Colossal is a drama/monster film directed by Nacho Vigalondo that stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis (best known for Horrible Bosses and We're The Millers). When the project was first submitted to be green-lit for production, the director used images from previous Godzilla films without TOHO's permission and was slapped with a lawsuit. The images were to represent a concept for the idea of Colossal stating that this was described as "Godzilla meets Being John Malkovich." The case was dismissed when the producer clarified that they weren't actually remaking Godzilla and production went under way in Vancouver. The film was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016 and the distribution company, Neon, acquired the rights shortly after. It was shown at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017 and was given a limited release April 7, 2017. Colossal made $4,468,468 in total worldwide.
The movie is about a girl named Gloria, played by Anne Hathaway, that was just recently fired from her job, dumped by her boyfriend, and struggling with her alcoholism. When she was forced to move back to her home town, she meets up with her childhood friend, Oscar, played by Jason Sudeikis, and while they were catching up a monster attacks Seoul, South Korea. With the re-occurring appearances of the monster and through observation of how the monster moves, Gloria suspects herself to be the monster that attacked Seoul. When I first heard about the movie it sort of piqued my interest until the previews came out. The previews made the movie look not as intriguing and completely idiotic. While the movie had it's comedic moments, I found the movie actually better than the previews made it out to be. While it parodies the giant monster genre, it does present a fresh new idea that is not about the usual anti-nuclear/environmental message that the usual monster movies give. Instead, it takes a stab on the issues of the destructive actions of alcoholism, jealousy, and the possessiveness of other people. An odd concept, but the story manages to make it work.
The acting in the movie is also well done and seeing Jason Sudeikis take serious roles makes me respect him more as an actor. An actor that is versatile on movie roles is rare to see. Usually, actors would stick to roles that they know and are used to, but I love actors that can play more than that one role. Anne Hathaway is also one of the more versatile actors and also does very well in her acting with Les Miserables being one of her most well known movies with a great performance. While Colossal will not be as well known as Les Miserables, Anne Hathaway did a pretty good job playing the role of Gloria.
I like the looks for the monster and the robot, but I wish that I could see them more clearly. This problem lies mostly with night time scenes. I don't know why this seems to be a re-occurring problem in monster movies, but silhouetting the monsters in night scenes never works. Heck Kong: Skull Island and Jurassic World didn't even have this problem. At least in those movies, you are still able to see them at night. While I did understand how Gloria and Oscar got their monster powers from, it did leave some other people confused and so it did not make sense to everyone else.
Colossal is very much a parody on the giant monster genre, but the monsters are not really the main focus as much as the issues that the movie tackles. Just because it has its comedic moments it does not mean that the movie isn't taking itself seriously. I do wish that they brightened the night scenes so to see the monster and the robot more clearly. While some people will understand how the characters got their powers, some people will just not get it entirely. That does not mean though that the story isn't engaging because it is and there is not a single minute that goes by where I felt bored at all. This is definitely a fun movie for all audiences. I say that this movie is definitely worth a watch.
Did you see the movie? If so, did you like the movie or did you not like the movie? If not, do you plan on watching it? Leave a comment and make sure to stay up to date by bookmarking this blog for more reviews and discussions.
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