Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
After the success of "The Return of Godzilla" (a.k.a. "Godzilla 1985"), Toho Studios held a very special contest for Godzilla fans - submit a brief storyline featuring an all-new monster opponent and see your name up in lights. The winner was Shinichiro Kobayashi, a mild-mannered dentist (okay, I made up the mild-mannered part - he might've been a raging madman, for all I know). His creation, Biollante, was Godzilla's new star opponent, and although much of his original story treatment was ultimately changed for the final film, his monster and some of his plot points remained. He was the envy of Godilla fans everywhere.
The film begins immediately after Godzilla's rampage in "Return". Japanese cleanup crews scour the wreckage of Tokyo looking for Godzilla chunks, little bits of his skin that have broken off during his radioactive temper tantrum. They're not the only ones looking for DNA, however - hired guns from the American corporation of Biomajor sneak in, steal some skin, then shoot their way out, only to get the sample stolen from them by an assassin from the made up Middle Eastern country of Saradia (who resembles the lead singer of Depeche Mode). In Saradia, the sample lands in the hands of Japanese scientist Dr. Shiragami and his rose-growing scientist daughter. With his help, the Saradian government wants to splice Godzilla's DNA with wheat to create a hardy new strain of grain that's able to grow in the harsh desert. Unfortunately, Biomajor nixes this plan by blowing up the laboratory, killing Shiragami's daughter and destroying the DNA sample.
Five years later. . .
Shiragami is back in Japan and is obsessed with his rose bushes. See, when his daughter was killed the rose bushes that she loved to tend survived, and the crazy old doctor thinks that her soul may have somehow become imprinted into the plants.
Meanwhile, Godzilla is still stuck in the volcano he was lured into at the end of "Return" (although the method that they used to lure him there - leading him on with simulated bird calls - is never used again in the series. . . maybe Godzilla got wise), but of course he won't be there for long. In one of the most foreboding scenes in the movie, psychic kids at the Center For ESP Studies in Tokyo all have the same dream one night and are asked to draw what they saw in their dreams. When the teacher asks to see their pictures, they all simultaneously lift their artwork into the air and, you guessed it, all the drawings are of Godzilla. Ace physic student Miki Saegusa (played by Megumi Odaka, who plays this character in every Series 2 movie) confirms that the Big G is stirring, so Japan gets ready. The government hires Dr. Shiragami to create a new anti-nuclear energy bacteria to use against Godzilla, so they loan him some of G's DNA to use in its creation. Unbeknownst to them, Shiragami uses some of the DNA to keep his precious daughter-possessed rose bushes alive (it was crushed in a Godzilla aftershock tremor), creating a new Godzilla/rose bush hybrid.
The Japanese government also builds the Super X2, a new version of the fighter craft from "Return". Now it's submersible, remote piloted, and has a new diamond mirror which can reflect Godzilla's energy beam.
After Biomajor agents and the lead singer of Depeche Mode try to steal Godzilla DNA from Shiragami's lab (the rose monster drives them off, killing an American), the Americans try a new plan - they threaten to blow up Mt. Mihara and release Godzilla unless the anti-nuclear bacteria is handed over to them. Thanks to the Saradian agent, however, the exchange goes badly and he makes off with the bacteria - the bombs blow, the volcano erupts, and Godzilla is back, more pissed off than ever.
Now comes all the defense shenanigans. The army attacks Godzilla. No use. The Super X2 engages him next. After a long, brutal fight (the Super X2 lasts much longer than the Super X), the reflective mirror melts and the ship has to disengage. Godzilla is then drawn to the plant monster who is part, well, him. After the spies attacked the lab, the rose beastie moved into a nearby lake and grew into a giant gnarly rose-headed plant. Shiragami names it Biollante, after a plant creature from Norse mythology. Godzilla and Biollante fight - briefly. One blast from Godzilla's beam and Biollante dissolves into radioactive pollen and floats away on the wind. Balls.
Godzilla stomps onward. The humans figure out that he's headed for the nuclear plant at Osaka to juice up. Young Miki Saegusa manages to stall Godzilla for a while by hitting his little brain with her psychic powers, but she collapses from the effort. At the same time, Japanese agents take back the anti-nuclear bacteria from the Saradians. The extremely damaged Super X2 lures Godzilla into the heart of Osaka city, keeping him busy while the Japanese prepare a trap. The Super X2 is destroyed, but Japanese snipers get in position and deliver the bacteria into Godzilla's system via intravenous bazooka blasts.
The bacteria isn't working. It seems that Godzilla's temperature is too low for the bacteria to breed. At first I thought that this was weird, given that Godzilla's heart is a nuclear reactor, but eventually I realized that Godzilla would need some kind of internal cooling system to avoid melting down. It makes perfect sense, in a nonsensical sort of way.
The Japanese government decide to use a prototype "thunder control system" to heat up Godzilla (a giant minefield of heat inducing nodes). Not even the awesome power of their Masers can get the monster to go where they want - until suddenly, from the sky, Biollante descends, fully formed and bad ass. The climactic monster fight begins. It's spectacular, it's bloody, and it doesn't end until Godzilla heats up and keels over into the ocean, succumbing from the bacteria. Biollante then dissolves into glowing pollen and flies into space. Miki Saegusa hears the psychic voice of a woman saying "goodbye". Dr. Shiragami realizes it's his daughter - then gets shot by the Saradian agent. After a brief car chase, the lead singer of Depeche Mode is vaporized when he accidentally stands on one of the thunder control system nodes as it's activated. Oops.
Godzilla rises again. The cool ocean water has lowered his temperature, but he no longer has any fight left in him. He stumbles into the ocean while the world mourns over the death of Shiragami, who took the secret of the anti-nuclear bacteria with him into the grave.
This is a great Godzilla movie, far superior to "Godzilla 1985". The action is fun, the human characters are enjoyable (there's quite a large cast), there are several stand out moments (like Godzilla's face off with one of the guys who hit him with the bacteria) as well as several cool ideas, and Biollante is an awesome opponent. Like a cross between John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Audrey from "Little Shop of Horrors", the effects used to realize this character are stellar, even though its motivations are somewhat nebulous (which I think is the point). The only weak point of the movie is the musical score by Koichi Sugiyama. It's very cheesy and dated.
Kazuki Omori wrote and directed this movie. He would be a major creative force for the rest of the series, and one of the best Godzilla directors of all time. Unfortunately, this movie has yet to hit DVD in the United States. You can find it online, though.
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Writer/Director Kazuki Omori came back for this follow up movie, which featured the return of one of Godzilla's most popular foes. Legendary composer Akira Ifukube also returned to the series for the first time in nearly 20 years, delivering one of his best musical scores ever. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's take a gander at what Toho has in store for us. . .
The movie picks up three years after the events of "Godzilla vs. Biollante". A flying saucer appears in the skies above Japan (oh no, not again). Authorities track its movements as it swoops around the country and takes a small trip to the ocean to observe the sleeping form of Godzilla, who's been resting and recuperating after becoming infected with anti-nuclear energy bacteria. Psychic wunderkind Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka, now a 20-year old professional) keeps an ever-watchful eye on the big lizard, ready to sound an alarm the moment he wakes up.
At the same time, a hotshot young Reporter tracks a story about a possible dinosaur sighting in the 1940s. The trail leads to a powerful industrialist named Shindo, who was the commander of a Japanese garrison on Lagos Island during World War II. With some reluctance, Shindo reveals that a Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaur (Godzillasaur) once saved his men from being overrun by American forces during a fierce battle on Lagos. Lagos was later used as a test site for atomic bombs, leading the Reporter to conclude that Godzilla may be the Godzillasaur savior in mutant form.
The flying saucer eventually lands and official representatives of the Japanese government go out to meet their new visitors. Surprise! It's not aliens this time, it's people from the future. From over 200 years in the future, to be vaguely exact - two balding Americans and a Japanese woman named Emiko. Within their flying saucer base is a smaller, sleeker ship that can also travel through time and comes equipped with a teleportation device. This smaller ship comes with its very own android pilot, M-11, who looks like a balding American. They've come from the future to stop Godzilla from totally annihilating Japan, which is set to occur very soon. The idea for this trip through time was given to them by a little-seen book about the origin of Godzilla which will be written some time in the next few years by the Reporter. With the Reporter, Miki Saegusa and a couple of other scientists in tow, the future people go back in time to the 1940s and visit Lagos Island.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. . . the future people have brought a couple of pets with them. Three, to be exact. They're called dorats, and they're genetically engineered house pets. They're covered in gold scales, they fly with bat wings, and they can sense the feelings of people around them. Hmmm.
It's here in the movie where we see young Shindo and the annihilation of the American forces by dinosaur Godzilla. It's a pretty cool scene, ending with a badly wounded Godzillasaur being saluted by the Japanese soldiers before they evacuate the island. There's also a pretty cute scene set on an American destroyer which features a young actor playing a soldier who happens to be Steven Spielberg's dad. It supposedly explains where a couple of his son's ideas may have stemmed from. Think UFOs and dinosaurs on islands.
The future people teleport the wounded Godzillasaur to a faraway location in the ocean. When they return to 1992, they find that Godzilla has never existed (and yet, the events of "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" still happened, lending credence to my theory that there were two Godzillas on the island). "Godzilla 1985" and "Godzilla vs. Biollante" never happened - only the time travelers are aware of those events. However, a new monster has appeared - King Ghidorah! See, back in the past, Emiko released the dorats onto Lagos. The atomic tests melded together the cute little pets and gave birth to Ghidorah and now the people in the future have a powerful monster they can control (I guess Ghidorah was just sitting around on Lagos twiddling his wings until the future people needed him in 1992). Their plan - to destroy most of Japan then help it rebuild under their strict supervision. They lied - in the future, Japan has become the most powerful nation on Earth. Now these jealous Americans are here to fix all of that.
Even though "Biollante" and this movie weren't released in America until the late '90s, I remember seeing a story on CNN around '91 about the controversial anti-American plot of "Ghidorah". I never felt that was anissue while watching the movie. The future Americans were not representatives of the American government, they were just one of those wacky extremist splinter groups.
As Ghidorah tears through Japan in spectacular fashion, future girl Emiko is dismayed. Apparently she wasn't told the whole story and, since she's Japanese herself, decides to fight back. She reprograms M-11 to be a good guy and leaves her balding masters behind. Meanwhile, the good guys, knowing the location of teleported Tyrannosaur Godzilla, decide to make an all-new monster Godzilla. Shindo happens to have a secret nuclear submarine (!), so he sends it out to re-mutate Godzilla, but whoops. . . it appears another nuclear sub capsized in the vicinity a few years ago, mutating Godzilla a little bit ahead of time. Godzilla destroys Shindo's sub, sucks up all the powerful modern radiation levels and rises as - Super Godzilla! He's now bigger and meaner than ever before.
The Big G heads directly for King Ghidorah - the battle begins. Godzilla is thoroughly getting his tail kicked by the gold dragon, but Emiko and M-11 (with help from the Reporter) infiltrate the saucer base and destroy the computer that controls Ghidorah. While disoriented and confused, Ghidorah is easily defeated by Godzilla, who blows off one of his three heads and sends his body to the bottom of the ocean. Godzilla then turns on the saucer base and destroys it killing the Americans. Emiko and the others barely manage to escape in the smaller ship before the base explodes.
Now Japan has an even bigger problem - Super Godzilla! He takes over where Ghidorah left off and begins tearing through the countryside. He eventually comes face-to-face with Shindo and, in one of the movie's most memorable scenes, creator and createe have a bit of a reckoning. It's one of the best scenes in any Godzilla movie ever. It's moving, it's backed by an incredible score from Ifukube, and it's very, very Japanese.
Emiko and M-11 take the smaller time ship into the future to recover Ghidorah's fallen body. Soon they return to '92 and they've brought help - Ghidorah's body has been rebuilt as Mecha King Ghidorah! Now piloted by Emiko herself, MKG engages Godzilla in one last fight, and it's a good one. Godzilla still destroys the hell out of MKG, but not before MKG flies Godzilla out into the ocean, pinning him beneath his robotic bulk. Emiko once again escapes in time and, with Godzilla temporarily out of action, she returns to the future - but not before revealing to the Reporter that she's one of his descendants. Fin.
One of my favorite Godzilla movies of all time, it's fast paced, full of ideas both truly great and enjoyably ridiculous, and is better than "Biollante" with a greater score and more monster battles. This is the first and only instance that time travel would figure into the plot of a Godzilla movie (to date), and it's kind of refreshing. Great movie.
Biollante would never be seen again, but King Ghidorah returns. Eventually.
Next time, a few more old favorites get rebooted - '90s style.
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