Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
ゴジラ ファイナルウォーズ
Action, Adventure, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thriller • 2h 5m
Overview
Humanity finally rids themselves of Godzilla, imprisoning him in an icy tomb in the South Pole. All is peaceful until various monsters emerge to lay waste to Earth's cities. Overwhelmed, humanity is seemingly saved by a race of benevolent aliens known as Xiliens. But not all is what it seems with these bizarre visitors. If humanity wishes to survive, they must reluctantly resurrect their most hated enemy, Godzilla.
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Cast: Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Don Frye, Maki Mizuno, Kazuki Kitamura, Kane Kosugi, Kumi Mizuno, Akira Takarada, Masatô Ibu, Masanobu Takashima, Shigeru Izumiya, Jun Kunimura, Chihiro Ohtsuka, Masami Nagasawa, Masakatsu Funaki, Kenji Sahara, Kenta Suga, Koichi Ueda, Akira Nakao, Tak Sakaguchi, Reika Kirishima, Tsutomu Kitagawa, Naoko Kamio, Kazuhiro Yoshida, Toshihiro Ogura, Motokuni Nakagawa, Ray Sefo, Yoji Tanaka, Shuya Yoshimoto, Koichi Yamadera, Wataru Shihôdô
Director: Danny Boyle
Sony 4K Blu-ray see caps
Recovers quite a bit of highlight detail, looks less harsh and clipped in the video footage than the old BD.
Dolby Atmos Remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1 mix: old OOP Fox Blu-ray
5.1 on the 4K is a downmix of the Atmos remix.
Director: Danny Boyle
Sony 4K Blu-ray see caps
Recovers quite a bit of highlight detail, looks less harsh and clipped in the video footage than the old BD.
Dolby Atmos Remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1 mix: old OOP Fox Blu-ray
5.1 on the 4K is a downmix of the Atmos remix.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Sony 4K Blu-ray has the original theatrical Dolby Atmos mix
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Sony 4K Blu-ray has the original theatrical Dolby Atmos mix
Director: Danny Boyle
Director: Danny Boyle
Director: Jim Henson
Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray
Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray, Shout! Factory doesn't have the low-pass filter that's on the Sony US 4K Blu-ray from 2021 with Dolby Vision (or the worse HDR10 only release from 2016). Shout! Factory retains more high-frequency grain and detail.
Embassy Home Entertainment JPN LaserDisc or 1999 Sony US DVD 2.0
Director: Jim Henson
Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray
Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray, Shout! Factory doesn't have the low-pass filter that's on the Sony US 4K Blu-ray from 2021 with Dolby Vision (or the worse HDR10 only release from 2016). Shout! Factory retains more high-frequency grain and detail.
Embassy Home Entertainment JPN LaserDisc or 1999 Sony US DVD 2.0
Director: Sofia Coppola
Director: Sofia Coppola
Director: Michael Arias
Director: Michael Arias
Director: McG
The UK cinema version is the most complete version of the film to date, featuring additional scenes of violence. Additional footage includes:
louder impact sounds during the fight scenes with added bass, particularly during the alley fight (the impact sounds are much tamer on all video and DVD releases)
the use of nunchaku during the closing fight on the castle (the fight sequence now has no footage of nunchaku)
an elbow-lock move performed during the above fight (this is now cut from all versions) It is assumed that this version is the cut of the film made before trims were made to it for the MPAA to secure a PG-13 rating.
The UK theatrical cut has not been released on home video to date.
Director: McG
The UK cinema version is the most complete version of the film to date, featuring additional scenes of violence. Additional footage includes:
louder impact sounds during the fight scenes with added bass, particularly during the alley fight (the impact sounds are much tamer on all video and DVD releases)
the use of nunchaku during the closing fight on the castle (the fight sequence now has no footage of nunchaku)
an elbow-lock move performed during the above fight (this is now cut from all versions) It is assumed that this version is the cut of the film made before trims were made to it for the MPAA to secure a PG-13 rating.
The UK theatrical cut has not been released on home video to date.
More Action on Blu-ray
Director: Robert Altman
Paramount Blu-ray
Popeye was mixed for a failed Vistasonic system with 4 discrete tracks (L/C/R/S). That mix has never been released on home video in its original form.
The older 5.1 track appearing on older DVD/BD releases sounds excellent. It appears to be a slight upmix of the original mix, only splitting the surrounds and adding LFE. It sounds close to the old analog LaserDisc, which is likely the original mix in a matrixed form.
The 5.1 included on the UHD is a new remix which significantly differs from previous tracks. There are new foley effects all over the place. Music is jarringly spliced in from different sources. Unlike the old 5.1 which had clearly discrete surrounds, the channels surrounds overlap somewhat with the fronts here.
Details on the new mix from Paramount's former head of restoration: https://youtu.be/P-AmjqViJyE?t=788
The 2.0 tracks on all DVDs/BDs are just downmixes of their respective 5.1 mixes.
Samples
Director: Robert Altman
Paramount Blu-ray
Popeye was mixed for a failed Vistasonic system with 4 discrete tracks (L/C/R/S). That mix has never been released on home video in its original form.
The older 5.1 track appearing on older DVD/BD releases sounds excellent. It appears to be a slight upmix of the original mix, only splitting the surrounds and adding LFE. It sounds close to the old analog LaserDisc, which is likely the original mix in a matrixed form.
The 5.1 included on the UHD is a new remix which significantly differs from previous tracks. There are new foley effects all over the place. Music is jarringly spliced in from different sources. Unlike the old 5.1 which had clearly discrete surrounds, the channels surrounds overlap somewhat with the fronts here.
Details on the new mix from Paramount's former head of restoration: https://youtu.be/P-AmjqViJyE?t=788
The 2.0 tracks on all DVDs/BDs are just downmixes of their respective 5.1 mixes.
Samples
Director: Phillip Noyce
Director: Phillip Noyce
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Bandai Japan 4K Blu-ray
Bandai JP 4K Blu-ray
All 4K releases are sourced from the same mediocre transfer provided by Bandai, with various amounts of tweaks. Japanese disc presents it with the least tinkering.
The best attempt at improving it comes from the German/French releases from KSM/All the Anime, both of which use the same master with HDR regrading (original grade is SDR in HDR container), tasteful regraining and sharpening, in an attempt to breathe some life into the middling transfer, making for an arguably more pleasing viewing experience.
All earlier releases are from an even worse transfer, with significant black crush, with the exception of a Japanese TV airing, which doesn't suffer from that issue, but instead is heavily sharpened and suffers from poor encoding.
Comparisons: JPN UHD, USA UHD, FRA/GER UHD, ITA UHD (tonemapped), JPN UHD, USA UHD, FRA/GER UHD, ITA UHD, ESP UHD (PQ), All 1080p BDs, HDTV, HDTV filtered
Original matrixed stereo mix: Bandai JP 4K Blu-ray
Most discs include this track with comparable fidelity (which is excellent).
Dolby Atmos remix: Lionsgate US 4K / All the Anime FR 4K
6.1 remix (from Ghost in the Shell 2.0): KSM DE 4K / All the Anime FR 4K
All tracks on the Lionsgate US 4K replace the original ending song with the one heard on the English dub. As the Atmos track on the FR 4K is just a port, it also has this song replaced.
Japanese 4K includes English dub and subtitles.
French/German 4Ks are not English friendly, with no dub or subtitles.
French disc includes the Atmos track, but the German disc does not.
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Bandai Japan 4K Blu-ray
Bandai JP 4K Blu-ray
All 4K releases are sourced from the same mediocre transfer provided by Bandai, with various amounts of tweaks. Japanese disc presents it with the least tinkering.
The best attempt at improving it comes from the German/French releases from KSM/All the Anime, both of which use the same master with HDR regrading (original grade is SDR in HDR container), tasteful regraining and sharpening, in an attempt to breathe some life into the middling transfer, making for an arguably more pleasing viewing experience.
All earlier releases are from an even worse transfer, with significant black crush, with the exception of a Japanese TV airing, which doesn't suffer from that issue, but instead is heavily sharpened and suffers from poor encoding.
Comparisons: JPN UHD, USA UHD, FRA/GER UHD, ITA UHD (tonemapped), JPN UHD, USA UHD, FRA/GER UHD, ITA UHD, ESP UHD (PQ), All 1080p BDs, HDTV, HDTV filtered
Original matrixed stereo mix: Bandai JP 4K Blu-ray
Most discs include this track with comparable fidelity (which is excellent).
Dolby Atmos remix: Lionsgate US 4K / All the Anime FR 4K
6.1 remix (from Ghost in the Shell 2.0): KSM DE 4K / All the Anime FR 4K
All tracks on the Lionsgate US 4K replace the original ending song with the one heard on the English dub. As the Atmos track on the FR 4K is just a port, it also has this song replaced.
Japanese 4K includes English dub and subtitles.
French/German 4Ks are not English friendly, with no dub or subtitles.
French disc includes the Atmos track, but the German disc does not.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Arrow 4K Blu-ray Both cuts are excellent in 4K. See caps
Director's cut: 2007 WB Blu-ray; Arrow is a lossy transcode with dynamics compression.
2007 BD's AC-3 track with dynamic range compression enabled is nearly identical to Arrow's, see comparison
Theatrical cut is fine.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Arrow 4K Blu-ray Both cuts are excellent in 4K. See caps
Director's cut: 2007 WB Blu-ray; Arrow is a lossy transcode with dynamics compression.
2007 BD's AC-3 track with dynamic range compression enabled is nearly identical to Arrow's, see comparison
Theatrical cut is fine.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Criterion 4K Blu-ray: intact grain compared to Toho/BFI UHDs' DNR'd master
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is good, derived from the 1995 Criterion LaserDisc (which would be minimally better due to its lack of filtering) see blah-ray
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Criterion 4K Blu-ray: intact grain compared to Toho/BFI UHDs' DNR'd master
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is good, derived from the 1995 Criterion LaserDisc (which would be minimally better due to its lack of filtering) see blah-ray
Directors: Sam Liu & Lauren Montgomery
Directors: Sam Liu & Lauren Montgomery
Director: Zhang Yimou
Director: Zhang Yimou
Director: Renny Harlin
Arrow 4K Blu-ray caps by cinemaniac. Gorgeous upgrade
Atmos track on Arrow cuts off the end credits music 1 minute before the credits end. 5.1 doesn't have this issue.
Digital 4K appears to be fixed. Could the International WB 4K Blu-ray also be fixed?
Director: Renny Harlin
Arrow 4K Blu-ray caps by cinemaniac. Gorgeous upgrade
Atmos track on Arrow cuts off the end credits music 1 minute before the credits end. 5.1 doesn't have this issue.
Digital 4K appears to be fixed. Could the International WB 4K Blu-ray also be fixed?
Director: Deran Sarafian
MVD 4K Blu-ray beautiful remaster but with frame rate skips (encoding error)
Director: Deran Sarafian
MVD 4K Blu-ray beautiful remaster but with frame rate skips (encoding error)
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