flash-hammer's Full Review: Godzilla Vs. Biollante
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
The first 'official' Heisei era Godzilla movie, Godzilla Vs. Biollante was, like Terror of Mechagodzilla before it, based on a story by a fan who submitted it in an entry to a contest. This would be released 5 years after Godzilla's return in Godzilla 1985(which actually came out in 1984), and would see him facing one of his most unique enemies, in one of his most popular and classy movies to date.
With that said, surprisingly, Godzilla Vs. Biollante is one of the harder Godzilla movies to find today. It was never released theatrically outside of it's homeland, and in the states it went straight to TV and video when Miramax purchased the rights. The film has never been released in the UK in any format, and I'm reviewing it based on the American Miramax VHS released circa 1998. As far as I know, it isn't available on DVD, which is a shame, because it's better than near enough all the movies in the series which have. This highlights easily the most annoying thing about Godzilla movies in the west...the rights for each film have been picked up independantly, which means there will probably never be all of the movies available at once, and even less chance of a definitive box set like Japanese fans get treated to.
The film would boast the directorial debut in the series for Kazuki Omori, who would also direct Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, as well as writing Godzilla Vs. Mothra and Godzilla Vs. Destroyah. Omori confessed that he wasn't a huge fan of Godzilla, but did admit to enjoy the movies of the 50s and 60s as a child. While this was an ominous sign, especially when you consider Rolan Emmerich expressed disdain for the old movies with his 1998 debacle, however, instead of trying to mock the old theme of the Kaiju Eiga, to his credit, Omori still affords the genre respect with his picture, and just tries to put his spin on it.
The movie opens in the immediate aftermath of Godzilla 1985, with Tokyo in ruins. Scientists are trying to gather any flesh left by Godzilla, as it has been discovered that the key to his immortality is in his cells. Radiation has mutated him to the degree where these 'G-Cells' constantly regenerate any damage done to them, and can never die.
A case of them are stolen from the Japanese by a group of Americans named Bio-Major who want their hands on them, but when the Bio-Major agents escape the Japanese Self-Defence Force soldiers, they are killed by a Saradian Secret Agent who takes the cells. Saradia is a fictional Middle Eastern country(a nod to 'Rolisica' in Godzilla Vs. Mothra?), where a Japanese scientist named Dr.Shiragami(Koji Takahashi - Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis) is working with his daughter Erika(Yasuko Sawaguchi - Godzilla 1985), trying to create immortal plants using the G-Cells, to try and turn the barren deserts into fertile crops. However, the lab is attacked by Bio-Major, and Erika is killed in the explosion. Broken-hearted, Dr.Shiragami returns to Japan, after merging the cells of Erika with her favourite roses.
Meanwhile, there has been some stirring from within Mount Mihara, where Godzilla was imprisoned at the climax of the last movie. The JSDF is put on alert, and despite the fact that they have built a new Super X-2 attack craft, equipped with a weapon that reflects Godzilla's atomic breath back at him, the Japanese Government wants to try and finish a proposed 'Anti-Nuclear Bacteria' that scientists have theorised. Should this work in killing Godzilla, the company that makes it will use it to make Japan immune to nuclear attack. However, to produce it, a crack team of scientists is needed. Lead by Kazuhito Kurishima(Kunihiko Mitamura - Hissatu!: Sure Death), the team needs Dr.Shiragami's help, and while he initially declines, he declares that if he is given the G-Cell to work with privately for a week, he will help.
The young Major Kuroki(Masanobu Takashima - Shin Kamen Rider) is the man in charge of destroying Godzilla should he emerge from Mount Mihara, but he must work with the grizzled veteran member of the Anti-Godzilla squad, Col. Goro Gondo(Toru Minegishi - Beijing Watermelon), who is bored of waiting for Godzilla to emerge. However, Kuroki also decides that an unorthodox method of combatting Godzilla could prove useful, and incorporates a young girl named Miki Sagusa(Megumi Odaka - Godzilla Vs. Spacegodzilla). Miki is an especially potent ESP user, and works with Kurishima's girlfriend Asuka(Yoshiko Tanaka - Godzilla Vs. Mothra) at a school for ESP gifted children. One night, every child at the school has the same dream, and when asked to draw what they dreamt, each one produces a picture of a fire-breathing reptile destroying Japan.
It isn't long before both Bio-Major and the Saradian's twig that something is going on with the G-Cells, and soon both have agents in Japan. The Bio-Major agents come to a sticky end when they break into his lab, and are killed by giant vines. As it turns out, he wanted the G-Cell to combine with the Erika-Rose, thereby enabling here soul to live forever. Only he never foresaw that the resulting creature would grow to be taller than Godzilla, sporting a rosebud head, and vines, each equipped with a mouth sporting sharp teeth. He dubs the creature Biollante, after the Norse god Viollan.
Bio-Major decide to take more direct action, and plant bombs around Mount Mihara, threatening to free Godzilla if the Japanese don't hand over the Anti-Nuclear Bacteria. They agree to do so, but the Saradian agent attacks during the transition, and the bombs are set off, freeing Godzilla.
With the King of the Monsters now out of the lava-pit he has been trapped in for 5 years, he senses something is afoot. Biollante contains the same cells as him...and this creates some sort of bond between the two, one that neither seems to be very keen of, and Godzilla sets off to the lake where Biollante is stood, and proceeds to blow it up via his Nuclear breath, before taking on the Super X-2.
As Godzilla cripples the battleship, his advance upon Japan is only stopped by Miki's psychic power, but this only postpones it, and it isn't long before he is back in Tokyo, blowing it to bits. However, Col.Gondo and his bazooka force manage to fire the ANB into him, shortly before Gondo is killed by the beast, which now makes it's way towards the nearest nuclear power plant.
Pulling out another experimental weapon, an artificial Thunder field, so to increase Godzilla's temperature so the bacteria can take effect quicker, the JSDF cause sufficient changes in the atmosphere, and Biollante's spores, which flew into the sky when Godzilla shot her, return, in a hideously mutated form, looking more like Godzilla himself, only sporting Gamera-esque tusks, shark-like rows of teeth and hundreds of mouthed vines. Will the ANB be enough to weaken Godzilla so Biollante can fight him? or will Godzilla destroy his bastard offspring?
While Godzilla Vs. Biollante would return to the old monster slugfests of old, it was handled in a more serious and well-thought manner than, say, Godzilla Vs. Gigan. Biollante isn't just some sort of ridiculous alien or undersea beast that we have all somehow missed, it, like Godzilla, is the bi-product of science gone wrong, a theme that the movie explores. In general, this is one of the best written Godzilla films in terms of sheer non-stop action, yet also having a decent plot to match.
Omori, for not being a particularly large fan of the genre, has actually carved out a film which works very well. It's full of nice touches, like a restaurant being made, with a roof-window made out of a piece of rubble with Godzilla's footprint through it, and it only really has one major irritation for me, and that's the casting of Sawaguchi as a different character in this film, although her role here is really no more than a cameo. Come to think of it, while this is a direct sequel to the last film, why do no characters from it appear? and why is no attempt made to use the bird-noise to lure Godzilla anywhere?
It's not perfect, for instance, it has too many characters, and never really defines who is meant to be the main one. It also suffers from the fact that none of them are developed enough to appear more than the standard 'scientist' and 'soldier' staples. Well, apart from Goro Gondo, who is actually a fresh perspective in terms of Godzilla heroes. While military men have been a staple in the films, it's usually been commanders and generals, this is, as far as I can remember, the first time a standard, front-line soldier has actually been a focal point of the human cast.
While Omori's preference of other genres of cinema does help the film, it also hinders it. As with every Godzilla movie he worked upon, his Western influences shine through far too clearly. While the plot about the constant secret agent warfare is pretty cool. He kind goes overboard with the James Bond stuff, even having it go on past the climax of the monster action, which is just wrong. Other faults include the fact Japan gives in to the demands of the Bio-Major agents. The entire point of the ANB is to kill Godzilla, why not just let them free him and straight away blast him with it? and the fact that Biollante's purpose is never clearly defined. While it's seen destroying the army's vehicles, and therefore killing people, at times it is portrayed as heroic.
The dubbing on my copy is pretty well done, and really not something that makes it easy to criticise.
I've often made clear my reluctance to criticise actors through dubbing, but to be honest, it's pretty clear nobody here is bad. To be honest, none of the actors are given an expansive enough character to really do much anyway, the only standout is a positive, in the form of Toru Minegishi, who really brings some life to the film in his portrayal of Col. Gondo.
Musically, the new score provided by Koichi Sugiyama is a bit bland really, and at some points, like the Super X-2's theme, borders on plagirisation of the Superman theme. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka clearly recognised this, and had reworkings of some of legendary composer Akira Ifukube's music inserted. While some of these have been made even more sweeping and excellent, the cheesy 80s rock version of one of his scores is pretty laughable.
Probably the most significant improvement Godzilla Vs. Biollante offers over every Godzilla movie before it is the special effects. This would be the first film where Koichi Kawakita took over as special effects director, and if there is one thing consistant about the movies he worked upon, it's that the effects are always of a high standard.
While still a man in a rubber suit, Godzilla looks awesome here. He's now more ferocious looking, uneven ridged skin, spiky spines and a more feral head is the new design, but the suit itself is excellent, complete with an animatronic head.
Biollante, in both it's forms, is excellent, and it's more menacing second form is one of Toho's most ambitious creations, and the gamble they took with it paid off. Absolutely huge, and accomplished, not unlike King Ghidorah, by a combination of a man in a suit and puppetry for it's tendrils, Biollante is truly one of Kawakita, and Toho's finest creations.
Complement this with some excellent miniatures, and much improved visual effects for Godzilla's atomic breath, and you have one of the best special effects movies of the 1980s.
As I mentioned, it's loaded with breathtaking scenes, including a spectacular attack on Tokyo by Godzilla, to complement his duels with Biollante, the Super X-2 and the JSDF. It certainly packs in enough to keep action junkies entertained.
While it may show it's influences too much, and be guilty of some silly flaws, I still feel that Godzilla Vs. Biollante is still a very good film, and probably the best film in the series since the original. It's certainly a well made and engaging Science Fiction movie, and well worth the 4/5 I'm giving it. Sadly, despite this initial promise, the Heisei series more often than not failed to live up to this film, Biollante being the last truly unique enemy Godzilla would face up against in this series, or come to think of it, up until present day. I would easily recommend this film to any Godzilla fans, especially those who like the more serious toned films of the 1990s.
Year: 1999
Titles: Gojira tai Biorante
Godzilla Vs. Biollante
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