DAM's Final Battle: Your thoughts

[LiquidG]

I'm with you LiquidG, if Ghidorah is supposed Godzilla's "greatest foe" he can at least not be a colossal skreeonk sandbag, and whipping boy for Earth monsters, I want to a see a film where King Ghidorah is not Godzilla's punching bag.
I like the DAM final battle, but it left a lot to be desired, namely a not so one sided fight, and don't get me started on the Fire Dragon, I thought we'd get a cool badass last resort from the Killaks, but nope, instead it's just a UFO.
While I liked that it was a royal rumble for the Showa era, it was also anticlimatic and left a lot to be desired.

You got that right, anticlimactic as crap, and to think during production this was going to be the final Godzilla/Sci-fi movie of the Showa era, I'm so glad that didn't turn out to be true, because that would have been one sorry as dirt Ending,

[LiquidG]

You got that right, anticlimactic as crap, and to think during production this was going to be the final Godzilla/Sci-fi movie of the Showa era, I'm so glad that didn't turn out to be true, because that would have been one sorry as dirt Ending,

If thisd film ended this franchise on that note, we wouldn't have sites like this, if anything, beyond this point ToM would make a better ending for Showa, but the Final Battle here, was just an anticlimatic clusterfuck.

It would have been the final wars before final wars was final wars.......final wars

[GalacticPetey]

It's fun to see so many monsters in one place, but several of them don't do anything. If they had cut out the Fire Dragon stuff and put more work into this scene, it could be pretty damn cool. Like I said, several kaiju don't do anything. I would've loved to see Baragon and Varan help out, or have Manda constrict around one of Ghidorah's necks (okay, they probably couldn't have done that).

[H-Man]

I watched the fight last night. The part I liked the most about the fight was the implied comraderie/friendship between Godzilla and Gorosaurus. The two theropod dinosaur variants not only fought together, but had something of an understanding between each other that was actually endearing, despite the fight being only 5 minutes long.

[Godzillian]

As much as I love ALL of Ghidorahs appearances, there is one thing that always bothers me about him and this will play into how I feel about DAM's final battle. For all his build up and hype about him being a planet destroyer, he never lived up to any of that when he was actually on screen, of course I know we couldn't actually have him destroy the world, but we could at least have him powerful enough to where we could believe it, in all of his appearances especially DAM he is taken down rather easily for something that's with all intensive purposes supposed to be Toho's answer to an Eldrich Abomination, while I felt the final battle was the Highlight of an overall mediocre film, it was still disappointing, sadly a lot of Ghidorah's battles are, I just wish they would have let him actually kill some monsters, maybe Gorosarus or Baragon seeing how his suit wasn't going to be used anymore after that, have him bring Godzilla to his knees like Gigan or Mechagodzilla did, for god sakes he's supposed to be the Joker to Godzilla's Batman, at least let him do something to deserve it. All in all DAM is one of the worst of the Showa series, but its final battle is definitely its strong suit, overall I give the final battle a 7.5/10 its okey but it could have been better.

It doesn't sound like you hate DAM it just sounds like you are unhappy with how Toho handled Ghidorah in the Showa era

[LiquidG]

My disappointment in Ghidorahs execution is linked to my critique on DAM's final battle. At the time this was supposed to be the fat lady singing for the Showa series, they brought in King Ghidorah for one last showdown, In the past he had never lived up to his reputation as a huge threat and this film shows it more than any of them, for a planet destroyer he sure can get his ass kicked ALOT

[Godzilla628]

The final battle in DAM is one of my favorite fight scenes in the entire Godzilla series. It's very fun to watch.

[Irys X]

My disappointment in Ghidorahs execution is linked to my critique on DAM's final battle. At the time this was supposed to be the fat lady singing for the Showa series, they brought in King Ghidorah for one last showdown, In the past he had never lived up to his reputation as a huge threat and this film shows it more than any of them, for a planet destroyer he sure can get his ass kicked ALOT

This has always bothered me too. King Ghidorah is a fantastic idea and was realized very well for the time period, but despite all the city-destroying mayhem he unleashed, I never got the feeling that he could wipe out an entire civilization. At worst, humans would just be trapped in a faux-Planet X situation; underground, evading periodic attacks, but still surviving without terrible difficulty. More than that, even in his first appearance, I always felt like Godzilla could take him alone if he really let loose. This was brought into reality in Godzilla vs Gigan, and in DAM, as much as I love that movie, Ghidorah was taken down by three monsters instead of the advertised ten. Three monsters, mind you, that incurred no casualties or serious injuries during their battle. This trend was continued through the Millenium series. The only Ghidorah that truly looked and felt like he lived up to the hype was Grand King Ghidorah. Unfortunately, due to the movie he was trapped in, we never really got to see him strut his stuff. He kidnapped kids and then got his ass kicked by Mothra. I sincerely hope that someday in the future a movie will bring Ghidorah to his full potential.

[LiquidG]

My disappointment in Ghidorahs execution is linked to my critique on DAM's final battle. At the time this was supposed to be the fat lady singing for the Showa series, they brought in King Ghidorah for one last showdown, In the past he had never lived up to his reputation as a huge threat and this film shows it more than any of them, for a planet destroyer he sure can get his ass kicked ALOT

This has always bothered me too. King Ghidorah is a fantastic idea and was realized very well for the time period, but despite all the city-destroying mayhem he unleashed, I never got the feeling that he could wipe out an entire civilization. At worst, humans would just be trapped in a faux-Planet X situation; underground, evading periodic attacks, but still surviving without terrible difficulty. More than that, even in his first appearance, I always felt like Godzilla could take him alone if he really let loose. This was brought into reality in Godzilla vs Gigan, and in DAM, as much as I love that movie, Ghidorah was taken down by three monsters instead of the advertised ten. Three monsters, mind you, that incurred no casualties or serious injuries during their battle. This trend was continued through the Millenium series. The only Ghidorah that truly looked and felt like he lived up to the hype was Grand King Ghidorah. Unfortunately, due to the movie he was trapped in, we never really got to see him strut his stuff. He kidnapped kids and then got his ass kicked by Mothra. I sincerely hope that someday in the future a movie will bring Ghidorah to his full potential.

Amen to that, its sad that Kumonga has killed more monsters than King Ghidorah if Toho brings back Godzilla they seriously need to have Ghidorah be the ultimate threat, have him kill some monsters like Mothra or Anguirus to show his power, or heck to really show him off let him kill a previous threat like Kumonga did in SOG.

[Irys X]

Yeah that'd be great. He'd have to be saved for a sequel, of course, because he's just too big a threat to be used in the first movie. Maybe the final enemy in a trilogy? I'd personally like to see him kill several monsters and bring Godzilla to the brink of death, only to be killed by a final attack by Godzilla, the military, and a group of other monsters.

[Huan_of_Valinor]

My disappointment in Ghidorahs execution is linked to my critique on DAM's final battle. At the time this was supposed to be the fat lady singing for the Showa series, they brought in King Ghidorah for one last showdown, In the past he had never lived up to his reputation as a huge threat and this film shows it more than any of them, for a planet destroyer he sure can get his ass kicked ALOT

This has always bothered me too. King Ghidorah is a fantastic idea and was realized very well for the time period, but despite all the city-destroying mayhem he unleashed, I never got the feeling that he could wipe out an entire civilization. At worst, humans would just be trapped in a faux-Planet X situation; underground, evading periodic attacks, but still surviving without terrible difficulty. More than that, even in his first appearance, I always felt like Godzilla could take him alone if he really let loose. This was brought into reality in Godzilla vs Gigan, and in DAM, as much as I love that movie, Ghidorah was taken down by three monsters instead of the advertised ten. Three monsters, mind you, that incurred no casualties or serious injuries during their battle. This trend was continued through the Millenium series. The only Ghidorah that truly looked and felt like he lived up to the hype was Grand King Ghidorah. Unfortunately, due to the movie he was trapped in, we never really got to see him strut his stuff. He kidnapped kids and then got his ass kicked by Mothra. I sincerely hope that someday in the future a movie will bring Ghidorah to his full potential.

there is an old thread buried somewhere about King Ghidorah and his lack of... well... power. I posted some things in there that relay my thoughts pretty thoroughly. I should find it lol

I agree with you guys 100% on this. if G14 gets a sequel or trilogy, we might just get the Ghidorah that the creature deserves to be; a Galactus level threat, a nearly unstoppable planet killer.

EDIT: lol on topic, after getting over the hype of the battle, even as a kid I found the final battle to be very disappointing. age has not improved this opinion lol

EDIT 2: I don't think the thread is worth bumping, but it makes interesting reading lol

http://www.tohokingdom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=250858

[LiquidG]

Yeah I'm right there with you, even as a kid when I had no concept of good or bad execution I felt the battle was disappointing, but then again the whole movie was disappointing, it was years until my parents finally found this movie, and when I finally say down and watched it.........ugh

[Godzilla Lover101]

While the whole film is kinda slow, and boring without the monsters, the final fight is pretty epic. It's too short for my taste, but it's still good. I just wish the other monsters in the background like Baragon, Varan, Manda, Kumonga, Rodan would have done something in the fight. I've always loved the idea of Godzilla commanding all the other monsters on Monster Island to do his bidding. Sadly, DAM's ending didn't live up to what it should have been. It was too short, Ghidorah didn't even hurt 1 monster, and the other monsters spectated the fight. I just hope the whole movie can get remade someday.

[Godzillian]

While the whole film is kinda slow, and boring without the monsters, the final fight is pretty epic. It's too short for my taste, but it's still good. I just wish the other monsters in the background like Baragon, Varan, Manda, Kumonga, Rodan would have done something in the fight. I've always loved the idea of Godzilla commanding all the other monsters on Monster Island to do his bidding. Sadly, DAM's ending didn't live up to what it should have been. It was too short, Ghidorah didn't even hurt 1 monster, and the other monsters spectated the fight. I just hope the whole movie can get remade someday.

But ghidorah beat up anguirus at the start of the fight. Kumonga spat web at ghidorah and rodan flapped his wings at him. I guess that counts as helping.

[H-Man]

I find DAM to be one of the most fast-paced and exciting films in the series. If you lose interest whenever monsters are not on screen, it might not feel the same to you. However, I love all the material with the SY-3 crew, the shootouts with Killaak agents, and so on.

I wrote in an essay that it's easily the fastest-paced movie of the Showa series: rarely 5 minutes go by without a shoot-out, a monster sequence, of a spaceship sequence that requires the talents of Sadamasa Arikawa and company.

[eabaker]

If anything, DAM is a little too fast paced for my tastes. It moves so rapidly from point to point that we don't always get to soak in the situations and characters as much as I'd like to. However, Honda is a sufficiently economical storyteller that he gets a lot of good revelatory moments out of his actors in their reactions and pauses.

[edgaguirus]

The film doesn't have much plot. It has to move fast for that reason.

[eabaker]

The film doesn't have much plot. It has to move fast for that reason.

I disagree. It doesn't have much story, or much b-plot, but there is an awful lot of a-plot going on.

[edgaguirus]

The characters are undeveloped, true, but I liked them.

[Rodanguirus]

I don't get the feeling that Ghidorah's jobbing...until vs. Gigan, but that's another matter. As for this fight, I feel the problem lies with DAM's climax overall. Quick question: are the lines about the Earth monsters being brought under human control and the Fire Dragon severing said control (and the monsters continuing to attack the Kilaaks without it) a product of the dub? I've only seen the version ADV put out, so I'm not sure. If so, that's absurdly anticlimactic, and I'm fine ignoring it.

Regardless, I feel like the Fire Dragon should have come first, threw the Earth kaiju off balance, and took some of them out of the fight. It's eventually destroyed by a combination of the kaiju and the SY-3 (so lame for a space shuttle to land the final blow of the movie). Everyone celebrates, but the Kilaak commander makes contact and gloats with her dying breath that they have one last trick up their sleeve.

Now Ghidorah feels more like desperation than a severe underestimation of the opposition, plus the kaiju forces are reeling from the Fire Dragon attack. The ones who can still fight pick themselves up and begin a final battle to the death against their archrival, just as it should end.

I generally like the fight; it helped make me a fan of Ang, Goro, and KG. Ending the action with a spaceship shooting a cartoon fireball is the real crime.