The film's all-star monster cast and alien invasion plot seem derived chiefly from DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968), but with everything pumped up to hyper speed. A martial artist/wrestler/extreme fighter known primarily in Japan, Frye speaks all his lines in English in the Japanese print I saw, while everyone else speaks Japanese to him.
Don Frye plays the tough American captain who pilots the Gotengo (the flying, burrowing ship from ATRAGON) and stands up to the aliens in several memorable confrontations. Masahiro Matsuoka plays Ozaki, the lead mutant hero who uses MATRIX-style martial arts to fight the alien invaders. 1) Kane Kosugi, a martial arts star in his own right and son of "ninja" star Sho Kosugi and one other gorgeous actress, Maki Mizuno, who plays the biologist's newscaster sister. Also on hand are Jun Kunimura (Boss Tanaka in KILL BILL VOL. In a smaller role, Kenji Sahara turns up in a lab coat assisting the attractive young female biologist (Rei Kikukawa) assigned to investigate the monster attacks.
Akira Takarada (star of the original GODZILLA, 1954) plays the UN Secretary General and Kumi Mizuno (the gorgeous leading lady from MONSTER ZERO, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS and more) plays the Commander of the Earth Defense Force. Three venerable stars of older kaiju films turn up, two in major roles. The other real pleasure for G fans is the star-studded cast. There are 15 monsters in all, many friendly old faces and some obscure ones, but all recognizable to longtime Godzilla fans. Every time a new monster appeared on screen the crowd applauded or, rather, they applauded once that monster became recognizable, since the director often teases us with quick cuts and blurry motion before giving us a good, steady full-body shot. I saw it with a packed house of G fans at Subway Cinema's annual New York Asian Film Festival and it was the perfect audience for a film as steeped in the kaiju mythos as this one. GODZILLA FINAL WARS may not please Godzilla purists but it delivers the goods for everybody else, -at least those with some knowledge of Godzilla lore.