Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Godzilla vs. Biollante
Year: 1989
Director: Kazuki Omori
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese

Tomoyuki Tanaka was determined to continue the series despite the disappointment of The Return of Godzilla. Making it clear that he wanted to correct his previous errors, Tanaka set out to make Godzilla vs. Biollante. In this Godzilla quit working solo and tussled with a humungous plant. Real world politics vanished, replaced with a faux-Middle Eastern country and an assassin wearing stylin’ shades. Plausible science is transformed into fantasy hookah.

After rising from his volcanic grave, Godzilla is threatened by a mutated rosebush.

Although Godzilla vs. Biollante comes nowhere near the best of the Heisei films, it improved enormously over its predecessor and is important because it sets up the science fiction and comic book style of the rest of the series. A major figure in establishing the new style was Koichi Kawakita, special effects director for the rest of the Heisei films. Kawakita brings a new energy and vision to the series; such imagination had not been inn this series since Destroy All Monsters (1969).

The new Godzilla suit design, which would remain consistent for the remainder of the Heisei years, is one of the best. He looks like a menacing beast, rather than a cartoon like the 70's, which makes the monster on monster fights quite the spectacle. Unfortunately Director Kazuki Omori has always been more interested in the human aspect and well, sadly he fails at this. There are far too many characters and subplots to really care about the human element. 

Unfortunately this film was a financial failure in Japan, but it did not deter the producer. Tanaka's enthusiasm to make a beloved Godzilla film would only increase as he went about making Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah just two years later.