December 17th: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

We may only be two films into the Heisei era, but if it carries on at this pace I think it is going to clear the Showa era in terms of quality. Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) picks up where The Return of Godzilla (1984) left off, both thematically and narratively. With the defeat of Godzilla, scientists have found some of his cells which they want to research to find the potential uses. However, an accident in the research leads to Dr. Shiragami’s (Koji Takahashi) daughter being killed, he vows to not use the cells again. However, fiver years later with Godzilla looking like he will return, he is dragged back in to try and use the cells to defeat Godzilla. However, he uses the cells he has and fuses with that of a rose that was gifted to him by his daughter, inadvertently creating the monstrous Biollante.

Now, while the tone from the previous film remains, that being a more serious one, as you may glean from my synopsis this film is far less grounded in reality than its predecessor. At least as grounded as you can be in a film about a giant radioactive lizard. But this one does go a little overboard with the silliness for me. A lot of it is fine, involving international espionage and scientific mishaps. That stuff I can get on board with. Yes, it is a little silly, but it works within the logic of the world the film is based in. Where it gets a bit too much for me is with the inclusion of a psychic teenager, who is basically only there so we can find out that the soul of Shiragami’s daughter is in Biollante. Both these aspects of the narrative I could very much do without, especially when at the end when Biollante turns to dust and a jpeg of the daughter’s face appears and floats up to heaven. Absolutely ridiculous and doesn’t fit with the tone of the film at all.

But, what this film does have is some absolutely brilliant kaiju action. Firstly, I want to mention the design of both Godzilla and Biollante. This may be my favourite Godzilla design yet. Of course, I haven’t seen all of them yet but I have seen a good chunk of these films now and this one stands on top of the heap of Godzilla’s. He looks super menacing, has teeth galore and a proper tongue. I didn’t even know I needed a tongued Godzilla but it adds loads to the believability of him as a monster. And then we get Biollante, a plant mixed with the cells of Godzilla so you can imagine how it looks. Just a mesh of vines and teeth and it is awesome. I’m struggling to describe it in words but I you can see it for yourself. And then when the two come together it is a beautiful cacophony of teeth, green blood, radioactive breath, its brilliant. And that doesn’t even include all the Godzilla solo action scenes where he is causing havoc. A particular sequence of him destroying Osaka is top tier Godzilla death an destruction and makes you forget about the more ridiculous aspects of the narrative as a whole.

I think the narrative aspects that go a bit too overboard an into silly territory mean that this film ranks below The Return of Godzilla for me. However, despite these issues the actual Godzilla sequences are some of the best in the series so far and the film as a whole is worth seeking out for these aspects alone. And hey, at least the film didn’t delve into alien stuff. Although, now that it has stepped into the world of the silly I imagine it won’t be too long until the spacemen make their return.