Godzilla-tober: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
We finally enter the Heisei era proper (The Return of Godzilla was released when the Showa Emperor was still alive) with Godzilla vs. Biollante.
One thing I forgot to mention last time was Reijiro Koroku’s score, which was very intense, very evocative of the original, and helped amplify the tone of the film. I mention that first because the composer Koichi Sugiyama (later known for his work with Square Enix including the Dragon Quest games, helping make classical scores a staple of JRPGs and also being a far-righter and genocide denier) does some pretty good work here, but he also does an odd rock reinterpretation of Akira Ifukube’s Mothra vs. Godzilla theme (something Ifukube himself criticized and prompted his return to the franchise with the next film), which is distracting, especially with how goofy it comes off in some of the larger fleeing scenes.
The director Kazuki Omori apparently wanted to integrate elements of James Bond movies into the film, not unlike Jun Fukuda. Like Fukuda, the spy elements are easily the weakest part of the film.
A general problem with the film is that there are at least three different plotlines going on, and the spy plot is the most underdeveloped. Basically, a US biotech company (more on that in a second) and a Middle Eastern nation called Saradia (very 80’s stereotype Middle Eastern nation) are trying to get ahold of Godzilla cells for their potential biotech and weapons use.
The result is very Michael Crichton-y in how it’s a corporate espionage thriller with a genetic engineering macguffin. Like Michael Crichton at his weakest, the result is overstuffed and confusing.
That said, I do want to highlight how genetic engineering is a big theme of the film. This is 1989. The Berlin Wall has fallen, Glasnost and Perestroika are in full swing. Thus, the Cold War themes of the previous films give way to fears now of the potential of genetic technology, something that does resonate today.
The titular Biollante is a kaiju that is a mixture of cells from Godzilla, roses, and a scientist named Erika (Yasuko Sawaguchi), the daughter of Biollante’s creator Dr. Shiragami (Koji Takahashi), who dies early in the film. Seemingly inspired visually by Audrey II from the then-recent blockbuster musical Little Shop of Horrors, the concept and design are pretty creative, though the mechanics are a bit confusing.
Like Godzilla vs. Hedorah, the fear of nuclear weapons present through the entire franchise is supplemented by a then current fear. In Hedorah, it was environmental devastation. Here, it’s the new and growing biotech industry, and how it can both be beneficial (Biollante and genetically engineered bacteria that eat radioactive material save the day at the end of the film) and detrimental (the film is set in motion by the corporate espionage buggery of Saradia and an American biotech company, and a lot of the plot is them ignoring Godzilla to retrieve his cells or said bacteria).
The science is suspect, as usually (“cold blooded” doesn’t literally mean Godzilla’s blood is cold), and there’s a new psychic character a la Friday the 13th: The New Blood, Miki Saegusa, played by Megumi Odaka. The psychic element feels latched on just as exposition for why Biollante is acting heroically. It feels like a last minute addition, and it doesn’t really move the plot forward a lot.
The suits for Godzilla and Biollante are well done, and the fights are entertaining, though there’s a lot of spark pack action that gets distracting.
Overall, the film is more “interesting” than necessarily great. A kind of peak into a new sort of fear that Godzilla represents in the post-Cold War. The rise of new technology that can be as deadly as nuclear weapons were in the 1950’s and 60’s. That said, the plot is very confusing, and it’s hard to tell what exactly is most important or who is most significant in understanding why Godzilla and a plant monster are duking it out.
Oh, some of the film is set in Osaka, nice change of scenery from Tokyo.
We get a new monster here, and next film, we get an old enemy in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.
This will be crossposted to my Medium page, if you want to read it there.