Colossal

(spoiler free)

You could be forgiven for thinking that ‘Colossal’ was going to be nothing more then the quirky sci-fi comedy that the trailers present it as. What these trailers fail to capture though is the often incredibly dark tone & the metaphorical mind melt that the film really is. Starring Anne Hathaway & Jason Sudeikis I had no idea what to expect, a feeling that continued for the entirety of the movie.

Other than it’s opening scene the film begins on a fairly dull note. The audience follow Anne Hathaway’s character in what could be a collection of scenes from any generic romantic-comedy. I can’t say I cared for Hathaway’s character or was interested in her at all, as a result I found much of the beginning to ‘Colossal’ to be rather boring. This stays the same until the monster, depicted in the posters & trailers, makes it’s first appearance. However even then when the narrative reverted back to the human drama I found it hard to conjure up any level of intrigue within myself. Despite this Hathaway does give a good performance, once the narrative picks up I was able to appreciate this more. She pulls off what very much could have been a story that just didn’t work on the big screen.  Although it’s funny man Jason Sudeikis who steals the show. In a role very far away from his usual comedic casting Sudeikis may well give his, to date, career best performance.

The performances within the film will surely be the element audiences find most agreement on. I suspect that it’s the narrative that will divide viewers. It’s certainly like nothing you’ve seen before, my favourite thing about it being just how unpredictable it was. I couldn’t even begin to guess what was going to happen from scene to scene and it was this uncertainty that drew me in and kept me gripped from this point onwards. However it is unmistakably confusing, with no clear indication as to what was meant to be taken literally and what was to be taken as metaphor. This type of vague narrative has the potential to frustrate audiences but also to provoke much discussion. So whilst being almost completely baffled for much of the film I did enjoy how open to interpretation the story was. 

‘Colossal’ is unexpected, at least in terms of it’s content. Audiences drawn in by the comedy heavy promotion may be disappointed as it’s much more than this. Starting off slow and then developing into something truly bizarre the film may leave you scratching your head, in a similar manner to that of the main character. It’s a wonderful piece of work for dissecting and exploring themes but this doesn’t always work in the form of an entertaining film. Nonetheless the two central performances sell the concept well and the uniqueness of this concept alone makes it worth seeing.

Rating – 7.5/10

Question: What is your favourite Jason Sudeikis film performance?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)

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