Godzilla vs. Biollante

We're firmly in the Heisei era now, with Godzilla having returned just a few years back. Being a direct sequel to that film, this is now considered only the 3rd Godzilla event to have happened in the continuity of the Heisei films, having erased all but the first adventure of Godzilla when the series was rebooted. 

Written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori, Godzilla vs. Biollante was a film nearly five years in the making after the both good and successful The Return of Godzilla. The main man Kenpachiro Satsuma returns as Godzilla, as he will for all the Heisei era films, while the incomparable Biollante is played by Masashi Takegumi. There's not a ton of other interesting background for this one, so let's cut to the chase.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Working in a desert country to use Godzilla cells to turn deserts into fertile land, Dr. Shiragami and his daughter Erika are involved in a terrorist attack on the organization they are working with. Erika dies in one of the explosions.

- Five years later, Godzilla appears active in the volcano he was dropped in in The Return of Godzilla. Preparing for his return, the scientist Kirishima works to use the Godzilla cells to create Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria (ANEB) that can kill Godzilla by eating his nuclear energy. The downside: the cure may be worse than the disease. 

- Shiragmi, the foremost expert on Godzilla cells, is asked to help create the ANEB. He refuses, and in an attempt to keep his daughter alive in some form uses the Godzilla cells on the roses he has spliced with her DNA (keeping her alive in plant form and now regenerating plant form).

- Realizing the Godzilla cells are still in use/circulation, the terrorist organization attacks again and is successful in escaping with the Godzilla cells. Unfortunately for most of them, they are killed by writhing vines int he process.

- This creature, Biollante, makes it to the nearby lake and is a giant rose-like monster. In the meantime, the terrorists free Godzilla from his volcanic prison when a blackmail attempt for the control of the Godzilla cells and the resulting ANEB fails.

- Godzilla, headed to the nearest nuclear plant to replenish, is attacked by the military. He takes a few nasty hits and is diverted by the Super-X2, an evolved version of the superweapon that nearly killed him last time. This time, it's able to reflect his atomic breath back at him and increas its power in the process.

- Hearing Biollante, Godzilla goes to the lake and the two kaiju do battle. Barely putting up a fight, Biollante dies. She fades away into yellow energy that floats into the sky.

- Attacked once more by the Super-X2, Godzilla manages to fend it off just long enough to be lured into a trap, eventually destroying the Super-X2 before being struck by the ANEB.

- The weapon fails, however, as Godzilla is cold-blooded and the bacteria is unable to quickly replicate.

- A plan to heat up Godzilla's body, and therefore his blood, so that the ANEB can take effect is underway. In this midst of this process, Biollante returns but in a much more beastial form than before.

- Biollante and Godzilla do battle, nearly killing each other before Godzilla manages to Atomic Breath through her face before collapsing into the sea.

- Biollante says thank you as she dies, and Godzilla swims away healthily after the seawater manages to lower his temperature enough to recover from the ANEB. Movie over!

Kaiju Notes

- Biollante, in rose form, is unique just because it's such an unusual choice. Without knowing it would transform further, one has to be engaged just because it's such a non-usual design. While not as obviously scary as the evolved form, the rose form features creepy teeth that are unsettling as all hell.

- Biollante in true monster form is fucking awesome. That's it. That's the tweet.

- In more detail, Biollante's monster form is a horrific chimera of awfulness. Writhing vines with teeth and a mouth that's 50% jagged edges and 50% acid, it resembles an incredibly pissed off dinosaur but all the parts were attached randomly. Her design and actions are intended to make it clear how animalistic Godzilla is, and it really comes across in this context.

- Godzilla's teeth have been a little corrected in this film, less jagged/crooked and scary. I guess time in a volcano will straighten out your teeth if you survive. Good to know. He can also now move his snout so he can properly snarl, which is minor but important addition to the suit compared to the previous film.

- The kaiju vs kaiju action is some of the most visceral we've ever seen. Biollante's horrifying composition combined with her 2nd form's viciousness is a sight to behold. Like Gigan before her, Biollante is one of the first foes that matches or exceeds Godzilla's own penchant for violence, and that combination pays off here just as it did in Godzilla vs. Gigan.

First thing first: the most interesting story in the movie isn't actually in the script. While the A-plot mostly entails watching the military fail, the true appeal of this movie is in the subtext: Biollante and Godzilla, as well as the warning against bio-engineering. Biollante is first named when she is a giant rose creature. In this form, she calls out for Godzilla, who appears mostly non-violently. When she attacks, Godzilla destroys her relatively easily and heads back home. When Biollante appears again, she is far more beast than Rose and Godzilla is forced to kill her again. This time she thanks Godzilla. Biollante, incredibly kaiju that she is, doesn't want to be alive. Even in her non-aggressive rose form she calls out for the creature she knows can kill her and only seems to attack him to motivate him to do so. The story of a woman being forced to live in the body of a plant/monster and refusing is a story that could carry the entire film on its own but is instead relegated to reading between the lines while we watch Godzilla fight flying ships and tear down buildings while he just tries to go home. A tragic kaiju forced into existence eventually becoming a dark reflection of the monster it came from could provide an excellent juxtaposition of humanity and the monster that is Godzilla but is instead something we have to tease out ourselves. It's a failure that makes an otherwise entertaining experience remarkably frustrating at the same time.

The human story is... mixed. Shiragami's quest to make his daughter immortal and the consequences of his bio-engineering is a really interesting story that gets almost no time in exchange for a story about the military trying to take down Godzilla using the ANEB. The young man at the central of that story is deeply, deeply incompetent, and we are forced to watch his blunder time and again over the course of the film. I don't even know his name! In his illustrious career in this movie he manages to get the Super-X2 destroyed and a colonel in the JSDF killed all in the name of hitting Godzilla with the ANEB, which doesn't even work! At the end of the movie he receives a promotion, or commendation, and it's clear that the JSDF is well and truly fucked. Given the above paragraph about the tragedy of Biollante, we're stuck instead with a movie about a terribly unskilled military commander.

Final verdict: Godzilla vs. Biollante is good, perhaps even great. But it could've been truly spectacular. It's disappointing because Biollante is a top-tier kaiju ever but is only in about 10 minutes of this film and barely gets characterization while onscreen. Each moment Biollante was directly involved was fantastic, but she gets 10% of the movie to actually shine. Military vs. Godzilla can often work either as the primary plot or the sub-plot to a monster fight, but in this case it really stands out as detracting from the heart of the movie instead of being a necessary supplemental element. While it's still worth seeing overall, I know I am going to remember this film as what it could have been rather than what it really is, and that bums me out.

Next: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah!