GODZILLA VS. BIOLANTE
A film review by Jim Mann
Copyright 1993 Jim Mann
I've been a Godzilla fan since somewhere in the early sixties, when my father took us to the drive in to see KING KONG VS. GODZILLA. Many of my early theatre experiences where Saturday matinee showings of Godzilla films: GODZILLA VS. THE THING (now known as GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA); GHIDRAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER; DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. I still from time to time watch some of the films in the series. The original, GODZILLA, is actually quite a good film (and is as much about nuclear weapons as it is about a giant monster: it was the only film in the series to truly focus on the human devastation caused by the destruction of a city). GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA has some good moments and is a reasonable film. DESTROY ALL MONSTERS is nonsense, but fun, inspired nonsense.
Somewhere along the way, though, Godzilla changed. The series became just out and out stupid. GODZILLA 1985 was billed as a return of the old Godzilla. It, however, was a major disappointment. While it had a few nice moments, it was overall rather dumb. And not the inspired dumb of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (alien invaders use mind control devices to control Earth's monters as part of their invasion) but just dumb dumb (birds are dinosaurs, so therefore Godzilla can be lured by bird calls).
GODZILLA VS. BIOLANTE was also a disappointment, though not quite as big a one as GODZILLA 1985. At the very least, it doesn't have moments that are quite as dumb as the bird calls in GODZILLA 1985.
First, a brief plot synopsis: after Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo, various groups try to get some Godzilla cells to use in biotech research. One Japanese scientist working for a middle eastern country gets some, but they are destroyed in a bomb blast which also kills his daughter. Later, when he goes to work for the Japanese government and gets more Godzilla cells (to be used to make an anti-Godzilla weapon), he instead uses them to make a giant mutant rose of sorts (to honor his daughter, who loved roses). This giant mutant plant thing is Biolante. Along the way, Godzilla fights Biolante twice, fights the Super-X II (a new super weapon), destroys a city, gets zapped with artificial lightening, etc.
Now, while this whole thing sounds rather silly, it *could* have worked. Similarly silly things did work in movies like the original GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA. The movie, however, suffers from several problems beyond the plot. It plods along. There seems to be no life in it. The older Godzilla films usually weren't boring; this film had long boring moments. Even the monster battles are dull and plodding.
Another problem was Biolante. The first time it appears, it is perhaps the dumbest looking monster ever: its head looks like a giant rose.
On the plus side, there are a few nice moments. The destruction of a city (Okinawa, I think) was very nicely done: probably the best effects of its type done since a few of the early Godzilla movies. Godzilla himself looked good: he was much more realistic than he has been before. The eyes, especially, looked real this time.
I hope that the next movie in the series, GODZILLA VS. KING GIDORAH, is better, though I'm not getting my hopes up after this film.
One final note about the video tape: in these days when all sorts of serious films are still not released in letterbox format, GODZILLA VS. BIOLANTE *is* letterboxed.
-- Jim Mann Stratus Computer jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com
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