I suppose there's a reason why Netflix has the best film selection while Hulu specializes in television. I just recently got Hulu and saw that Colossal was available for streaming. After hearing about this movie from the festival circuit a few years back, I finally got around to checking it out. And now I see the reason why I haven't really heard much about it since its release. Even though this movie contains some decent performances from huge stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, I simply fail to see what it is about this film that fans of independent cinema seem to enjoy. A half-assed concept of a story and incredibly confusing themes to the point of almost being nonexistent, I now completely understand why this movie fell off my radar, despite the talent that I thought would be utilized much better.
This movie revolves around Gloria (Anne Hathaway), a drunken New York party girl who moves back to her hometown after getting broken up with by her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens). As she reconnects with an old friend named Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), a massive tree monster is reported attacking Seoul, South Korea. The attacks start to become personal for Gloria and the more often they happen, the more she realizes that these events may not be so coincidental after all. This sounds like an original premise for a film that could be flushed out with so many great themes, but that is not unfortunately what we got. Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, this movie plays out like a weird daydream. The idea that a girl blacking out from getting drunk and simultaneously causing a monster to attack Asia seems like something that an imaginative and bored child might think up. Which adds more fuel to the fire when it's realized that it only happens as Gloria blacks out in the small park near her childhood home. This film could have touched on so many more themes like discovering value in your past or clearing up old grudges, but the story danced around what it was trying to say for its entire runtime. Vigalondo also was not able to pick a tone and stick with it at all. Shifting from comedy to dark monster drama made the film feel uneasy. One good thing about the script that I can say is that it was wildly unpredictable. It did not follow a typical plotline and introduced some strange design elements throughout the film that made it decently watchable.
For a film with a $15 million budget, I was surprised at how good the huge monsters looked. While they were quite obviously CGI and not up to par with the massive blockbusters of recent years, I enjoyed the limited look at the Groot ripoff and later in the film, the evil robot that Oscar ended up controlling. I honestly feel like if Vigalondo were to put his entire effort into making a monster film with these two leads then it would have been much better, but the offbeat addition of the humor and romance of the film kept throwing me off. Especially with Gloria and Tim's plotline, as she gets broken up with and eventually goes back to him simply to avoid Oscar's weirdly unnecessary grudges. The film did not treat its main character as a strong woman, as I was frankly expecting, especially with a performance from an actress like Hathaway. Her and Sudeikis' performances were actually some of the best parts of the movie. While she brought her signature snark and spunk, I was surprised at Sudeikis' antagonistic performance. Known for his dry, comedic roles, I nearly believed him in the role of a bad guy. However, the performances and good use of design were not enough to keep this movie out of the unrefined area of cinema, bordering on the line of indie and just plain lazy.
This quirky film is a massive, ginormous, dare I say colossal, hit or miss and it definitely flew past me. Colossal is one of those strange indie films that you desperately want to like due to its original premise but fail to be entertained by due to its lack of focus. I would not recommend this, as you will feel as indifferent about it once it's over as you did in the start.
My Rating: ★★½
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