The Last War

Well, maybe ordinary people see things differently than nations do.

Original Japanese Version

The Last War is most definitely a film of two distinct halves, the first is an increasingly serious anti-nuclear war film that showcases the true despair of humanity when faced with total annihilation ripe with horror, the other is an increasingly melodramatic, cheesy and sappy family drama about living in ignorance about their situation.

16 years have passed since the end of World War II, and Japan has achieved rapid recovery. Mokichi Tamura works as a driver for a press centre, hoping for happiness for his family. His daughter, Saeko, is in love with a merchant, Takano, who has been at sea for a long time. When he returns, the young couple agrees to get married with the consent of Saeko's father. Meanwhile, tensions between the Federation and the Alliance build, especially after an intelligence-gathering vessel is captured. A new Korean War breaks out across the 38th parallel, with the Federation and Alliance drawn into the war... what could turn out to be the very last.

The Last War has been on my watchlist for a while but I've only ever found increasingly low-quality versions online, so I settled for a fansubbed upload. It was marginally better visually although suffered from the occasional frozen picture and had to wait a few moments for it to restart again. A damn shame since this film is truly gorgeous in places, director Shûe Matsubayashi truly excels here and paints too many frames which envoke a beautiful emotional weight.

It's a tough watch by the end and ultimately a career-defining film for Eiji Tsuburaya and Tsuburaya productions. Easily one of his best works in terms of visual effects with the nuclear devastation that ends the film shining the most; Visually arresting, it's an incredibly visceral and terrifying sequence of events with images that become nightmarishly abstract at times. All made that much more effective thanks to the matte work of Fuchimu Shimakura, it's unnervingly beautiful.

While the film struggles for the majority of its runtime to balance its two halves effectively it's the final act where it all culminates in a true heart wrenching emotional core that I wish the rest of the film had carried. But nonetheless a strong showing from frequent Toho tokusatsu writer Takeshi Kimura.

While Akira Takarade gives a truly excellent performance in this movie, it's with the film's protagonist portrayed by Frankie Sakai where the film truly shines and his last moments in the film are delivered with such conviction that it makes for an already increasingly despairing film even harder to watch with his character's cold acceptance of his impending demise. The English speaking actors do a great job and populate quite a lot of this film but the two languages blend together exceedingly well to create a film that can span multiple cultures with ease.

The music by Ikuma Dan is as excellent as the film's visuals, Dan's music perfectly encapsulates the utter hopelessness in the face of nuclear armageddon with a very uplifting call to arms with our protagonist's actions. I could see myself easily listening to this score outside of the film it was that good.

Overall, despite my grievances with the film, The Last War is a grim reminder of what could be if the world continues on its current path. Glad I finally got the chance to watch this.

We made each other very happy... we always will.