ReviewFilm review: Colossal – Anne Hathaway tackles Godzilla-sized issues in offbeat romantic comedy
Director Nacho Vigalondo tethers absurd science fiction to very real social problems as Hathaway, playing a struggling alcoholic in a small US town, starts to realise she has something to do with giant monster attacks in South Korea
3/5 stars
Addiction can be destructive, to ourselves and those around us – but in Colossal, a young New Yorker’s drinking problem has far more cataclysmic repercussions when it manifests as a rampaging mythological Godzilla-like monster on the other side of the planet.
Anne Hathaway plays Gloria, a struggling alcoholic who flees New York City for her small hometown after her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) kicks her out. Falling in with Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), a childhood friend and bar owner, she continues to sink her problems to the bottom of a beer bottle.
But when a giant otherworldly monster materialises in Seoul, in South Korea, laying waste to city blocks and putting countless lives at risk, Gloria begins to suspect that she – or more specifically, her drinking – might somehow be to blame.
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Written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes), Colossal presents a wildly original concept that tethers absurd science fiction to very real social problems, all within the guise of an offbeat romantic comedy.