Colossal * * *

     This film stars Anne Hathaway and huge monsters that tear up a city. If that’s not two items guaranteed to please a multiplex audience I don’t know what is.  But it’s only the art-house cinemas that have taken up Colossal and when you see it you’ll understand why.
It’s just too damn weird!

Hang Seoul. Let's have another one.

    Anne Hathaway plays a drunkard called Gloria.  Her boyfriend has had enough of her and he kicks her out. She goes back to her hometown and moves into her parents empty house.

     In the meantime news reports are coming through of a huge monster that is terrorising the city of Seoul in Korea.  No one knows where this huge monster came from but it is doing a frightening amount of damage.

      Gloria reconnects with an old friend, Oscar, and gets to know his buddies. But seeing that they drink as much as she does they’re probably not the best people to be hanging out with. Pretty soon a giant robot also appears in Seoul and terrorises the population with the monster.

Gloria and Oscar realise that this robot and monster are themselves and if they go down to the sandpit in the park at a certain time, whatever they do there will be reenacted by the monster and robot in Seoul.

      All make sense?  No, of course not.

      It’s actually quite easy to accept when you are watching it and it’s a lot of fun. There are some very funny scenes in Colossal.

      What is not so easy to accept or watch is the horrible conduct of these people when they drink to excess, especially Jason Sudeikis as Oscar who has a frightening talent of being able to do bitterness better than most.

       It’s a very clever film which has a lot more overlays than this.  Everyone is flawed and badly behaved, mostly through a refusal to take a good look at themselves..

        In fact it gives us quite a bit to think about. Using a whacky situation and symbolism rather than a sermon, it reminds us that when people behave badly the monster they become affects a lot more people and reaches a lot further than they might  think.