One of My Favorite New Era Godzilla Flicks That Follows the Direct Ending to 1984 and Picks Up in the year 1990 I had this prior but lost it glad it's back in my collection a genuine must for the Godzilla Franchise and the opening of a new era of Kaiju (Godzilla) Flicks From TOHOPS . Sorry for the lighting My Battery diedVinnechi Petaccio(VrOcKsPiT) (vWo)
One of my top 10 favorites of the entire series- and a far underrated one- finally gets a proper American Blu-ray and DVD release. Unlike the Sony releases, this DVD features a very well done animated root menu showing scenes from the film. And also unlike the others, this one actually has some pretty good special features. It includes two featurettes; one being a "making-of" and another covering the design process.The picture quality is beautifully restored as well as a wonderfully restored audio track... for the Japanese track, that is. The one thing that keeps me from giving it a perfect 5/5 is that the English audio track couldn't be restored to the crisp quality of the original Japanese track. It still has the muffled, cheap speaker and headphone sound of the original American VHS release. So that may be a little bit of a bummer for any of your friends who don't have the patience for subtitles.Still, if that doesn't present a distracting issue, this is a very good release. There was a lot more effort put into this one. And I say it's about time. Because this is quite the unappreciated monster brawl with a good, solid and dark scifi story and characters (save, perhaps for some pretty lame acting from the non-Japanese extras, but that's easy to ignore here). It's a solid Blu-ray and DVD for any fan of the series. And it may impress the more casual moviegoers too. Get it while you can!
Not sure why you can't access a digital version of this movie. Rumor has it Criterion is taking it on, in which case it will be made available. Someday.In the meantime, this is one of the better Godzilla movies. It was worth the out-of-print price to finally have access to it.
I really did not enjoy this particular Godzilla movie. But, will keep it to add to the collection.
The movie itself is good. It is exactly the same version that use to air on HBO/Cinemax and was available on VHS in the late 90's. One problem is the special features. The making of feature implies that all of this previously deleted footage is included on the DVD. This is not the case. There is no deleted fight scene footage much less a director's cut version of the film. I don't know how this happened for sure but my guess is the making of feature was orignally on a Japanese lazer disc and on that lazer disc they had the deleted fight scene footage. I suspect Mirmax included the making of feature but didn't look at it and that is why there is all these grand proclamtions of wonderful footage are stated as being on the disc in the making of feature while none of that stuff is actually on the disc. As a fan of Godzilla movies this is disapointing. Again the movie itself is good. One of the best Hensei Godzilla movies in fact but there is no deleted fight scene footage even though the making of feature tells you it is there.
A great follow-up to "Godzilla 1985". SYNOPSIS: Terrorists steal G-cells from the wreckage of Tokyo. A scientist, Dr. Shiragami, loses his daughter Erika in an unlikely lab explosion at the lab where he works. Five years later, he merges her DNA with a rose bush. General Kiroki recruits people, including Colonel Gondo, to make Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria, a weapon hopefully to be used against Godzilla upon his return. Dr. Shiragami joins the team and merges Erika's DNA/rosebush cells with Godzilla cells. One night at Dr. Shiragami's, Bio-Major, a company that tried to steal G-cells earlier on, once again tries to steal--this time information on Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria. A Saradian agent, SSS9, ambushes them, because he wants it too. A huge tentacle kills one Bio-Major officer, and the other officer jumps out a window in order to escape. The strange tentacle nearly kills SSS9, but SSS9 cuts the tentacle in two with a pocket knife. In the morning, a fellow scientist working on the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria project discovers what Shiragami's done. A psychic, Miki Saegusa, and her friend run a school for psychic children. They ask what their dream was last night, and they keep having the same dream every night since then and every night it's become clearer. They were asked to illustrate their dream and it turns out to be Godzilla coming out of a volcano. Miki senses Godzilla in Mt. Mihara. Bio-Major threatens the Japanese government to give them the A.N.E.B. (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria), or else they will detonate Mt. Mihara with explosives, thus causing Godzilla to escape. An explosion rocks the land from Mt. Mihara, a warning explosion. So Colonel Gondo and the fellow scientist go to get it, and give him the A.N.E.B. To deactivate the explosives and their timer, they must go in back of the man's truck. Just then, SSS9 attacks, and the trucker tries to get away, but SSS9 shoots a tire of the truck and the truck topples over. As Gondo tries to deactivate the explosives, SSS9 steals the A.N.E.B. They can't stop the explosives and Godzilla is released once again. However, a huge form named Biollante has the soul of Erika. It has formed in Lake Ashino, in Dr. Shiragami's backyard. It has millions of the tendrils that killed the Bio-Major guy earlier on. Meanwhile out at sea, air craft carriers and helicopters attack Godzilla, but they are destroyed. Super X2, equipped with a fire mirror that can repel Godzilla's radioactive heat ray twice as powerful, is sent out and overwhelms Godzilla, who dives underwater. Biollante calls Godzilla and Godzilla emerges from the depths of the sea. Super-X2 fires off torpedoes, and then their fire mirror is badly damaged. Godzilla then burns the Super-X2 with a heat ray, and is not fased by its missiles as a counterattack. Godzilla hits Super-X2 with his tail and Super-X2 is badly damaged and will have to be piloted back to base by the army. Godzilla hears Biollante taunting it and heads to Lake Ashino, and he and Biollante do battle. We are informed by Shiragami that they are both the same creature, bearing the same cells, and are not siblings. Godzilla wins the battle, roasting Biollante on fire with heat rays, but not after Biollante uses his mouthed tendrils to her every advantage. Godzilla eventually emerges in Osaka and destroys it, and when a mission involving A.N.E.B.-loaded rocket launchers fails, Colonel Gondo is killed, as he was in the operation and had one of the key rocket launchers. However, the A.N.E.B. rockets did hit Godzilla and he was infected by it. Godzilla heads to the countryside, where Dr. Shiragami hopes that by stepping on particular mines, artifical lightning is formed and attacks Godzilla and lowers his body temperature (or heightens it, I can't remember) so the A.N.E.B. can take effect. Godzilla destroys lines of army tanks, missile-launcher mounted tanks, and maser cannon-mounted tanks, and helicopters. Then, an even more powerful Biollante arrives for revenge on what Godzilla did earlier. Biollante sprays Godzilla with burning sap, similar to what occurred earlier in the Lake Ashino battle at the hands of a mouthed tendril. The A.N.E.B. takes effect after Godzilla nearly destroys Biollante. Godzilla retreats to the ocean and literally falls in to get his bearings together. Biollante dies and Erika leaves her inhuman embodiment to head to Haven. Dr. Shiragami watches in awe, but is killed by SSS9. SSS9 steps on a mine which generates artificial lightning, after being chased in a car and on foot by the other protagonist--the scientist. All is well as the scientist and his girlfriend stay united, and Godzilla leaves Japan. Then the moral of the story is shared as Dr. Shiragami's corpse is shown in an army medical tent. REVIEW: One of the good Heisei Godzilla films. However some parts of the film were rather boring, but the special effects and music make up for that. The idea...
As all the older classic godzilla movies you enjoy all of them
It's great to have this released in the U.S., much less on the Blu-Ray format. The transfer is fine and because of some licensing hangups, my copy has minimal extras. But considering that I never thought this movie would be released on DVD in the U.S., the whole thing seems a bit miraculous. I'd give the movie itself three-stars, but I'll throw in a fourth star just for the Blu-Ray effort.I just realized that not only have I seen every Godzilla movie ever made, I now also own all but one of them. If this does anything at all, it qualifies me to state that overall, Godzilla movies aren't very good. I mean, as solid stories go, these G-flicks are not exactly "Wuthering Heights". But, what they are is entertaining. Sometimes for good reasons. Take "Godzilla vs. Biollante". It's a story about Japan, the U.S. and some fictional Middle-Eastern oil rich country trying to out spy each other for control of some Godzilla cells scattered around the destruction from his last stomp through Tokyo.Wow. It is silly. But it's so over the top and so illogical it kept me engaged. This movie contains some absolutely stupid spy-vs-spy action. There's also a countless number of mistakes in the English dub. It's all pretty funny.However, the special effects are pretty good and Biollante is the ugliest but one of the most different kaiju ever committed to film. The big dust up between the two beasts is never really resolved. Godzilla falls face first on the beach only to pop up again and head back out to sea and Biollante turns into some magic environmental pixie dust and floats into the sky. But if you're watching this for the monsters, and that's why you watch Godzilla, this one is worth the time.
Many people are happy with this official release of Godzilla vs Biollante. That's fine, but I wanted to write this review, not so much on the movie itself, but some of the technical differences of the official release, the bootleg DVD, and the U.S. VHS release. Both the official and bootleg have the same presentation of the movie itself with opening and closing credits in Japanese, regardless of whether you select the English track or not on this version. The VHS has the opening and closing credits in English, including the title itself GODZILLA vs BIOLLANTE, not the title in Japanese with the English title subtitled below. The English dub for this and the VHS is the same. The audio options for this release are Japanese 5.1 surround, Japanese 2.0 stereo, and English 1.0 mono. The bootleg is Japanese audio only with an option for English subtitles or no subtitles. This version has two English subtitle options. One is what the actors are actually saying and the other is the on-screen display of the English dub. The VHS and this DVD have no trailers. The bootleg has a colorized clip of Godzilla 54 and two Godzilla vs Biollante trailers set to the music of Akira Ifukube before the start of the movie and one G v B after the movie followed by a 45 minute behind the scenes documentary which is basically the same as the one on the official release. The differences are the bootleg has it broken up in 19 chapters with no English subtitles. This DVD has it as one chapter only, take it or leave it, but at least there is an option for English subtitles plus an additional 5 minutes of footage at the beginning of the feature not on the bootleg version. The bootleg's only audio sounds the same as the 5.1 Surround of this release. The bootleg has no menu. Just put the DVD in and it will play automatically. Personally I like the bootleg best. Had this version actually had the same print from the VHS for the English version, and the trailers from the bootleg, this would have been hands down the sure fire winner.
My aunt loves Godzilla and she had this at one point but it got broken so I replaced it and now she is happy again
What an ambiguous piece of a monster flic. One of my favorites from the franchise. It's a brilliant display of anthropomorphized marriage of male vs female energy that in its way resemble piece from the famed Barcelona 1992 closing ceremony. In this case, the Male energy is represented by Godzilla while Biollante represens its polar opposite Female energy. The formula is the same - a mutated monster (metaphor for the Uncle Sam), created by radioactive waste from nuclear bomb experiments, terrorizes Japan (metaphor for planet earth) The creature is impervious to conventional attack, whether it be cadmium missiles and lasers fired by Super X, or be it the whole complement of the Japanese Army (metaphor for the world Army). I guess a global threat requires a global solution (Alex Jones is frothing in his mouth) So, a stratagem is called for - that is, to create or summon an adversary - another foe in a form a new monster - that would match Godzilla's destructive powers. They all had their go: Mothra, Mechagodzilla, Rodan and co. They had all failed. Will humanity be saved? Enemy of my enemy is my friend, so the saying goes. Meet Biollante - a bizzare creation of a rather imaginative script writer. Biollante is a giant plant, formed from the same mould as Godzilla - she is made from the same cells. Aha, now we a have a match. Round one goes to Godzilla; Biollante is no match for the radioactive breath and overall ferocity of the terror of Japan. Round 2 - it's a draw. Biollante has mutated - it is a terrifying looking fiend - a cross between a giant Venus fly trap from Jumanji and Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Oh, did I forgot to mention the usual cliches of a disposable monster movie fodder - the usual cheesy subplots involving some guys scuttling around getting int the way of the sought after action sequence. As if we actually care for those stupid hindrances that serve as mere devices to keep the film moving along. Back to round 2 - Both Godzilla and Biolante go down in a climactic battle that sees Biollante defeat Godzilla by making him overheat, with the help of some new grade land mines. Overheat? Did I get that right? Well it doesn't end there, it resolves in a rather bizzare twist. it's as if the script writer has had enough for the day and took a tea break . . . well that is the kind of ending that we are presented with. In the closing scenes following the third act, inexplicably, Godzilla, thought dead by all, rears its giant mug and lets out its iconic roar. The protagonist explains that the monster is revived by virtue of the cooling effects of water. His love interest nods in agreement. Huh? And then what? . . . Well, nothing, Godzilla just walks off. . . that's right, he just walks off into the ocean! And that is that - THE END. It is all summed up in several lines that are delivered by the aformentioned personages in a monotone that would be more appropriate to the mundane theme of overcooking a meal than a reference to the titanic theme of Kaiju. Here is the dialogue following the Godzilla's awakening,'. . . Oh, Godzilla is alive''Ocean Water must have cooled it.''Godzilla is going back to the ocean''yeah, and Biollante is going up into the sky''Zoom out as Godzilla is plying the vas expance of the ocean.End credits rollGodzilla is walking away into the ocean? . . . And the point of the film was? I am lost. . . Hello, anybody home? Can anybody film me in! I saw that ending for the upteenth time and I am still dumbfounded. Did the boys in the cutting room smoked too many joints or could this ending be a rather tepid attempt at breaking conventions. Well, it is not Dada, and as such, a theme (any theme) requires a resolution. Back to script writing 101. . . But look on the bright side, Godzilla lives to fight another day (and no, I don't mean that tuna eating lizard that is known as the abomination of monster movies known as Hollywood Godzilla 1998) But that is for a another review. . .
I bought it because I'm tired of it being in subtitles on TV.Now I can enjoy it in English.
Being a life long Godzilla fan, starting way back in the 60's, I can honestly say that I have seen every Godzilla movie the big guy has done, and I'm sure a lot of you are the same way. After seeing a version of this movie a while back on a Japanese Laserdisc, I knew it was the one that I didn't have and needed. I bought the Laser version with Japanese language only just to have it, but when your watching it, with no subtitles, its not quite as satisfying.Why it took so long for this movie to reach dvd is beyond me. It is totally one of the better films from that series, aside of my favorite, "Godzilla vs., MechaGodzilla2, Godzilla vs. Biollante has one of the most in depth storylines of any series. While Short of Godzilla action, he doesn't arrive until at least 35 mins into it, its typical of all his movies. The writer and Director gave a lot of thought into the storyline.The Godzilla Suit is one of the best of any series, making sure that the head piece is more realistic letting it turn at the neck instead of having to turn the whole suit. It was a great improvement. But, as in all of his movies, the suit is almost always remanufactured for each film. One of the best things about this dvd are the special features. There is a feature that runs a little over 45 mins about the making and filming of some of the scenes. That alone is worth getting it. For the price paid here, its one of the best bargains I have ever scene aside of being free. And since the rental outlets such as Netflix and other do not carry this title for some reason, paying a small price for this is an even smaller price to own a Japanese American classic. Get it!
Finally, after years of waiting, Godzilla vs. Biollante is legally available in the United States on DVD. Miramax had previously released the film on VHS and LaserDisc in the 1990's, letterboxed as well, but those have since gone out of print. The print used here is the Japanese version, and the end credits are completely intact, just as they were for the international version released on VHS. Technically, Godzilla vs. Biollante is the only film in the Kaiju Heisei Era (1984 - 1999) to have the end credits intact for the home video release in America. Tristar and Sony truncated or cut the ending credits for the DVD and VHS releases of every film in the Heisei Era, including the Rebirth of Mothra films.Godzilla vs. Biollante has always been one of my favorite films, not just in the Godzilla franchise, but also, well, ever. It's one of the most creative entries, and the music score by Koichi Sugiyama rocks. The special effects are great and will convince any "rubber-suit" critic to give the franchise a second look, and the Godzilla suit itself (well, there were two ro three sutis total in the process of making the film) is still one of the most definitive designs for the Monster King ever conceived. The English dub, while serviceable, is definitely better than some of the later dubs for the Heisei films, and even many of the Millennium films. Previously, I had to use a bootlegg DVD that I bought at a SciFi convention in 2004 in order to watch the Japanese version, and the DVD has been acting up when the documentary starts playing (it was encoded and/ or formatted much like a VCD, although it still has chapters and subtitles, but no menus).This DVD, from Echo Bridge Entertainment, is great. The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen, and it's about on par with the Region 2 DVD from TOHO that was released years back in Japan (which the bootlegg of mine was made from), and since the source material that Echo Bridge used was also used for TOHO's own BluRay DVD, I'd say that this is the best the film will ever look, although I haven't watched the BluRay version yet. The documentary included here is almost fifty minutes in length, and while I had previously seen it on that bootlegg disc, only the main feature had subtitles, so I had no clue what was going on. Echo Bridge has thankfully provided subtitles for the documentary, as well as the other bonus feature, which is a short vignette showing various props and designs for Biollante and vehicles. Sad that no designs for Godzilla were included, but this was taken straight from TOHO's own BluRay release, so Echo Bridge didn't do any material cutting on their end. Again, this has subtitles to accompany it. Sadly, none of the trailers found on the TOHO DVD or BluRay have made their way over here, since the teaser trailer (all of the trailers were included on my 2004 bootlegg) that was first used to promote the film was very creepy and fiiting with the tone of the previous entry in the franchise: The Return of Godzilla (1984). The teaser even had colorized footage, much like Luigi Cozzi's Italian colorization of the original 1954 film. Also missing from this release is an audio commentary that was supposed to be done by Ed Godzisewski, but apparently that was still awaiting approval from TOHO, and will probably be included on future pressings of the disc.The film is presented in widescreen (hooray!) and is anamorphic for widescreen televisions. This may not seem all that important to most consumers, but up until a few years ago, many television sets used the 4:3 aspect ratio, and were very square in shape, and just as well, most companies released a lot of widescreen movies in "full screen," which was acheived by cropping or pan-and-scanning the frame so that it was square. This is also known as butchery, and Tristar's double feature DVD release of Godzilla vs. Mothra and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah featured cropped aspect ratios for the main features, even though the theatrical trailers that they included were in Widescreen and Stereo! This brings me to another nice feature of the DVD, which is that there are three language tracks. The first two are Japanese, with one being in 2.0 stereo and the other in 5.1 Surround Sound. The third track is the English dub previously found on the VHS and LaserDisc releases of the International cut from Miramax. Sadly, the English dub is presented in 1.0 Mono sound, but it still sounds okay, despite only using one audio channel. Also included are some subtitle options. Similar to those found on some anime DVDs, one set of subtitles will provide English text to translate various signs and things with Japanese writing. Stick to this for the credits, both openign and ending. The other subtitles are interesting. The first subtitle set is basically the English dub in subtitle form. The second set is a brand new translation for this release. While it is a much more accurate and direct translation than the ...
Director Kazuki Omori's "Godzilla vs. Biollante" begins immediately following the vents of "Godzilla 1984," with the King of Monsters trapped in a volcano and the Japanese government working to salvage Super-X. The fictional Middle Eastern county of Saradia obtains some of Godzilla's cells, which it's government wants to splice with plants to turn the desert into farmland. Dr. Genshiro Shiragami and his daughter, Erika, join the program, but Shiragami leaves following his daughter's death. Five years later, he's merged Erika's cells with roses and he's working on ESP. As Godzilla begins to escape his volcanic prison, Scientist Kazuhito Kirishima and Lieutenant Goro Gondo of the JSDF begin using the Godzilla cells to make "anti-nuclear bacteria" that will strip him of his powers. They persuade Shiragami to join them and he adds the Godzilla cells to the roses to create Biollante. From there, the plot follows battles between Godzilla and the new Super-X2 and two amazing fights between Godzilla and Biollante.In the second film of the Heisei period (1984–1995), director Omori successfully picks up where director Koji Hashimoto left off in "Godzilla 1984." There are parts of this film that could be silly, but Omori handles them in such a way that the audience accepts them and the story works. Even though the audience knows what's coming, the sequence of psychic children all dreaming of Godzilla's return works perfectly and still delivers a bit of a shock. The film brings back Akira Ifukube's original Godzilla theme (absent in the previous movie), which adds some nice bombast to the scenes with Godzilla. The inclusion of a Godzilla warning system recalls the definitions at the beginning of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and reflects that tradition of science fiction.On 19 July 2014, this was voted the best Godzilla film. While everyone may have their own favorite, all will find something to love about this movie.
I had heard of this movie only a few years ago. As a life long Godzilla fan this was a movie I had not seen before and I was pleasantly surprised by it. The scene where the soldier character shot Godzilla in the mouth and his line after always gets me giggling a little. If I remember correctly at the time of this movie coming out it was the first time in the series that G cells were explored a bit more and while the music choices in spots is a bit weird it's still an enjoyable movie to watch for any Godzilla fan.
This film is as good as any Godzilla film including the 1954 original! Why? Blasphemy? It is as relevant and thought provoking as was Gojira and this is what makes for a great Godzilla film. Gojira ('54) dealt with radiation exposure and nuclear war, something very much on Japan's mind after Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the nuclear proliferation madness in Russia and China. Godzilla vs Biollante concerns the misuse of genetic engineering resulting in one of the coolest monsters in film. Godzilla vs Hedorah (the Smog Monster) gave us a pollution mutation that almost wiped out the big G! Sadly only appeared in one other film and for a few measly seconds (Godzilla Final Wars). Godzilla 2000 gave us an alien organism that replicated anything it touched (can anyone say The Thing From Another World?), Orga, a truly cool and different Godzilla foe. And, one of my personal favorites, Godzilla vs Destoroyah, the 1995 film that set the stage for the horrible, awful, detestable (so bad it fits perfectly with some of the worst Godzilla films) U.S. remake in 1998, Thunder-Iguana! That is what the folks at the Sci-Fi Channel would have called it if they made it for broadcast. Destoroyah is big, bad, shape-shifting, ass-kicking, man suit of pure fun! This film had it all from ESP, to disintegrating fish, to science used for weapons, to radiation and meltdowns! Awesome!Of all the Godzilla films, Godzilla vs Biollante is perhaps the least known because it took so long for it to appear in the states and received no hype of any kind. I remember finding it in 1989 in a Blockbuster video store or some such on VHS tape. They had one copy and I had to rent it. I loved it from the first second thanks to the cheesy American acting (many of the "actors" were actually US servicemen), to the whale call singing giant rose version of Biollante. But, when the "G cells" took over and Biollante became the badass tentacled lizard thing, I fell in love. What an awesome monster! Toho outdid themselves and never received the credit or money they should have for creating such a film! Every second was pure Big G bliss. I hope this new Blu-Ray release gives this film it's due presenting us with a near perfect version to sit back and enjoy on our big screen home theaters. We didn't get it on the big screen though I wish someone would do that for us. Who knows, maybe at a G-Fest or something?Anyway, my big five Godzilla busting badasses are (in no particular order):1. Hedorah2. Orga (please give us more of him)3. Biollante4. Destoroyah (all versions of this creature)/Godzilla's nuclear reactor heart. Godzilla's melting death scenes were some of the most intense ever filmed with great special effects and music. Awesome!5. King Ghidorah. Every version of this guy is cool and is the only one to make multiple appearances against Godzilla. I wish that just once he would win a battle and stomp on some Tokyo butt once and for all!I own at least one copy of every Godzilla film. Most of them are in the original Japanese and are Japanese edits. The Return of Godzilla (Godzilla 85) is so much better without the Americans added, but, if you like campy bad acting, then Raymond Burr (a great actor) and the other Americans make the US edited version perfect. Me? I love them both!Let's hope the good folks giving us Godzilla vs Biollante will give us a Return of Godzilla (both versions) soon.