5 Out of 5 Stars
In a world of remakes, reboots and sequels Nacho Vigalondo’s Colossal stands alone as probably the most original thing you will see all year. The follow up to the director’s savvy techno-thriller Open Windows (2014), Colossal is a strange mash-up of genres that could have turned out much differently in less capable hands. It’s a hard film to describe without spoiling too much, but I am going to try.

Colossal focuses on Gloria (Anne Hathaway) an unemployed alcoholic who is kicked out of her trendy New York apartment by her abusive boyfriend (Dan Stevens) and forced to squat in her vacant childhood home. Its here she falls into another abusive relationship, this time with an old childhood friend who happens to own a bar that she ends up working at. Things get even worse for Gloria when a Kaiju suddenly appears out of thin air and begins attacking Seoul, Korea. It’s not long before we see a link between Gloria’s benders and the monster’s attacks, as it appears the troubled woman is somehow controlling the beast.

Tackling the weighty subject of abusive relationships while using the foil of these Kaiju attacks to take a bit of the edge off, Colossal is a surprisingly complex narrative that is engrossing as it is moving. Anne Hathaway brings a vulnerability coupled with a believability to Gloria’s plight as she keeps falling into these bad relationships with these destructive men. Thanks to a script that perfectly meshes fantasy and reality Nacho Vigalondo masterfully crafts a truly unique narrative that is perfectly executed by Hathaway and a cast who aren’t afraid of this daring and very different material.

Colossal is a film that needs to be seen to be believed with its strange premise that follows through with a compelling story about a woman rising above her abusive relationships to take a stand. It just also happens to have giant monsters. It’s the kind of movie that I wish I could see more often, that challenges the audience while making it impossible not to get swept up in its story. Colossal simply put is a sublime piece of filmmaking that feels effortless in how it pulls off its insane story that afterwords will leave you wondering what you just witnessed.