Godzilla VS Biollante (1989)
Produced and Released by: Toho Co. Ltd.
Director: Kazuki Omori
By Dr Kain

Introduction

Toho released Godzilla vs Biollante in 1989, which was a direct sequel to Godzilla 1984 (1985). This film begins where 1984 left off with Godzilla being sent into a volcano and with Japan now in need of rebuilding, something which they haven't faced in this scale since Godzilla’s attack in 1954. Biollante is the first of three new monsters introduced in the Heisei series, which wereall received with mixed reactions fans. A lot of people I have talked to enjoyed this movie, but I understand that it did not do so well in Japan.

The Story

In 1984 Godzilla is sent into a volcano. In the aftermath of his attack, Godzilla cells have been found all over the remains of Tokyo and the battle for them has begun. At first some American soldiers take the ones they find before they are chased by Japanese soldiers, but they end up in the hands of an Arabian assassin who kills the Americans.

Meanwhile Dr. Shirigami (Koji Takahashi) who works with an Arabian oil company is struck by surprise when a bomb goes off in one of the labs killing his daughter, Erika (Yasuko Sawaguchi). In attempt to save her life, Dr. Shirigami merges some of her cells with those of a plant.

Four years have passed by and the threat of Godzilla has returned when a psychic named Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) senses Godzilla is alive and awake. To prevent Godzilla from reacking havoc across Japan again a project has been initiated to use his cells to come up with a virus that will kill him. Dr. Shirigami volunteers to help only if he is allowed to borrow them and when he does, he mixes them with the cells of the plant containing Erika’s cells, which grows into Biollante. Will Godzilla be strong enough to defeat this giant…plant?

Review

Godzilla vs Biollante is one of my favorite movies of the Heisei series. There are only two battles between Godzilla and Biollante, but the second battle with her/him/it at the end of the movie is worth the wait. I also enjoyed how it expanded on the story of Godzilla 1984 by continuing right where it left off.

Owning the Region 2 DVD is nice, especially with the extras, and I must say, the first 10 minutes of the movie is almost completely in English, and it sounds a lot better than the English Dubbed actors. My only real complaint with this movie is there are a lot of characters, so it gets a little confusing when trying to figure out who belongs to what group. The Super X2 plays a better role in this movie than it did in its prequel, but it still lacks direction because it is underused.

Conclusion

Unfortunately the only way to own this movie on DVD is to buy the Region 2 release for 6000 Yen, but the content and extras make it worth every penny. Dimension Films owns the US rights to it and released it on VHS years ago with a really good print, but they have no plans to bring it out on DVD, at least at this time. It is also available on VCD, but it is very low quality and the sides are cut off because it's full screen. Regardless, this is definitely a Godzilla movie not to be missed. My final score for it is 4.5/5 stars.

Dr Kain