‘Godzilla vs. Biollante’ or — A Rose is a Rose is a Rose is a… Kaiju?!
‘Godzilla vs. Biollante’s (1989) title might be somewhat misleading because despite that ‘vs.’ this is less a monster smack-down brawl and more a purely Godzilla-centric movie. This is not a bad thing because as a Godzilla-centric movie is a damn good one.
Biollante is a plant-based titan (imagine a jacked-up version of Audrey II from ‘Little Shop of Horrors’) created from discarded Godzilla cells, the petals of a rose and the spirit of a dead child. Not surprisingly, this results in one of the more unique creatures in the Godzilla franchise. Its creation, which kinda got a little out of hand, was initiated in an attempt to develop a weapon capable of destroying Godzilla if the big lizard ever decided to go on another city-levelling rampage.
When some terrorists blow up the active volcano keeping Godzilla imprisoned the big lizard goes on another city-levelling rampage.
What’s striking about this entry in the long-running series is its blistering pace because once Godzilla appears and all the “Shreeonk-ing” shit kicks off it’s nothing but non-stop mayhem until the end, and it’s mayhem that builds and builds and builds without a breath.
The first big showdown occurs towards the end of Act 1 and it’s epic enough to function as the climax for most other monster movies. After that Biollante takes a bit of a back-seat, only to reappear towards the end, with the main focus now being firmly on how the military can stop Godzilla before he can recharge at the nearest nuclear power station.
This means there’s a tonne of action revolving around stopping Godzilla from stomping Osaka into the ground, something all Godzilla fans are always happy to see. The military’s main weapon is the remote-controlled submersible aerial combat vehicle the Super X2, a craft I have no hesitation in admitting I fell madly in love with the moment I saw it. Sure, it’s completely useless and ineffective against Godzilla but that only helps to demonstrate how unstoppable the giant beast is. Besides, the way the Super X2 hovers and glides between Osaka’s skyscrapers whilst firing its rockets is too cute and adorable for words.
Director Kazuki Ōmori freely admitted that he was less a Godzilla/Kaiju fan and more into action, James Bond and adventure movies. Again, this isn’t a bad thing as it means the human scenes, mostly revolving around American and Middle-East special agents attempting to outwit each other, still keeps the excitement going, and all the non-monster stuff integrates well into the large-scale destruction so it never feels like we’re simply flipping from one to the other. It’s all blended together perfectly.
It’s not quite perfect with Biollante’s function never made totally clear (Is it a threat? A saviour? An indifferent abomination?) but that’s a minor quibble. Besides, this is Godzilla’s movie and one where he gets to be a complete badass. Exactly how it should it be.
