Colossal is written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo and stars Anne Hathaway as Gloria, an alcoholic who, after being kicked out of her boyfriend's apartment, moves back to the town she grew up in and stays at her parents old house while struggling to pull herself together and sort her life out. Meanwhile, there's breaking news of a monster attacking the city of Seoul in South Korea and Gloria slowly realises that she's somehow connected to it. Suddenly, a giant robot appears alongside the monster and Gloria must figure out how to defeat it and protect those in danger! It's like, a metaphor or something...
There's a great film in here somewhere and it's a great idea but the way it's executed is very underwhelming, it's hit and miss with a premise like this and unfortunately it missed. It's unfortunate because I appreciate the originality here but it lacks any impact, it all takes place in the reality of the world they create but it's metaphorical impact was weak, it's connection to the protagonist was ultimately inconsequential and character-wise I didn't like any of the characters, I didn't like Gloria and I didn't like anyone else, there was nothing to be invested in with anyone and it's all surface level stuff, it's without depth!
Colossal's supposedly a black comedy as well which I was surprised about because literally nothing even close to funny happens at any point in the film! If they were going for funny they fucking failed horribly, science fiction? Sure, fantasy? Sure, drama? Sure, comedy? Yeah, no, not even close! It's not a terrible film, I was engaged I suppose but at no point does it pay off and I wasn't invested in these characters either, I didn't like Anne Hathaway in this role and I wasn't sold on her performance, I wasn't rooting for her and I didn't even like the character, I found her irritating and completely uninteresting.
There's a lot of elements in Colossal which didn't really need to be there, Gloria's relationship with her boyfriend, what was the point of that? How did that serve the narrative and why should I give a fuck? Gloria's fling with Joel, again, was there a point to it and if so, what was it? The antagonist felt completely forced as well, he seems fine then he turns evil all of a sudden and there are flashbacks to when they were kids but why is the main question? Gloria's struggle with alcohol, you'd think there was a metaphor there in relation to the monster but there isn't, it's just badly connected surface level material.
Like I said, there's a good film in here somewhere, a great film! This isn't it though, it's a lesser version of I Kill Giants which, although I wasn't a huge fan of, takes it's concept and does something with it, the metaphorical aspect of Colossal which should be the heart of it just wasn't effective and it might not have even been there at all! I wasn't invested in these characters, the narrative was weak, there's no emotional impact and it definitely wasn't funny, it's funny that they thought it was a comedy I suppose! I'm gonna give Colossal 5.5/10, it's a waste of an interesting idea.
What did you think of Colossal?
