Review of Colossal (2017) by Kaptenvideo — 25 Apr 2017

A party girl unwilling to grow up (Anne Hathaway) is forced to leave her city life and move back to her little home town. She hears shocking news of giant creature threatening the capital of South Korea and comes to a realization that she is somehow connected to this phenomenon.

Also starring: Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson.

This is one of those few ’weird’ cool movies that deserve to go big. Having premiered in Toronto film festival last September and ready to attack multiplexes now, „Colossal“ offers fresh approach to monster and superhero movies, or maybe we should call it pastiche or something.

It’s a surehanded work by a guy who clearly knows and loves those genres, and feels confident about adding some stuff of his own.

Solely written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, the Spanish filmmaker perhaps best known for time-travelling mindbender „Los cronocrímenes“ (2007), it’s an experience so unexpected that I am not even sure how much if liked it.

Sure, I liked most of it while watching, and liked some of it even more after going over everything intellectually later. But sitting in cinema, I felt unsatisfied at times without being able to clearly say why.

Perhaps I just don’t buy how the story reaches its turning point and transforms one major character – although it makes much more sense in the end.

Perhaps „Colossal“ offers too many genres for its own good (monster movie, horror, drama, comedy, thriller, revenge, romance…) and the potential impact of the whole result is weakened by this. Or perhaps it was just all too original for me and I would learn to appreciate it much more on the second go?

But there’s one thing that I am sure of: „Colossal“ is bigger than sum of its parts and feels fresh even if it reminds bunch of other movies.

Most of all, Shyamalan came to mind although Vigalondo is a better writer with a better sense fo making story compact and still giving the events and characters enough room to develop and breathe.

If you only watch one ’weird’ cool mainstream-friendly movie this year, you should still pick „Get Out“, but „Colossal“ is noteworthy too.

It can thrill and surprise you, and the acting’s pretty good also. Hathaway as the leading lady actually seems a bit hammy at times, which is probably expected of her character.

The showstealer here is, surprisingly, Jason Sudeikis who feels like a supporting player for big part of the movie and then turns into something of a revelation.

I have never been ready to appreciate Sudeikis as a worthwhile addition to all the mainstream movie actors today. He is known for a bunch of forgettable comedies such as „Horrible Bosses“. At the same time, he has always felt strong enough performer and comedian in technical sense, good with lines, timing, and teamplay.

„Colossal“ gives him an unexpected chance to shine, and he doesn’t waste a single second of spotlight. I can’t speak much about why he’s so great here without giving spoilers about the story. But this kind of strong presence is surely surprising and has instantly made Sudeikis hundred times more interesting as an actor than ever before.

Here’s hoping that Vigalondo has Tarantino-like powers to make actors cool. Based on „Colossal“, I’d like to see Sudeikis turn into a star.