Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

After rising from his volcanic grave, Godzilla is threatened by a mutated rosebush.

Director:

Kazuki Ohmori

Writers:

Shinichirô Kobayashi (story), Kazuki Ohmori

Stars:

Kunihiko Mitamura, Yoshiko Tanaka, Masanobu Takashima

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kunihiko Mitamura	...	Kazuhito Kirishima
Yoshiko Tanaka	...	Asuka Okouchi
Masanobu Takashima	...	Major Sho Kuroki
Kôji Takahashi	...	Dr. Genichiro Shiragami
Tôru Minegishi	...	Lieutenant Goro Gondo
Megumi Odaka	...	Miki Saegusa
Toshiyuki Nagashima	...	Director Seiichi Yamamoto
Ryûnosuke Kaneda	...	Seizo Okouchi
Kazuma Matsubara	...	Self Defense Forces Officer
Yoshiko Kuga	...	Keiko Owada, Prime Minister's Representative
Yasunori Yuge	...	Prime Minister's Aide
Yasuko Sawaguchi	...	Erika Shiragami
Haruko Sagara	...	TV Reporter
Kôichi Ueda	...	Joint-Chief of Staff Yamaji
Kosuke Toyohara	...	Osamu Amesawa

Storyline

A scientist combines the cells of a rose with those of Godzilla to create a biological creature more horrifying than any seen before. The two do battle after a destructive tour of Japan by Godzilla. A newly released version includes many new fight scenes that were cut out of the theatrical version.

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Plot Keywords:

godzilla | kaiju | japan | tokusatsu | fictional country | 

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Taglines:

The Super-Beast Battle of the Century

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for traditional Godzilla violence

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

16 December 1989 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Godzilla vs. Biollante

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,538,198

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Toho Eizo Co., Toho Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 83 min (VHS Screener Release)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film features the return of the Maser Tanks (introduced in The War of the Gargantuas (1966)), last seen in Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and as of this film, seen in the Heisei era for the first time. They were not originally in this film's script.

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Goofs

When Kirishima is fighting the Saradian agent, the agent is able to grab his rifle. While he is taking aim, a rear view image reveals a large brown spot on the back of the agent's shirt that was not there before.

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Quotes

[on creating Biollante]
Dr. Shiragami: I think now I might have made a mistake.

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Alternate Versions

Deleted scenes:

• When Godzilla comes ashore at Abarishi a scene of him walking past a lighthouse and smashimng it with his tail was cut.
• After Godzilla's first confrontation with Biollante in Lake Ashino in the which is set ablaze by Godzilla's radioactive breath, spores from the plant creature shower the surrounding countryside causeing flowers to suddenly bloom.
• Originally Godzilla was to atack the Osaka's Kansie airport, which was under construction at the time of filming, but permission could not be obtained. Instead Godzilla and Miki engage in a telepatch battle near a heliport for the site in the Ise Channel.
• A discarded concept was to have Biollante attempt to physically absorb Godzilla during the climatic battle. This was scrapped due to time and budgetary considerations but was the concept was visualised for the climax of 'Godzilla 2000'.

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Connections

Referenced in Godzilla: Unleashed (2007)

User Reviews

One of the most unique Godzilla movies ever.

This Godzilla movie was very unique and after viewing it I have now seen every Godzilla movie ever made! This one was a mixed bag as the DVD copy I got was in Japanese with no English subtitles so I had some trouble with the plot at times, but for the most part I understand what was going on. What I have heard about this movie was for the most part true as this one was rather violent for a Godzilla movie as there are quite a few killings of people in the early stages of the movie. The fights between Godzilla and Biorante were rather cool, but were also very short as I have often read from other reviews here at IMDb. However, it has a nice story from what I understood as people at the beginning of the film are trying to get Godzilla cells for some different types of purposes. However, all is not well in Japan as at this place doing psychic research some kids have had the same vision and they are drawing pictures of Godzilla. Yes, seems that volcano from the previous movie did not finish him off, which is cool as when I saw that film as a child even though watching Godzilla die in that film made me sad I told my mother that I bet he could survive a volcano. Somehow, with the possible return of Godzilla on the horizon the military begins scrambling and I think there is discussions of making some sort of anti Godzilla weapon, I thought they said a cyborg, but I may be mistaken. Well a scientist who lost his daughter I think in a terrorist type attack near the beginning of the film is given a Godzilla cell and he combines it with a rose cell and the monster Biorante is soon born. Seeing it at first I was thinking this thing does not stand a chance against Godzilla. Well Godzilla soon starts another rampage and the military launches the super X-2 an upgrade over that vehicle that fought Godzilla in the last movie. This time they wisely made it an unmanned vehicle. Well there are fights galore and a fight between Godzilla and what amounted to a large rose bush which I give points for it being very original. Later, Biorante would come back and be one of the coolest looking Godzilla enemies ever. It also was very underdeveloped as I think they could have made the fights longer as Biorante and Godzilla just seemed to be getting warmed up and the fight was over. I just so could see Biorante as a very good villain as it is tearing up everything with its vines and overrunning Tokyo and all of Japan and the only thing that can stop it is the power of Godzilla type affair and I would even have it scoop people up with its vines and essentially eat them. I just found Biorante rather creepy even in rose bush form and I think they could have done some dark things with it. In the end it was nice to finally see this one, as I finally saw the guy who was killed that the guy in Space Godzilla wanted to avenge.