Being a lifelong Godzilla fan, writing about Godzilla movies is especially special to me as he is my favorite pop culture character. Reflecting about Godzilla 1985(the title for the USA cut of the film) and seeing Godzilla fall into Mount Mihara to his apparent death was really a heartbreaker for myself and I am sure other fans. I kept hoping he would return once again. And four years later, he did in the 1989 monster mash, Godzilla vs. Biollante a direct sequel to The Return of Godzilla (aka Godzilla 1984 and Godzilla 1985) was made. The movie is the second feature in the Godzilla Heisei series.
In Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla rises from Mount Mihara where had been surviving for years to once again wreak havoc on Japan. He crosses paths with Biollante, a gargantuan plant creature.
Biollante is made of Godzilla cells combined with the cells of a rose and of the late daughter of scientist Dr. Genshiro Shiragami (Kōji Takahashi, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis).
His daughter, Erika, (Yasuko Sawaguchi, The Return of Godzilla) was killed after terrorists bombed the Saradia Institute of Technology and Science in Saradia over Godzilla cells. The Godzilla cells play a key role with this film as many organizations want them with Saradian agent SSS9 (Manjot Bedi) constantly thwarting all the plans made to get the cells and killing several people. With the use of the Godzilla cells, a new plan is made to stop Godzilla with an Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria if Godzilla should return! Godzilla does return, causing mass destruction with the monster battling military forces and later his giant plant relative Kaiju Biollante with the usual explosive action. The Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria made from Godzilla cells is put into play during the climatic battle with Biollante, but will it work?
Godzilla vs. Biollante to me is a fantastic sequel, with a great new Godzilla suit, and a worthy Godzilla foe in Biollante to go with, at the time, state of the art special effects. Biollante is arguably the greatest opponent for Godzilla since the original Mechagodziila from 1974. The Kaiju fight scenes are outstanding with superb special effects. Special effects director Kowichi Kawakita (Gunhed, Ultraman 80), did an incredible job here and would continue providing the effects for the rest of this Godzilla series, giving audiences some breathtaking special effects!
This is the movie that introduced the character that Godzilla often encounters with. Psychic Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) would be a key character for the remainder of the Godzilla Heisei series interacting with Godzilla and later Godzilla, Jr.
The musical scores by Koichi Sugiyama are good, great at times, but also inconsistent with a lot of the soundtrack coming off as cartoonish. Godzilla vs. Biollante incorporates scores from Akira Ifukube who provided many of the soundtracks to the original Godzilla series, which makes for an enjoyable listening experience. Akira Ifukube would return to this series for the next four out of five films bringing with him new life to his familiar scores from the past.
The Criterion Collection has released a 4K UHD of Godzilla vs. Biollante in a 2-disc set which houses one UHD and one Blu-ray. The spiffy new cover art is by Eric Powell. This release features a new 4K digital restoration, with a 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
The image quality for Godzilla vs. Biollante is easily an upgrade over the Echo Bridge Blu-ray with stronger details and textures throughout the viewing experience. The 2160p image does come with an HDR10 grade resulting in a boost in clarity. The picture does look somewhat darker in appearance, but it works well here. Colors look sharper than ever with strong blues, browns and greens. The cinematography by Yudal Kato stands out, looking better than ever with a lot of terrific shots of the monsters and the scenery. Flesh tones look strong and accurate as well and details to both indoor and exterior shots look amazing in 4k!
For the audio the Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1 (advertised as 5.0) is strong and robust with the music, action sounds, explosions, dialogue and the monsters’ roaring audio mix to listen to and have much enjoyment. The fidelity for all the sound effects come across perfectly balanced with none of the sounds being overly aggressive or too low for that matter. During the film where English dialogue is spoken, the Japanese subtitles are forced, which I believe was the case for the previous Blu-rays of Godzilla vs. Biollante. No drop-offs or sound issues were detected. English subtitles are available.
Bonus materials for this release include:
Bonus materials for this release include:
- New audio commentary featuring film historian Samm Deighan, host of the podcast Eros.
- Making-of program from 1993 featuring director Kazuki Omori and special-effects director Koichi Kawakita, among others
- Short documentary from 1993 about the Biollante and Super X2 vehicle concept
- Deleted special effects
- TV spots and trailers
- New English subtitle translation
- An essay by science-fiction and horror film expert Jim Cirronella.
There is really no reason for any Godzilla fan not to pick this great release up. Both the audio and video are as good as it gets with some supplemental materials to boot. To me this is a superior release and hopefully there will be more Godzilla movies coming to 4K in the USA down the road from Criterion. Highly recommended!
Godzilla vs Biollante
Director – Kazuki Omori
Cast- Kunihiko Mitamura, Megumi Odaka, Kōji Takahashi
Country of Origin-Japan
Distributor – The Criterion Collection
Number of Discs –2 (one Blu-ray, one DVD)
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –3/18/2025