Director: Kazuki Omori
Year: 1989
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Gojira tai Biorante
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
After Godzilla's rampage through Tokyo, his cells are recovered and put into storage. When Godzilla begins to stir years later, a doctor is asked to help develop an anti-nuclear bacteria to fight him off, and he reluctantly joins the project, secretly wanting to use their powers to save his prized rose garden. When a gigantic flower suddenly appears in a nearby lake, he fears that the creature has been created from the bacteria project, and the newly-freed Godzilla arrives and destroys the creature. Reappearing in Osaka, Godzilla is infected with the bacteria but doesn't show any signs of infection, leaving the city in ruins. In a last-ditch effort to get the bacteria to work, the Defense Forces attack him, only for a larger version of the plant monster to appear and battle Godzilla while the military hopes the bacteria takes hold during the fight.
Review:
This is easily one of the better entries in the series. One of the best features is the really strong story, which is quite creative and introduces new elements into the mythology that the series had either never established or utilized. That starts with the introduction of the psychic and the institute that we see here, a feature that hasn’t been utilized at all and comes off as a somewhat solid aspect here. That is surprising given that this feature, a somewhat comical-seeming setup here with a person who approaches a fantastic ability, who’s granted complete autonomy to work with the military in their operation to stop him seems quite intriguing and impressive. On top of that, the mixing of biotechnology, espionage, and psychics together with a classic monster-on-the-loose story is a nice feat, giving this one the feeling that this is a new and original type of story which is somewhat refreshing. The biological and technological weapons devised against Godzilla for the film are both logical in design and exciting in their execution. Attacking Godzilla's source of energy with the ANEB makes so much sense that, amazingly, it hasn't been in a previous film, while the Fire Mirror in the Super-X 2 is a solid piece of strategy, turning Godzilla's most powerful weapon back at him. These two ideas are quite creative and make the film a lot more entertaining.
The special effects in the film are where the film succeeds in spades. Starting with the central monsters, Godzilla here looks quite impressive at quite possibly his best costume ever. With a triangular build to the body, thick stocky legs, an elongated neck and increased musculature in the chest and shoulders make him seem more massive, this suit makes him seem more powerful than ever. The head is also a little smaller and more triangular, with large brown eyes and very little white in the pupils and the second row of teeth combine into a fiercer and more dragon-like appearance than ever. His movements are assured and confident, snarling and recoiling from both the military attacks and Biollante’s efforts. On top of that, Biollante has a pretty original design. The final form of the creature ends up being a massive spore with a crocodilian jaw and reptilian head with a never-ending series of vines armed with jaws of their own into a rather memorable creation. The body is seemingly a launching pad for those vines, which is surprising given that they have a sense of life to them dangling around the body to snap at Godzilla, coming together to form a protective barrier against his ray attacks or using the thorns on the side to puncture flesh quite easily, being rather well integrated into its body design. The first stage, simply a gigantic rosebud atop a plant stalk, is more for its beauty than practicality in most measures.
From an action standpoint, there is almost no shortage of memorable scenes. Godzilla's awakening at the volcano is quite simply one of the most impressive entrances ever, coming out of the middle of an eruption as fires and explosions go off in all directions as he strides forward unharmed. Leading directly into the battle with the Defense Forces in the sea is pretty exciting, as all sorts of ships, helicopters, and submarines are used in the fight from all directions, and the land encounters aren't that bad either. The fight with Super-X 2 in the water is one of the film's high points, as it's always exciting. The missile batteries are used judiciously and effectively, the Fire Mirror comes into play often enough for it to work, and there are several interesting tactics employed by Godzilla, batting his tail at it and throwing up huge geysers with his ray to combat the weapon. It's a really exciting battle and almost eclipses the spectacular brawl at the end. Beyond that, the special effects as a whole are generally impressive and dynamic. The numerous matte shots early on, especially those of the first version of Biollante in the lake with the onlookers on shore looking at it, are pulled off flawlessly being used to perfection throughout here. The miniature-work, from the numerous military vehicles to the suburbs of Osaka for Godzilla's fiery rampage through the city and the utterly impressive new version of Super X-II that's given two stellar confrontations with Godzilla where it looks effective in flight with its armaments being deployed to good effect here, is quite effective and impressive as well. With Godzilla also getting a new puppet for close-ups that looks realistic and integrated well with the costume, it generally gives this one a lot to like in regards to the special effects.
There's quite a lot to like elsewhere here. The final fight is a lot of fun, giving Godzilla an opponent that legitimately towers over him to battle where he has to employ a vastly different strategy than usual to his fighting style which is quite a nice change of pace. Despite Biollante being rooted to the location, this is still a really nice battle as keeping Biollante from firing a beam weapon is a nice touch, and the realistic damage both inflict on each other in their place is a strong point. The sight of the thorn piercing Godzilla's hand is one of the most effective and memorable visions ever created, and seeing all the vines getting torn up is a great visual. With Biollante also given a spectacular entrance, this is a wholly enjoyable and engaging fight. On top of that, the fact that the majority of the film relies on the military to fight Godzilla means a lot of fun with this one. Their early battles with the naval units are to be expected with the sacrificial units being deployed, and with that out of the way this one grows into some thrilling ideas. The psychic battle in the water is a unique idea to employ and the encounter is Osaka works with a coordinated attack to try to stop him as well, setting up the plotline for the final third of the film. The most visually creative and impressive tactic used by the military is the Thunder-Control-System, which is so cleverly executed and realized that it delivers plenty of goods. Utilizing several different weapons, a couple of scientific ideas, and a real rationale for trying it, it comes across as the highlight of the film.
Where the film’s story does stumble is in the details of these different elements. The entire concept of the use of G-cells to create the monster Biollante is incredibly suspect, going through the motions of the process of doing it but to do that in combination with the infusion of rose and human DNA together with the G-cells is a highly suspect here without telling how that happened. There are some questionable storyline methods here without mentioning how that works here without generating any kind of explanation here beyond simply clearing that aspect up, letting this one seemingly just bring it up without saying what the purpose was for or even the doctor’s motivation to use the process in the first place. The other minor flaw to the story here is the confusing nature of the alliances between all the different competing sources that really end up making this one confusing overall. Ranging from the native agents of the Middle Eastern government that show up to take the cells from the terrorist unit, the military interventions to retrieve the cells from the terrorist unit attempting to get them back once again after the failed encounter to steal them in the first place and then throwing the psychic civilians into the mix is all just too much here. This aspect is way too overblown and really lacks explanation making their inclusion curious beyond simply adding political intrigue for something that doesn't really need it.
There are only minor problems with this one. The first is the fact that, with all the different ideas populating the film, it's hard to keep track of what's going on. It leads to a difficult narrative when it jumps from one subplot to another and back again pretty rapidly without explanation, and many of the events in the film go without any as well. Jumping around to the various terrorist units trying to get their hands on the material is too much, introducing too many characters here with agents on both sides, the military figures, and the different authorities brought into the fray, tending to fly around to the various sidestories with alarming regularity and leave all the confusing storylines because of this. The ending is also a real downbeat and uninteresting one. During the middle of the fight, Godzilla breaks it off and leaves, collapsing into the ocean. After a few human subplots get finished, he gets up, roars, and goes out to sea, without finishing the fight at all. It wasn't all that physical, and being that he's been in much more strenuous ones in the past without a break or the need to quit makes it a strange way to end the film. The first confrontation with Biollante is also a little strange, not really being much of a fight and with an ending clearly foreseen early on in it. The weak version of the monster fighting it is also to blame. Otherwise, this one isn't that bad and has only these minor problems.
Overview: ****/5
Despite a few problems with a confusing story and a wholly unimpressive finale, this is one of the best entries in the series and serves as a great form of entertainment. It's got enough for fans of the series to really get into, as the good moments are what everyone wants in a similar type of movie. Overall, this one is highly recommended to fans of the style or the series in general.
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