Growing up, watching the Godzilla movies was one of my favorite things to do be it on cable or VHS, but there was one Godzilla movie that always managed to elude me, Godzilla vs. Biollante. I had seen the VHS box at my uncle’s house over the years and one day asked if I could borrow it. When I popped the film in I discovered the tape was messed up and unwatchable. Finally, after 12 years of patience I had a chance to see the film thanks to Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, who just released the film for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray (ever) this month.
Godzilla vs. Biollante is a traditional Godzilla feature with the added twist of a social commentary included in the story, namely genetic engineering and global power issues. Dr. Shiragami has been trying to make a super plant using the highly sought after Godzilla cells. When the experiment goes wrong, Biollante, a giant, peaceful plant with a human spirit is created. When terrorists unleash Godzilla from his volcanic grave, the badass looking monster takes to Japan to destroy some shit. After battling the passive Biollante, Godzilla starts to hunt down nuclear plants to gain his energy back while the Japanese utilize their latest weapons to try and take down Godzilla. The cat and mouse game eventually concludes with a battle between an evolved and animalistic looking Biollante and everyone’s favorite Kaiju, Godzilla.
So what’s the verdict? I must say I was a bit disappointed in the movie mostly because the fight between Godzilla and the beastly version of Biollante wasn’t as exciting or as long as I had hoped for. Their first encounter was pretty weak even though there was a lot of potential with the Venice fly trap-like Ivy vines that Biollante has. To give you an idea of what she looked like, Biollante is like the giant, ‘roided up version of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors but the cool version of Biollante didn’t get much screen time.
From Godzilla’s perspective this movie seemed routine, as if in his mind he was saying “ok time to crush some buildings, oh, here comes the part where they try to take me down. Ouch, that hurt, oh no I’m injured. Psych bitches I’m back! You can’t hold me down! Who’s this monster that I already defeated? Round two. Kaboom. Game Over!” Like Godzilla, I really didn’t care about what else was going on outside of the attacks even if there was a lot going on from the human side.
If I look at the film as a whole it isn’t a terrible movie, it’s just not what I wanted when I sat down to view it which is weird because the directors wanted to make it that way (see bonus features). The actual plot is interesting even with its fantastical aspects like the use of psychic powers as a means of communicating with the monsters. It’s really Biollante’s limited mobility and the awful acting that takes the quality down a notch.
As I mentioned earlier this was the first time I’ve seen this film but it also marks the first time I’ve ever watched a Godzilla movie with English subtitles which I think contributed to part of my distaste for the film. It’s the first time I’ve watched Godzilla in its native language, even if there were some hilario
usly bad English speaking parts throughout. Part of the charm of watching an old school film series like this is being able to enjoy the terrible English dubbing, something which I never thought about until now.
Though watching Godzilla vs. Biollante isn’t a terrible way to kill 104 minutes, it sure as hell isn’t the best way either. To be honest, I think this is my least favorite Godzilla movie of all time and the most disappointing kaiju battle that I’ve seen to date, though I hated Mothra’s fight with a passion (but only because she defeats Godzilla)
The disc:
As for the blu-ray, the disc is pretty bare when it comes to special features but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good. The two available features are:
- Making of GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE – This is a 50 minute behind the scenes look at the making of the film. Having never seen footage like this before it was really cool to see how the Godzilla magic happened and all the tricks that were used to make it seem realistic and to scale. Footage, deleted scenes and interviews are cut together to bring us a very cool, informed and educated documentary.
- Behind the Design – A three minute look at the various Biollante models that were designed for the character along with a look at the Super X II design.
Additionally, the language tracks have both a new translation and dub along with the original tracks when it released in 1989. I can’t comment too much on the high definition transfer as my TV isn’t 1080p but the film looked like it was made 23 years ago and besides looking clean there isn’t much else to comment on. You could probably get the DVD and the quality would look roughly the same.
Movie Rating: My least favorite Godzilla film of them all and a waste of a cool and diabolical looking opponent (5.6/10)
Disc Rating: 5.5/10
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