Runtime: 113 minutes
Directed by: Adam Wingard
Starring: Many famous faces that I was surprised was in a movie this daffy
From: Warner Bros./Legendary
Godzilla vs. Biollante: no longer the strangest entry in the franchise. I have seen and enjoyed enough Gojira films where I have a list of the ones I've seen; and last November at a drive-in (!) I saw a triple bill of Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Destroy All Monsters, which was awesome and as it was on G's canon birthday and was the night of the 2020 Presidential election, that was a much better usage of my time than following hours of vapid news coverage.
Anyhow, eventually all will be watched but one day my take on Biollante will receive a better review. In short, that film includes genetic terrorists, different entities wanting Godzilla cells, random American actors they had to find in Japan who perhaps aren't the best, ESP, someone communicating in ESP with PLANTS, cameos from strange cult celebrities, and a kaiju which combines G's cells, human cells and a rose. The next movie (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah) is also rather peculiar and has such things as cyborgs, UFO's, World War II & time travel logic that makes zero sense-which is why I was not a fan of it-so I do prefer Godzilla's film vs. a giant rosebush. The fact that this is clearly more outrageous than that-that came as a distinct surprise.
Before the movie I successfully avoided most information about this new picture; this was a good decision on my part. Only after I came home from seeing this at a Dolby Cinema at AMC-another good decision-did I watch the trailer and I discovered there were only hints as to how strange this all was. For me it was hilarious that all those famous faces were in a movie this daffy. Many have seen this already-typically via HBO Max-but I still won't spoil any plot points. Instead, I will mention that at the time I noted how some moments were rather convenient and if I further scrutinized the plot there would be criticisms aside from all the bizarre elements that are combined together into this burgoo stew of insanity.
All that duly noted, this was still slick entertainment which did not wear out its welcome as it was under 2 hours. All the locations shown were a delight (especially the ones involving neon lights; as it's from Adam Wingard that was one of his trademarks which were present in the film) and most importantly, all the kaiju action delivered. All of that was great, from the clear fashion they were filmed to the action itself. That helped make up for the human element which has its flaws... then again that is a criticism of the majority-if not most-of the entire Gojira franchise. The performances from the humans was fine; the unexpected highlight there was actually a child performance: hearing-impaired actress Kaylee Hottle as a hearing-impaired character.
The mixed opinions I've heard from this are understandable; the bonkers story has to be a reason why but there are others. Me, I was greatly entertained by the proceedings; as I've made it clear in other reviews (albeit long ago) most blockbusters in the past 15 to 20 years juts aren't for me which is why I don't see too many of them. I am glad this is like Pacific Rim rather than its sequel that I have long forgotten most of the details of, in other words. I think the crowd at my screening (the largest for me in more than a year) liked it-that can't be 100% confirmed, though. At least I was amused and bemused throughout, from the song heard in the opening to a needle-drop at the end that could very well have been in the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
King Kong vs. Godzilla (I've seen both the American cut and the original version) is fun 60's action-but this was... bananas.
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