They say Hollywood doesn’t produce original movies any more. Ha! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you ‘Colossal’. While it may draw inspiration from the likes of 'Godzilla', I can assure you that’s where the comparisons end.
Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is an alcoholic who’s just been dumped by her fed-up boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens). With no money and no job, Gloria has no choice but to move back to her hometown and set up shop in her parents' abandoned house while she gets her shit back together. Running into childhood friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), Gloria is given a boost when he offers her furniture, a job at his bar and new friends - but after a giant monster starts to appear in Seoul, South Korea, Gloria starts to notice a few too many similarities between herself and the creature, and discovers that at 8:05am every morning she has the ability to become a city-crushing monster using a community playground.
'COLOSSAL' TRAILER
Intrigued yet? Damn right you are. Described as an action/comedy, the marketing team might be overreaching just a tad. ‘Colossal’ isn’t exactly LOL-tastic and ends up being more funny-strange. The film also takes a pretty dark turn around the half-way mark that it never quite returns from. Don’t get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing, I just feel you need to know what you’re walking into.
Once the fun of this fantastic concept runs its course the film takes an expected turn and delves head-first into new and unchartered depths. We discover that, while a colossal beast is terrorising Seoul, the real beasts are actually the humans back home and inside ourselves. Hathaway produces a brilliant and fierce performance that, much like her character’s nervous tick, left me scratching my head when I first heard about it - but god bless that woman, she proved me wrong. Also serving as a producer on the film, Hathaway has well and truly taken charge. Despite the main cast featuring just one woman and four men, this is all about the girl power.
Intrigued yet? Damn right you are.
Battling inner demons with outer demons, this quirky monster flick has taken the genre from C-grade to A-grade and it’s not just because of the cast. Writer/director Nacho Vigalondo (‘Open Windows’) has given us something truly unique here that's sure to become a beloved cult classic.