Godzilla 17: Godzilla vs. Biollante: Kazuki Ōmori

[Spoilers Ahead]

Movies should always err on the side of brevity. Better to risk being too short than being too long. This is not just an observation for the benefit of the audience, but for the filmmakers themselves. Take Kazuki Ōmori's Godzilla vs. Biollante, the second Heisei-era Godzilla film and direct sequel to Koji Hashimoto's The Return of Godzilla (1984). Based on a story by Shinichiro Kobayashi, a dentist who moonlighted as a science-fiction writer, the film was a brave departure from other Godzilla movies by featuring a story that aspired to nothing less than poetry: a heart-broken scientist accidentally creates a giant rose-monster named Biollante after combining Godzilla DNA with genetic material from roses and his murdered daughter. He had been trying to make a radiation-consuming bacteria that could kill Godzilla if and when He ever returned. The film ends with Godzilla defeating Biollante after a second giant fight. As Godzilla returns to the oceans, Biollante disintegrates into spores which form a giant rose in outer space. If the film had just focused on the Godzilla vs. Biollante plot, it could have been one of the greatest modern Godzilla films. But after Godzilla defeats Biollante after their first fight, the film repeats the third act of The Return of Godzilla almost verbatim: humanity fights back with a flying spaceship which is eventually destroyed, Godzilla annihilates a city (this time wrecking Osaka instead of Tokyo), and scientists manage to trick Godzilla into walking into a giant trap designed to either kill or incapacitate him. Only this time the last-minute gambit fails. It is only then that Biollante returns in a more powerful form. I will admit that the effects in this film far outstrip the ones in The Return of Godzilla. Biollante's second form is an especially impressive creation that might rank as the finest piece of practical kaiju costuming ever captured on film. Additionally, the scale models that the kaiju demolish look more like actual buildings and vehicles than the obviously cardboard cut-outs of The Return of Godzilla. But the film ultimately bites off more plot than it can chew. Despite its excellent human drama and outstanding effects, the film is just too long and beleaguered for its own good.

6/10