Colossal turns monsters into monsters.

How far will that drink take you?

Ant
Ant
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

This is a film I was VERY keen to see when the trailers first dropped, but then work, life, and other movies got in the way.

Colossal stars Anne Hathaway as Gloria, a writer in New York whose life is in shambles. For starters, she isn’t actually a writer, but a “writer” — she’s been unemployed for months. She’s also a raging alcoholic. Her boyfriend leaves her, so with no other prospects left in New York, she returns to her home town and reunites with Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), who were friends as kids. He runs a local bar — great news for an alcoholic.

Oscar is a nice fella, he gives Gloria furniture for her house, and even gives her a job at the bar. He welcomes her into his circle of (hard drinkin’) friends. Things are looking up-ish for Gloria. I mean, she’s still having blackouts and stumbling home drunk through children’s playgrounds at 8am. But she’s working!

Then, shocking news — a giant monster has been devastating Seoul. It seems to some from nowhere. Except we quickly learn the truth — Gloria is controlling the monster, remotely. Whatever she does, it does. She’s going to have to stop her path towards self-destruction, before she destroys Seoul.

Grrrrrr, arrrrg!

When you’re focused on your own problems, it can be hard to comprehend just how damaging your behaviour is to those around you. That’s the monster of Colossal. While Gloria pretends that everything’s just fine and dandy — she has a job, she tells her ex boyfriend over the phone! She has friends! — reality is anything but. And the movie uses something fantastic to bring that reality to life.

Not helping her much are her newfound friends, but especially Oscar. They’re enablers. I’ve been around too many. People who are fun, for a while. They’re nice to be around when you’re all on the same level. But soon you realise that you don’t really have anything in common except getting wasted. These people look down on and mock those who can’t or won’t keep up. As long as you’re wallowing in the shit with them you’re a best mate, but as soon as you want to better yourself it’s emotional manipulation time.

Suffice to say, the reality side of Colossal was very, very familiar to me.

Tone-wise, the movie reminded me a lot of Ghostbusters. It’s a blend of rather dry comedy with the backdrop of deadly serious, supernatural goings-on. Even the music is kind of similar, at least for the first half of the movie.

I love the scenes where Gloria is experimenting with the monster. And it’s great that rather than have a scene where Gloria tries to explain what’s going on to her friends, she just shows them all instead. Setting aside the fantastical premise, the characters all behave believably.

Funnily enough, by the final act the drama between the characters is much more interesting to watch than the giant monster battles. I would have been happy to see 30% less fantasy monster in the back half and more of Hathaway and Sudeikis dealing with their actual demons.

Gloria’s turnaround from out-of-control to completely centered and in control is completely believable. There’s no magic moment, instead it’s just revealed that she hasn’t had a drink in days. I’m not always the biggest fan of Anne Hathaway, but she’s awesome here.

Colossal sets up a high concept drama-comedy, and then kicking you in the gut for laughing. It’s one of those movies that will be fun for a lot of people, but incredibly poignant for some.

Every Day Is Movies

I watch a movie every day in 2017, then write about each one. It seems like a good idea here in 2016.

Ant

Written by

Ant

Every Day Is Movies

I watch a movie every day in 2017, then write about each one. It seems like a good idea here in 2016.

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