Doesn't it feel gratifying after walking out of a film that has good story & characters? You will experience so after watching Nacho Vigalondo's Colossal.
As the picture opens, you are introduced to 2 huge events. The first is a physical one, revolving the emergence of a Kaiju in Seoul, Korea. The second is an emotional affair, concerning our protagonist's comfort zone turning upside down. With these, the title card is introduced. It is always delightful to see smart writings as such being translated onto silver screens!
Post this, you would go on to learn about Gloria, personated excellently by Anne Hathaway! She lies, she's unemployed, careless, irresponsible, forgetful and clumsy. But, all these stem from one habit she possesses - booze addiction. And this story is about her overcoming alcoholism and regaining control of herself. Due to this one wont that gives birth to many other negatives alike, she gets to see how others easily dominates, precepts or looks down on her. On the other hand, she also witnesses the potential danger she could bring to other people, since she is also… the Kaiju aforementioned!
Yes, this is an original notion that would go down in the history of cinema to be first of its kind. The sequences where Gloria is initially exposed to the tragedy that's been transpiring in Seoul, up till the point where she finds and proves connection between her and the monster's physical actions are staggeringly fun! The plot is kicker on its own! Because of the lives she took unintentionally as the monster, it imprints a permanent mark on her character, bending the arc to make her quit alcohol intake. She starts taking responsibility instead.
Jason Sudeikis plays Oscar, Gloria's childhood friend. At first, his gestures and kindness are admirable. But from the moment he learns that Gloria is the centre of attention as the monster, you'll notice a swift change in him. Things turn worse when he realizes that he is the robot. As the story progresses, you'll begin to learn that he isn't happy with his small life in the small town he lives in. He hates himself. He hates his life. As a reflective result, he is jealous of others, especially of Gloria, rooted since young age! Although he is the one doing everything for her, she is interested with someone else and not him per say. With all these as background fuel, he starts forcing Gloria to be with him and faking an amazing life by misusing the powers granted. All these throw extremely formidable challenges & conflicts for our lady hero! No wonder the first time they met, there's an unspoken discomfort. Trace back his kind gestures, it's all part of reigning over her. He is very good at camouflaging malevolence under kindness, as he does from young.
Sequences after sequences, the writers have ensured strong penmanship! The way the characters are setup to meet each other is so organic and natural! Using past memory to signify that characters already know each other, and introducing one's acquaintances to the other is a damned good technique! Through Garth (Tim Blake Nelson), we hear the most logical arguments one could put forth regarding the monster, like it's being remote-controlled by something afar since it isn't responding to the surroundings like it's present there or the potential doubts that would have surfaced due to the Kaiju writing the exact same message given by the translator. Very thoroughly thought of, to be honest. Not many screenwriters take the extra mile effort to do such a thing.
Gloria rolling herself in the inflated mattress, Oscar lighting up fire crackers inside his bar, Kaiju penning a message down on the empty field, Gloria and monster dancing simultaneously, "Not a s-e-oul" pun and thug life meme are just superb segments! Kaiju's design is terrific and the computer graphics work is great! The way it vanishes into thin air via lightning is innovative! Narrating myriad people being stepped to death through sound effect is awesome!
Counteraction at the climax is the best ending one could possibly think of, because the scenario is a two-way channel! If analogically appearing in Middle America can pop a monster out at Seoul, Korea, the exact reverse could happen if the exact reverse is done! With this being said, the robot's defeat doesn't make sense because as the Kaiju holds Oscar and flung him away, Gloria would have needed to hold the robot in hand too for the former incident to take place. Also, crazy amount of killings are experienced daily at that one particular location in Seoul. So, why aren't citizens blocked from accessing the venue? And of course, the part where the script tries to explain how did the connection emerge in the first place is definitely not buyable. But this is not the film's point, therefore it doesn't matter. The story is about both Gloria and Oscar facing off each other's insecurities. Here comes a nit-picky complaint - there's one dubbing off-sync in a bar clip which lasts about a second.
Ultimately, if you zoom out, the script poses a lot of questions to us, the audiences. What defines a person's character? Even if you're a monster, it's about the choices you make that shows who you really are. The way one acts when in power will tell everything we need to know about him or her. Before leaving, it'll prompt you to wonder whether all these events, in actuality, have been happening inside the protagonist's state of drunk? Was it all a virtual force to make her quit alcohol addiction? Or simply, the resolution is testing whether she has really overcome the temptations? Open the floor to interpretations!