Year: 1989
Director: Kazuki Omori
Special Effects Director: Koichi Kawakita
In The Suit: Kenpachiro Satsuma (Godzilla), Masashi Takegumi (Biollante)

Five years after Return of Godzilla, Toho returns with something a step closer to the later Showa films (it's a vs. movie, after all) while still retaining the socio-political commentary. In terms of pure production values, this movie is also a huge step forward. I was much less sure about Return, but this one's definitely a step up. They've redesigned the Godzilla suit a bit and it looks better (still too bulky for our tastes) and in general the special effects are superior to anything we've seen so far.

That said, the monster of the film is probably our least favorite monster outside of the ones that Godzilla fought in Zone Fighter. It is just a giant plant, and Min especially hates it because it is immobile. But it's actually a pretty cool science fiction story; the closest you will get to a hard science fiction movie featuring Godzilla.

And the other thing i like about it is the continuity aspects. I mentioned in the entry for Return that the Heisei period is the one with the tightest continuity, but of course that isn't evident until the first sequel, which is this movie. And it begins by showing that the Japanese Self-Defense Force has developed a warning system for Godzilla.

*snort*

There is a recap of the last movie's fight with Super X. And the movie then begins in the immediate aftermath of Godzilla's rampage from Return. A reporter (an American, speaking English even in the subtitled version) notes that Tokyo has basically been destroyed and that it currently looks like a ghost town. Scientists (in proper radiation suits!) are putting together the remains of Super X and one discovers a patch of Godzilla's flesh.

But we then see another group pick up a sample of Godzilla's cells, and it turns out that they are not authorized to be there. Queue an 80s rock video game music of the Godzilla theme as we get into a crazy action movie, worthy of a Stallone or Schwarzenegger film. Groups of people with guns blazing and charging all over the place.

They popped out of boxes, people. These opening scenes are just about the most exciting parts of the movie.

It's the most action among humans we've ever seen in a Godzilla film. The group that stole the cell samples manage to get away from the JSDF forces (who are a bit inept and rarely actually shoot back), but they are then assassinated by a third party. Looking online i am told that he is agent SSS9, which may very well have been shown on a screen in the film but we didn't realize the significance of it.

He's wearing sunglasses. I think he might be a bad guy.

This guy turns out to be an agent of the Republic of Saradia Institute of Biotechnology. The first set of mercs will turn out to have been agents of a US biotech company called Bio-Major, which confused us at first when the movie showed us profiles of the guys with the words "Bio Major" underneath. Ok, it's nice to know what they studied in college, but who are they? Saradia is an obvious stand-in for Saudi Arabia; they are interested in terraforming their desert because their oil won't last forever (and they seem pretty happy about one-upping the US in the process).

Their plan is to crossbreed cactus cells with Godzilla's (But they're radioactive. And full of rage.). At least as far as we can tell. The Saradian characters speak in English, without subtitles, but it is a heavily accented broken English, very difficult to make out. Uh, we still need subtitles, guys! Actually, there are subtitles, but they are in Japanese, so that doesn't do us any good.

Working at the Saradian bio-tech company is a Dr. Shiragami and his daughter Erica (played by Yasuko Sawaguchi, who played Naoko in the previous movie and has much better hair here...relatively speaking).

Unfortunately, Erica is killed when Bio-Major sets off a bomb at the Saradian institute.

The movie then jumps ahead five years. Dr. Shiragami is doing something with roses, and he's gone to the Mental Science Exploration Center to ask their best psychic to see if she can communicate with them. It's said that plants have their own field of mental energy. But the psychic is not able to detect anything.

The psychic is Miki Saegusa (easy to remember if you call her "Mickey", thanks to her gigantic ears), played by Megumi Odaka. Miki will appear in all the remaining Heisei Godzilla films, a unique distinction for a human character. Miki's boss is known to Dr. Shiragami because her father is, like him, shunned from the modern scientific community. Asuka's father wants to preserve the sperm of Noble Prize winners for the production of future geniuses. That has nothing to do with the rest of the film but i couldn't help mention it.

While we watch the people at the Mental Science Exploration Center we see that they are being spied on by more Bio Majors (nominally American but with terrible English) and they in turn are spied on by SSS9.

As this scene ends, Miki thinks that she hears a voice, but, despite the fact that they are at a psychic institute and Miki is thought to be the best psychic, her boss dismisses it and they drive off.

And that was it. The one and only time Miki actually senses something when it could be useful, and it's completely dismissed. The rest of the Heisei series is Miki never quite being able to sense something when you need her to.

The other main human characters in the movie are Kazuhito Kirishima (played by Kunihiko Mitamura) and Asuka Okouchi (played by Yoshiko Tanaka).

They're both scientists, but Asuka works for a Japanese biotech firm and Kazuhito is not comfortable with biotechnology. This is the main theme of the movie, with nuclear power being replaced by biotech as the technology that man is messing with without understanding the consequences. And when you're mixing Godzilla cells with plants, that is definitely something to worry about.

There's also Lt. Goro Gondo (played Toru Minegishi), who has spent the past five years minding the fort at the so far un-needed Special Disaster Research Council Godzilla Unit.

Speaking of Godzilla, there are reports of tremors where Godzilla fell into the volcano in the last movie. Miki is asked if she's been sensing anything, and she reveals that she has been having dreams that have been becoming more and more clear. She didn't bother to tell anyone, obviously knowing that her boss would have just dismissed it like she did when she was hearing voices. But now she's got a classroom full of young psychics to back her up.

Those little psychics are so excited about having Godzilla dreams. YAAAAAY! He's going to destroy us all!

Miki is sent to the volcano to confirm that Godzilla is awake, her giant ears like satellite dishes easily detecting Godzilla's underground movement.

Kazuhito, who may be more of a military guy than a scientist, calls in Goro and the two of them go to discuss the plan to combat Godzilla with their superiors. A plan is devised to develop anti-nuclear bacteria from the Godzilla cell samples that were collected five years earlier. The idea is similar to the oil eating bacteria that has been developed to help contain oil spills. Godzilla himself feeds on radiation, so the idea is to use his cells to develop bacteria that eats radiation, and then shoot it into Godzilla so that it will eat up his radiation. The company that Asuka works for is responsible for developing the bacteria, but they want the help of Dr. Shiragami. Shiragami has vowed to never work with Godzilla cells again after the death of his daughter, but soon after refusing we see that the roses he's been working with are dying, so he changes his mind, on the condition that he gets to work with the cells alone, unsupervised, in his own lab. The head of the biotech company had just gotten finished showing Kazuhito how secure the Godzilla cells were being kept, but to get Shiragami on board he immediately agrees to his demands.

*face palm*

Shiragami is then seen injecting Godzilla cells into rose cells. No surprise.

Meanwhile, the Super X, now rebuilt as the Super X2, is unveiled.

Its hull is pure titanium this time (no more platinum), so it's twice as durable, and it's also said to be submersible (which seems like it's just asking for trouble, but Super X is kind of like Atragon in that it's immune to the normal laws of submarines in Toho films). And most importantly, it's got a fire mirror that will amplify and return Godzilla's breath when he breaths at them.

But you know my complaint from the last movie. The Super X is no substitute for a giant monster for Godzilla to fight. Luckily, we've got that plotline developing (pfft. hardly.). A pair of Bio Majors sneak into Dr. Shiragami's lab and get into a shootout with SSS9, none of them realizing that they are actually in the Little Shop of Horrors until it's too late.

At least one of the Bio Majors gets killed (Min and i have a little contention about whether it's one or two but we didn't bother to go back to check), but SSS9 gets away.

The attack on Shiragami's lab exposes the secret work he's been doing, and when he finds that the plant monster he's created is missing, he admits, "I think i may have made a mistake".

Ya THINK?

I hope at this point we all understand that Shiragami has somehow put his daughter Erica's spirit into the rose-Godzilla hybrid. Miki later senses its presence...

Yeah. About 2 seconds before people with eyes noticed its presence. Worst. Psychic. Ever.

...and the creature later appears in the middle of a lake.

Der. How did that get there? How did no one see it until now?

When Shiragami sees it, he says, "That's not a regular plant!" Why do you say that, sir? It's only 100 feet tall and making whale noises. Shiragami has named the plant Biollante, which he says is the spirit of a plant that appears in the Norse mythos (although this does not seem to be true). He also says "that plant has a human spirit" and Miki confirms that Erica's spirit is in there.

Thanks a lot, dad.
Cereally. Thanks for trapping my spirit in this hideous, radioactive plant monster. Really.

Meanwhile, a terrorist group calling itself ALIEN says that if the government doesn't turn over the nuclear eating bacteria to them, they will use explosives to release Godzilla. There is therefore another action sequence as Goro and Kazuhito go to make the exchange, only for the Bio Majors to be ambushed by SSS9 and killed before he can disable the explosives. Min is not happy with this entire sequence. Godzilla is going to wake up no matter what, so giving away the one thing that they think will stop him makes no sense. And then when the Bio Major is killed, they spend their time trying to stop the explosive countdown instead of securing the bacteria, so SSS9 is able to get them.

Anyway, guess who's out of the volcano now?

He's just a force of nature.

And then suddenly, we have a supervillain.

This turns out to be less interesting than it seems. This is "Demon Kogure", a celebrity in Japan. He's just making a cameo. Has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Carry on.

When Godzilla emerges, Biollante starts calling him.

Um...why doesn't someone blow up the plant? It's calling Godzilla. It also kills people. Why are you all just standing around looking at it?

Nobody cares, Miki. Especially not her mad scientist father who stuck her in that plant monster. He's too busy making up Scandinavian myths.

We know very well that Godzilla will go running to anything calling to him, especially if it means a fight. But first he has to fight his way through the JSDF's new video game, which i would totally play.

Exactly how much did you guys invest in that warning system?

The game is rigged in his favor, since the army still can't shoot straight.

He's... over there. The 80 meter monster is to your left.

I swear sometimes the missiles just fly from left to right across the screen instead of towards Godzilla.

Eventually the X2 is deployed.

It took us a little while to figure out that this time the ship is being piloted remotely. Smart move, after last time.

They lead with the Fire Mirror.

All they've got is the fire mirror!

Godzilla will oblige ya.

All sorts of neat monitoring going on.

But it's necessary, because it's not as simple as just floating there and letting Godzilla exhaust himself. The X2 has to keep moving around, and not all of Godzilla's blasts bounce back directly at him.

Eventually, though, he goes down.

Biolante, meanwhile, has sprouted little vines with mouths.

That's disgusting.

And Miki says that Erica's spirit is no longer in there. It's just a flower with Godzilla cells now. And teeth.

And still nobody's trying to kill it.

Earlier, Miki said that Erica was asking for help, but no one reacted to that. And now Erica's dead. I hope everyone's happy.

Biollante should eat all of you.

After Godzilla got knocked down by the Super X2, he just stayed underwater and started swimming. The X2 submerges and swims after him, but later they both resurface. I did say that the X2 avoids the fate of most Toho submarines, but it still doesn't last much longer. Godzilla blasts it to the point where the mirror just melts, and then it's destroyed.

The best part is after the crew members controlling the X2 tell their boss, Colonel Kuroki (played by Masanobu Takashima, son of Tadao Takashima, an actor in a number of Showa era films), that they've lost control of the X2, he says 'Well, can you at least bring it home for repairs?" and they give him a look that every employee has given their boss at least once. Like, dude, did you not just hear me say we lost control of it? But they are seen trying to comply.

Godzilla eventually makes it to Biollante.

Wait. You're me, but a flower?

Don't judge me!

Biollante attacks Godzilla with its vines...

This is so lame.

...while Dr. Shiragami explains for those of us who missed it the first time that the two monsters are attracted to each other because they're made from the same cells.

Godzilla's breath seems to expose some additional organ on Biollante...

...and its said that his breath must have had an abnormal effect on Biollante's cell division. Gozilla just keeps blasting it (damn skippy) and eventually it burns up, although we see orange ashes floating up into the sky.

At this point Godzilla heads back to the sea. The theory is that Godzilla has expended a lot of energy fighting Super X and Biollante, and he's now going to want to feed. So they pull up a map of the nuclear power plants in the area, of which there are lots.

But of course they've lost Godzilla again, so they have to get Miki to locate him. And based on his location, they guess which plant Godzilla is heading towards, and start amassing the armed forces there. But Goro raises the possibility that he's actually going to a different plant, and wouldn't you know it but they lost Godzilla again. And it turns out he is going to the other plant. So Kuroki has to make the call to sacrifice the city of Osaka in order to get his forces to the right plant. In the meantime, they have Miki out on a platform in the sea, facing off against Godzilla. And then... something happens.

Uh. can we get some subtitles for that telepathic exchange?

Miki passes out and Godzilla continues on his way.

Meanwhile, Goro and Kazuhito have managed to infiltrate the local Saradian factory and retrieve the bacteria (knocking out a Saradian worker with a silly cartoon sound effect). Agent SSS9 opens his apparently soundproof blinds to find that there's a Godzilla in his city.

He gets orders to kill Dr. Shiragami since he's lost the bacteria.

Godzilla is rampaging through Osaka.

The X2 shows up again, even though it hasn't been fully repaired.

The plan is just to use it to get Godzilla into position so that Goro and his team can do their work.

Then Goro, leading a bazooka team, goes into action.

They fire shells that drill their way into Godzilla's flesh.

Thinking that they are done, Goro turns around and starts picking up his stuff, not realizing that Godzilla is coming up behind him.

You just fired a missile at him. Did you really think he was going to let that go?

Goro eventually turns around and fires a final shell into Godzilla's mouth.

Godzilla responds by destroying the entire building Goro is in, killing him.

Sorry Goro, but you were kind of being a douche.

The shells contain the new radioactive eating bacteria cells. But they're not working. It's said that "on average" it's only supposed to take 8 hours. On average? How many Godzillas have you taken down already with this brand new form of bacteria?

A little product placement for you as all of this is being discussed.

If that's caffeinated, i'll take one.

It's eventually determined that the problem is that Godzilla, being a reptile, has a low body temperature. And therefore the bacteria are too cold to be activated.

Min: Low body temperature? He's radioactive!
Fnord: I guess it's cold fusion.

Last movie, cadmium shells were used against Godzilla with the implication that they would be effective because they can withstand the heat inside a nuclear reactor. But now Godzilla is too cold for bacteria to be active. He's a crafty lizard.

So the plan is to raise Godzilla's temperature with the M-6000 TC system. TC stands for "thunder control". See, we're already back to the days when scientists are whipping out crazy super-science in the middle of the movie with no prior introduction.

What was the government REALLY developing this stuff for?

Say what you will about the JSDF, one thing they can always do is dig ditches and deploy high tech systems at a moments notice. So soon the M-6000 TC is ready.

In the meantime, there's a changing of the guard kind of speech. Observing Colonel Kuroki sleeping on their way to the battlefield, an older guy says, "It's hard to believe by looking at his face that he has such a huge responsibility on his shoulders. I guess it's time for my generation to step down. For now on, it's up to you guys". Kazuhito, also in the helicopter, says, "There's nothing special about our generation. We make mistakes, just like everyone." It would mean a little more on a meta level if the old guy was a Showa era guy while the actors playing Kuroki and Kazuhito became regulars in the Heisei series, but that's not the case.

The M-6000 TC system includes FAHPs.

And also plates that Godzilla steps on, triggering electrical blasts from the sky.

Lightning energized him just one movie ago. Now we're using it as a weapon against him. Where's the continuity director?

Actually, stepping on the plate doesn't trigger the blast. The operators have to push a corresponding button back at the control tent.

This entire plan is needlessly complicated. Remember, this is all just to make their bacteria work.

The system also required clouds to be seeded with silver iodine to make it rain. And that has an unexpected effect (unless you're Miki, who knew about it but didn't tell anyone - arrgghhh!!!). It causes the ashes or seeds or whatever from Biollante that we saw earlier to fall out of the sky. A very magical noise as the seeds fall.

And there must also be Miracle-Gro on the ground, because the seeds turn instantly into a newly mutated version of Biollante.

Godzilla is looking tipsy. The electricity must be activating the bacteria. He's not feeling so good! It's funny that even though Godzilla's a bad guy now, we're still on his side, rooting for him against Biollante.

Biollante's gross. Who could root for her?

Biollante attacks Godzilla with her mouth-vines again, this time stigmata-cizing Godzilla.

Godzilla uses his internal radioactive chi to remove the vines.

Biollante actually is able to move, by pulling itself along with its vines.

Fnord: There, see? It can move.
Min: *Snort!*

Then Biollante tries spitting on him.

Oh, you're gross. Why are so many of my opponents gross?

Biollante then puts Godzilla's head in its mouth, never a good idea when your opponent can breath fire.

Godzilla then staggers over to the sea.

Everybody at this point starts talking like it's all over. Dr. Shiragami says Biollante has convinced him that he's not working with Godzilla cells again, to the dismay of the CEO of the Japanese biotech firm. Shiragami says, "Biollante and Godzilla aren't monsters, it's the arrogant scientists that create them."

Min: Guys! Biollante is not dead!
Fnord: I mean, she is dying.
Min: Yeah, we thought that last time and then it rained.

But then Biollante does die, with Miki reporting that Erica said "thank you" before she died. And then we're treated to a vision of Erica as Biollante's seeds fly back into the sky.

Even now the movie isn't over. Agent SSS9 returns and shoots Dr. Shiragami. Kazuhito gives chase (ecologist action hero!), and eventually SSS9 is fried on one of the M-6000 TC platforms (with Col. Kuroki, back at the tent, pulling the trigger).

Kuroki had no way of knowing who was stepping on that plate. What if it had been Kazuhito or one of the techs. "Whoops. My bad."

When Kazuhito returns, Asuka tells him that he looks like Batman (who was very popular in 1989)...

...does she need glasses?

...and they agree to stay together in Japan instead of Kazuhito deciding to go to America like he was considering at the beginning of the film.

Then Godzilla wakes up again!

It's said that the water must have lowered his body temperature again.

But instead of going on a rampage, he heads back out to sea.

"Now please excuse me...I'm tired..."

After a little more narration about man's hubris as we see Dr. Shiragami's corpse, we go to the end credits, and see a giant rose floating in space next to the Earth.

This is definitely the highest quality Godzilla movie in terms of production values (that is such a shame), at least until the modern films. After this, the budget for the Heisei films gets a little lower and we're back into somewhat campier territory. It's also got a strong political message, which is relevant in a general sense whatever your views on biotechnology (i hope we can all agree to not splice anything with Godzilla cells, at least). This is definitely the film that i would recommend to non-Godzilla fans, because it's the most serious, least campy, and has a moderately plausible story (as much as one with radioactive lizards, plant-lizards, and psychic girls can). But as a Godzilla fan, it's not one of our favorites. Definitely a step in the right direction after Return. But we definitely do prefer more mobile monsters and a little more personality in our Godzilla.

Absolutely not. No way would i ever recommend this movie to anyone. I would rather re-watch Gorath. What is the point of a Godzilla movie if he has no one to fight? It's either got to be the army or another daikaiju. Unending minutes of people standing around uselessly with a grotesque giant flower waving in the background does not a good movie make. And Miki - ugh. If you're going to create an entire institute of psychics and tout her as the most powerful, mebbe you should let her actually do something and not ignore her the few times she actually bothers to let you know when she senses something. Blech.

Godzilla Drinking Game
	Someone thinks it's a good idea to drag a giant monster across the ocean on a raft (giant eggs count).
	Attacking planes fly directly at a monster, with no possibility of avoiding a crash even if the monster didn't swat them down.
	People refuse to believe in the existence of a giant monster even though they've already acknowledged that Godzilla exists.
	A submarine explodes.	The submersible Super X2 manages to survive that portion of the story, only to be destroyed immediately afterwards.
	Teens have a dance party on a boat. Two drinks/head smacks if they get attacked by a monster during the party.
	The government is completely ineffective when faced with a corporation doing something illegal.	Well, not exactly, but you do have to love them giving away the Godzilla cells to an unsupervised mad scientist.
	A humongous lumbering monster manages to sneak up on someone. Two drinks/head smacks if it's the army and they're supposedly using radar.	All these early warning systems now implemented for Godzilla, but Biollante manages to grow up in the middle of the lake with no one noticing. Then there's the part where your ESP girl goes through all the trouble of re-locating your giant monster after you've lost him, and then you lose him again.
	A scientist suddenly figures everything out with little-to-no information and explains it all to everyone.	*snap!* He's too cold for bacteria to work on him!
	A monster suddenly grows in size just because.	If you don't like the idea that Biollante snuck up on everybody, your other option is that she suddenly grew to immense size in the middle of the night, and then immediately stopped growing again. So either way you are getting a drink.
	People expose themselves to major amounts of radiation with no concern.	Hazmat suits this time. Nice work, people!
	Everyone suddenly knows a monster's name. Two drinks/head smacks if everyone else nods appreciatively and repeats it.
	Army missiles can't seem to hit a 150+ foot monster and instead explode harmlessly around it.	You keep working at it.
	A woman falls down for no reason.
	Bad dinosaur science. You have to give a little leeway for the time period, but pretending a children's picture book is a scientific journal is always worth two drinks/smacks.	I want to at least give an honorable mention to the idea that Godzilla is so cold that bacteria won't get activated in him. That's not even true of actual cold blooded reptiles. And Godzilla's a dinosaur. There's a good possibility that they were actually warm blooded. And that's before we get to the fact that he's radioactive and breathes fire. But i don't think this really falls into what we intended when we created this category.

Monsters Appearing: Biollante, Godzilla