay and/or watch ads, look here: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/godzilla-final-wars
when a mysterious race of aliens known as the Xiliens arrive on Earth, the Earth Defense Force (EDF) find themselves locked in battle with various monsters attacking cities around the world, leading them to revive the only chance to save their planet: Godzilla.
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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 12 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.[15]Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastique called the film "utterly fantastic" and "a rush of explosive excitement."[16] Jim Agnew of Film Threat gave the film four and a half stars out of five, saying "the good news for kaiju fans is that Godzilla: Final Wars is a kick-ass giant monster flick."[17] Drew McWeeny of Ain't It Cool News remarked, "Godzilla: Final Wars earns a special place in my heart. It's fun. Pure lunatic fun, every frame."[18] Sean Axmaker of Static Multimedia said, "Directed by a true fan of the old school, it's lusciously, knowingly, lovingly cheesy."[19] Craig Blamer of the Chico News & Review called the film "a giddy and fast-paced celebration of the big guy."[20]
Conversely, David Nusair of Reel Film gave the film one and a half stars out of five, saying that "the battles are admittedly quite entertaining" but felt that director Ryuhei Kitamura "is absolutely the wrong choice for the material."[21] David Cornelius of eFilmCritic gave the film two stars out of five, calling it "the dullest, weakest Godzilla movie I've seen in a long, long time."[22] Ty Burr of the Boston Globe gave the film one and a half stars out of five, saying it focused too much on action and not enough on story, and calling it "35 minutes longer than is necessary."
