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Gojira tai Biorante
Godzilla vs. Biollante
Godzilla der Urgigant
Japan 1989
produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka (executive) for Toho
directed by Kazuki Omori
starring Kunihiko Mitamura, Yoshiko Tanaka, Masanobu Takashima, Koji Takahashi, Toru Minegishi, Megumi Odaka, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Ryunosuke Kaneda, Kazuma Matsubara, Yasunori Yuge, Yoshiko Kuga, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Haruko Sagara, Koichi Ueda, Kosuke Toyohara, Kazuhiko Sasaki, Hirohisa Nakata, Kenzo Hagiwara, Kenpachiro Satsuma, Masashi Takegumi, Yoshitaka Kimura, Shigeru Shibazaki, Demon Kogure, Kurt Cramer, Derrick Holmes, Beth Blatt, Abdalla Helal, Manjot Beoi
story by Shinichiro Kobayashi, screenplay by Kazuki Omori, music by Koichi Sugiyama
Godzilla
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The Japanese, the American Genetic Corporation and the Arabian oil-ich
contry Saradia fight over Godzilla tissue, especially since Godzilla, who
seems to have been killed at the end of Return
of Godzilla, resurfaces again. Somehow, the Japanese ultimately
get their hands on it, to create an anti-nuclear bacteria that is supposed
to be able to destroy Godzilla - but of course can also be used in
warfare. But somehow, genetic engineer Doc Shiragami (Kohji Takahashi)
gets his hands on a fraction of the tissue and crosses it with the tissue
of a rose he believes holds the soul of his daughter (Yasuko Sawaguchi)
who died in a fight over Godzilla-tissue years ago ... and a few days
later, Shiragami's little experiment has developed into a giant rose with
thentacles with teeth (!). Soon enough though, Godzilla stops by and
destroys the rose, which is about his size and technically his closest
relative ...
And after being diestracted by the giant (and occasionally deadly) rose
for a while, the Japanese now have more familiar (and pressing) things on
their minds: Godzilla, who once again levels cities and proves to be
unstoppable. Even when the army is finally able to inject him the
anti-nuclear bacteria, that doesn't seem to slow him down ... until
scientist Kirishima (Kunihiko
Mitamura) realizes Godzilla is a cold-blooded creature and has to
be heated up a little for the baceria to multiply. Soon the army almost
cooks Godzilla, and the bacteria begin to show effect ... but ultimately,
fighting and defeating Godzilla is left to Biollante, who returns as a
giant monster with teeth all over to have his/her/its revenge ... and wins
of course.
Once Godzilla is defeated, Biollante disintegrates and its particles
float away to space, while Godzilla - defeted but not dead - returns to
the deep sea. And Doctor Shiragami, the only man who could produce
anti-nuclear bacteria for warfare ? He sees the error of his ways, but
nevertheless is shot by a Saradian agent in the end (who of course gets
his just desserts as well).
Numerous subplots involve Doc Kirishima's girlfriend Asuka (Yoshiko
Tanaka), her friend the psychic girl Miki (Megumi Odaka) - who would go on
to become the only fixture in the second Godzilla series -,
Major Kuroki (Masanobu Takashima), the leader of the Godzilla defense
forces, and Gondo (Toru Minegishi), leader of the Godzilla surveillance
team ...
One thing up front: Biollante is probably the coolest monster Godzilla
ever had to fight, simply because it doesn't resemble a dinosaur, an
insect or a robot like ost of Godzilla's other foils but is a completely
original - and quite haunting - creature. Consequently, the fights between
Godzilla and Biollante are pretty good, as is Godzilla's by now familiar
city stomping. What brings the film down a bit is its esoteric
undercurrent that seems to be out of place in a giant monster spectacle
and doesn't help the story to get along, and its way too many often
unrelated subplots - the film could have done without half of them and be
even more comprehensible. Still, despite all that, Godzilla vs
Biollante is one of the better films of the series, and at least Godzilla-fans
should find it easy to enjoy the film.
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