This was a great new take on the kaiju genre, although in my limited knowledge, I’m sure the premise Colossal uses has been done before. I just never saw it in the hours of Ultraman, Johnny Sokko (sic), Spectreman, etc.
The premise? It’s shown in the trailers. Gloria is an unemployed alcoholic who is evicted by her (now) ex-boyfriend. Her hometown is the only place she can go to. After moving into her parents’ vacant house, Gloria runs into Oscar, an old classmate. Unfortunately, Oscar also owns a bar which continues to fuel Gloria’s drinking followed by blackouts. One morning she catches the news and the top story is a kaiju stomping around Seoul. It’s horrifying but it’s a world away to her until she notices it imitating her nervous gesture (scratching her scalp). This leads Gloria into piecing together the connection between her and the monster, along with convincing Oscar and his friends.
I’ll stop there because Colossal has a couple more surprises you have to see.
I was very glad to see Anne Hathaway getting to do something unusual after a career of playing princesses for Disney. She’s a great actress with a good sense of humor. Jason Sudeikis is equally strong as Oscar, her initial enabler. The focus really isn’t on the kaiju elements anyway. It’s really more about whether or not you “can go home again” after being away for years; breaking out of self-destruction; and maybe finding out what people are truly like after you’ve had incorrect memories. It is funny. It is clever. It deserves to earn a larger audience when it hits cable, streaming and DVD. Again, stick with it, the last act will surprise you.
Alamo Extras: Trailer for Banana Monster, Big Man Japan, War of the Gargantuans and King Kong (1939); Director Nacho Vigalondo states what were the movie’s influences: Young Adult and War of the Gargantuans; beer song that was used for Trainspotting; Asia PSA to get people to stop drinking; a cat v. a dog; Jason Sudeikis being asked what movie would he like to remake, answer, The Third Man; Japanese comedy bit involving kaiju having human problems; ads for Korean exercise gear and Japanese whiffle ball.