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| The well-known nuclear monster is up against something like a thorny rose monster on this vivid poster for Koji Hashimoto and Kazuki Ohmori's Godzilla vs. Biollante |
Some genetical scientists accidentally create a plant monster in their attempt to form an anti-atom Godzilla-weapon, and soon both Godzilla and the new monster rack through Tokyo.
Godzilla vs. Biollante is written by co-writer/co-director Kazuki Ohmori (Shinuniva maniawanai (1969)), with Shinichirô Kobayashi (Betterman, TV-series (1999), producer) contributing story elements, and co-directed with Koji Hashimoto (Bye Bye Jupiter/Sayônara, Jûpetâ (1984)).
It is a classic kaiju movie of the 'versus' variety, where the human characters involved are mostly resigned to standing on the sidelines and tremble, while the monstrous rulers collide.
Regrettably this film is made with a minimum of aptitude for writing and directing a compelling narrative. Godzilla vs. Biollante is an extremely poor film. It gets its one heart simply for an almost mythical shot of the Biollante monster, the film's alleged Nordic mythology-bound rose monster.
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Watch an original Japanese TV spot for the movie here
Cost: 700 mil. ¥, approximately 5 mil. $ - reportedly the highest up to its point in the franchise
Box office: 1,040 mil. ¥, approximately 7 mil. $ (Japan only)
= Big flop (returned in excess of 1.48 times its cost)
[Godzilla vs. Biollante was released 16 December (Japan) and runs 104 minutes. It is the 17th film in the Godzilla franchise and the 2nd in the Heisei period, which started with the financially disappointing The Return of Godzilla (1985). A public story contest resulted in the focus on biotechnology. Main director Ohmori (Hashimoto was uncredited) openly admitted his directing a Godzilla movie was secondary to his great wish to make a James Bond film, (this never happened.) He was given considerably freedom with the film, which Toho staff later reportedly considered a mistake that resulted in a film with a narrow audience. Shooting took place in Japan. Godzilla actor Kenpachiro Satsuma wore the improved Godzilla suit, which now had dorsal light bulbs incorporated, which electrocuted Satsuma the first time used. Biollante's vine tentacles needed 32 wires to be operated, apart from the actor inside the monster's hull. This is the first Godzilla film to use CGI effects, though limited to computer-generated schematics. The film reportedly sold 2 mil. tickets in production country Japan, less than the preceding film's 3.2 mil. and the subsequent film's 2.7 mil.. The film was released in Portugal, Taiwan and South Korea, but gross numbers are regrettably unavailable. Toho sued Miramax over an oral agreement of North-American distribution for 500k $ in 1990 and settled out of court, resulting in an HBO straight-to-video release in the market in 1992 in an English-dubbed version. Godzilla returned in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991). Hashimoto returned with that same film; Ohmori with The Reason Why I Became Ill/Boku ga byôki ni natta wake (1990), prior to also co-directing Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. 6,564 Rotten Tomatoes users have given Godzilla vs. Biollante a 3.76/5 average rating.]
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