TALKBACK #17: Godzilla vs. Biollante

[Shokara]

[Russzilla]

[metal_bryan]

[MekaGojira3k]

I saw that all over tumblr. I love how it's just in some office.

[Jorzilla]

What tumbler per chance? I just made that image last night .

I never noticed because I was always focusing on King Goji and how Gondo would have it in his office despite that movie never taking place in his timeline. I always fantasized about what might have inspired an artist to make an interpretation of Godzilla that looked like that when he'd only been seen twice, 30 years apart.

[jellydonut25]

that's crazy. I wonder what other details have gone unnoticed for years...

[eabaker]

[Jorzilla]

One of the reasons I like this movie is even when the monsters aren't on the screen there is always a threat of danger. This is one of the few Godzilla movies that kills off characters important to the plot. The only movie I can think of that's similar is Godzilla vs. Hedorah which kills off the male lead during Hedorah's attack on Mt. Fuji...but they kind of just drop that. After Gondo dies you know that anyone is fair game.

This film is very suspenseful from Godzilla's return to the ineffectiveness of ANEB. Sure the action is more boring than other Godzilla films, but I'm always engaged by the movie.

[jellydonut25]

[Jorzilla]

Both main fights are incredibly short and one sided in Godzilla's favor. Biollante gets some good shots in at the end but Godzilla feels sick all of the sudden and gos for a nice dunk in the ocean.

The destruction sequences are pretty good, but a lot of the movie is the build up/suspense leading to Godzilla's release. The stakes are raised for each of the fights/destruction sequences, but the fighting is over relatively quick. I feel this movie relies more on the mood than the set pieces.

[ILL GREEN]

This movie is such on an experimental tip and thats why I dig this movie. '84 was a Hollywood traditional flick but Toho went another route with this one. Not so psychedelic like Hedorah but trippy.

Still, '84 had the best props and miniatures, no other movie like it before and after in the tokusatsu realm.

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

^Dude, amazing point there. This movie shows, by leaps and bounds, the best depiction of the "fallout" (pun not intended, but totally staying here) of Godzilla's arrival and what that means.

Not just on a reactive level of "How do we deal with Godzilla?" but on the level of what Godzilla's existence actually MEANS to the world at large. Something we've otherwise never really gotten a good look at.

[eabaker]

^^Excellent post, MKG3K! I may have to quote it on other sites (with due citation, of course) in the future! You definitely summed up a big part of the movie's appeal.

[metal_bryan]

That's such a great summation of its strengths... and you didn't even mention the amazing spfx!

[jellydonut25]

As much as I LIKE Godzilla 1985, this movie single-handedly keeps me from saying I hate the Heisei era.

This movie is SO MUCH DELICIOUSNESS AND AMAZING. I just absolutely adore this film. The effects are fantastic, the score is great (I like it, poo on you), the acting is good, the characters are pretty memorable, the machinations and motivations of everyone are inventive and logical (or believably illogical, in the case of Shiragami). I love the little line-animation things and how they seem so sterile and simple and then we always cut to some scene of it raining or Godzilla being bombarded. I love the way Godzilla looks.

I can't sing this film's praises enough. It's SO good. SO much fun.

I really love the movies wherein there are elaborate military plans to stop Godzilla that, but for one or two things, could have worked. This actually doesn't happen too often, unfortunately, but Mothra vs. Godzilla and this film are the shining examples of it. Mothra vs. Godzilla features the artificial lightning and this film features the Super X-2 and the ANEB/TC-Field combo.

It's too bad that the dub track for this film sounds atrocious through any decent speaker system.

[Hybrid Gojira]

This movie had a wow factor I really never experienced with any other G film. Biollante is awesome. I was probably 10ish when I saw it, and I just remember how awe struck I was by Godzilla's presence in the film. Also, the ANEB is a fantastic idea that brings real world implications to a Godzilla flick. It's brilliant.

[Psycho Soldier]

So, that casual reference to Biollante's name coming from Norse myth has bugged me for a while. After using my Google Fu, that line seems to be almost total BS - but I did find a much likelier source. The closest I could get to a Norse source is , but that's still a long way off from Biollante. But you know what name isn't far off? Iolanthe, who's a character (based on a real person) from . The plot doesn't have much connection to Godzilla or Biollante, but the character does live in a garden. Also, take a look at this poster:



This catches my attention.

EDIT: But wait, there's more! I guess I should have looked at the Gilbert and Sullivan opera while I was at it. It's actually a little more pertinent to Biollante's origin: this work's Iolanthe was exiled from the fairy realm for marrying a human male, and also has a son who's half fairy and half human. It does fit the crossbreeding theme, with Biollante being the combination of Godzilla cells, Erika, and a rose.

[jellydonut25]

hmmmmm.....I always just took that comment at face value.

[MekaGojira3k]

It's bugged me for a while, but I never found anything Norse related. Great stuff!

[angilas]

Super x-2 is almost here now that synthetic diamonds have upped their game: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5510791/

[daikaijusaurus]

Here's an interesting article. Japanese fans vote Godzilla Vs Biollante as their favorite Godzilla movie:



Good choice, although I was kind of surprised the original film wasn't chosen since it's considered among the best Japanese films ever made.

For me, G Vs Biollante is definitely in my top ten of favorite Godzilla movies. But I think Godzilla Vs Monster Zero will always have a special place in my heart as my all time favorite

[lhb412]

I'd put it in the top ten - but number one? I don't know what they're smoking.

[Benjamin Haines]

Very interesting article. It seems that Godzilla vs. Biollante has stood the test of time as a fan favorite in Japan just as much as it has in the West. The second through fourth choices (G'54, Destroyer, and Mothra vs. Godzilla) are also widely cited as favorites on this side of the world.

[lhb412]