- Directed by: Kazuko Omori, Koji Hashimoto, Kenjiro Ohmori
- Written by: Shinichiro Kobayashi, Kazuki Omori
- Stars: Kunihiko Mitamura, Yoshiko Tanaka, Masanobu Takashima
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tSl0A5oPz4
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Who knew that Godzilla would be back? After he was trapped in a volcano in the last movie, years have passed, and a scientist has accidentally created a giant plant/animal hybrid monster. Surprising no one, they fight. The budget is bigger, the effects are a little better, and the story moves well. It’s a good entry in the series.
Spoilery Synopsis
Credits roll as we see clips from the previous film, “The Return of Godzilla” (1984). Afterward, scientists pick up some of Godzilla’s skin from the wreckage and take it to be examined. There’s suddenly a shootout between a group of soldiers and another group. The winning group is killed by a lone assassin, who takes the sample.
We see that man again on a boat heading to a biotechnology laboratory in an oil-producing country. They hope to splice the cells with a fast-growing grain to end world hunger. Suddenly, there’s an explosion and Erika, Dr. Shiragami’s daughter is killed.
Five years later, Shiragami has been working with ESP and roses. Miki may be able to communicate with plants. His group is being spied on by the Americans, who may be planning to steal their discoveries. Asuka and her boyfriend, Kirishima, go to the Godzilla Memorial Lounge to talk about his going to MIT to study.
Meanwhile, a volcano is threatening to erupt on an island nearby. All the children at a school have had the same dream, that Godzilla is coming back. Miki believes that Godzilla has awakened. Gondo is the man tasked with watching the island for Godzilla’s return, and he’s looking for job security.
The scientists have invented a bacteria that eats nuclear material for use if there was ever a nuclear material. They think they might be able to use that against Godzilla. They need the Godzilla cells to create the final product. They go to Dr. Shiragami for help, and he turns them down because of his daughter’s death; he eventually changes his mind under the condition that he can use some of the Godzilla cells for his own side project.
Dr. Shiragami starts working with the cells. He also does something with the cells of the telepathic roses. He combines the two types of cells into something new. Kirishima warns that this thing could possibly evolve to be worse than Godzilla.
Meanwhile, the Super X-2 has been completed. It’s a new and improved version of the one in the previous film. It’s got a new kind of weapon that can reflect Godzilla’s heat ray.
The two Americans break into the lab and try to steal the plans for the anti-radiation bacteria, but then the newly designed creature kills them both.
The next morning, Shiragami tells Kirishima what he’s done and admits it might have been a mistake. A competing company, BioMajor, demands the bacteria or they’ll blow up the mountain that restrains Godzilla.
Suddenly, a monstrous thing with a rose on its head appears in the nearby lake. Kirishima, Shiragami, Asuka, and Miki go to see it. “That plant has a human spirit,” says Shiragami. Miki says dead-Erika’s spirit is in there.
The ransom switch at BioTech goes badly. Godzilla is released from the volcano, and the assassin from earlier gets the radiation-eating bacteria. The navy can’t do anything to stop Godzilla, so they launch the Super X-2.
Miki and Asuka report to Shiragami that they can’t detect any of Erika inside the new plant-monster. It knows Godzilla is coming, though, and heads in his direction.
The two monsters finally meet. There’s lots of staring and explosions as they fight. Biollante is eventually defeated and burns up in a fiery blaze. No, Shirigama says it can’t die, it’s immortal.
Godzilla, on the other hand, has used a lot of energy fighting Biollante and Super X-2, so it’s going to head toward a nuclear reactor to refuel. The military predicts the wrong target, leaving Osaka with no defenses.
Godzilla closes in on Osaka, but Miki concentrates with her plant-ESP. Will it work on Godzilla? They come face to face, but Miki faints. Gondo and Kirishima arrive in town and go to the Sarandia Oil Company, the people who stole the bacteria. They retrieve it far too easily. The head of Sarandia calls his assassin in to take out Shiragami.
Godzilla rampages through Osaka. Super X-2 arrives to fight, but the secret weapon is broken and won’t work. They unload everything they have, but it’s not enough; they crash. Gondo shoots bazookas full of the radiation-eating bacteria and makes wisecracks until Godzilla drops a building on him.
The bacteria isn’t working on Godzilla fast enough. It should have been lethal, but it’s not working. That might be due to Godzilla’s low body temperature. Major Kuroki thinks he knows of an experimental device that does something with thunder that they can use to raise Godzilla’s body temperature.
They use the TC weapon to make Godzilla heat up with generated lightning. The bacteria still isn’t working.
Miki runs outside and uses her ESP to make Biollante-dust rain down from the sky. The plant creature re-integrates and attacks Godzilla. Biollante is evolving and changing into a huge, tentacled thing. Lots of tentacles, more than Godzilla can deal with. He’s way bigger and tougher than Godzilla, and it’s looking bad for our favorite lizard.
Godzilla turns and heads back to the ocean, but falls down before he can get there. The bacteria has finally taken effect. Billante then turns back into glowing spores and goes up into the sky. We see dead-Erika’s face as he ascends. Dr. Shiragami is then shot in the back by the assassin. Kirishima takes off after him, but the baddie is finished off by the lightning machine.
Everyone watches as Godzilla gets back up; the ocean must have made his body temperature drop again. He marches back off to his home…
Brian’s Commentary
This one has moved on from the talky, suspense-filled previous episodes and is paced much more like an action movie. The pumped-up soundtrack makes this obvious in the opening scenes.
There is some early CGI graphics used for maps and diagrams, sometimes in 3D, which were probably really cool at the time. The monster and all the important stuff is still done with miniatures and men in suits, but the computer age was coming.
In a 2014 poll of Japanese fans, this was ranked the best of all the Godzilla movies. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but this one of the better ones.
Kevin’s Commentary
It kind of felt like the movie happened in the first hour. But then there was more. It had a bigger budget this time around, the biggest budget of a Godzilla movie up to this point, and it shows. It is still a guy in a big rubber suit, but they’ve come a long way since the 1950s. This one is pretty good.