Blu-ray Review Colossal Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Matt Hough

Colossal Blu-ray Review

Wonderful talents have their time (and ours) and talents wasted in Nacho Vigalondo’s inconsequential allegorical fantasy Colossal.

[review]

 

[Johnny Angell]

I think one of the problems of this film is that it was sold as a comedy. I found myself adjusting my expectations while watching. I did not like it enough to want a disc, but I liked it better than you did. I thought both Hathaway and Sudekis were very good.

 

[TravisR]

This was one of my favorites of the year.

 

[John Sparks]

Another viewer that really liked it.

 

[JohnRice]

I've watched Colossal three times, and waited until now to comment.

"Linking childhood traumas to future adult problems amounting to amateur psychology at the most primary level..."​

Sorry Matt, but you completely missed the boat on this movie. You're far from alone in that, of course. Most people seem to hate it, which isn't surprising. I tend to think that with such an odd, heavily metaphorical movie like this, you either go for the ride or you don't. It either resonates with your experiences, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, I don't know how it could be explained so that it does. In a way, it reminds me of the movie mother! The first time I saw it, I was unprepared and completely disoriented. But after thinking it through, it worked 100% the second time.

 

[Tino]

My wife and I loved this film. Thought it was hilarious too.

 

[BobO'Link]

I saw it about 6 months ago and felt like I'd wasted my time. IMHO Matt was generous with a 2/5 rating.

 

[JohnRice]

I need to clarify my comments. I'm not criticizing whether anyone likes or dislikes a movie, but I think it's extremely important to actually understand it before writing up a critique of it. Unfortunately, this critique shows that it almost 100% missed the point of the movie. It's clearly a grand metaphor, and it's a severe mistake to try and take it literally. You mentioned that Oscar is an "enigma" but seem to take that as a negative. Yes, he is an enigma, and that may be the most real aspect of the movie...

Spoiler

He is a charming, humorous, raging, abusive asshole, and yes, he probably always has been. The world is filled with people who are exactly like him, so I'm confused why that seems so wrong. The charming, quirky part of him is present when he's getting what he wants, but he's really just a vicious gaslighter, and that comes out when things aren't going his way. When he's losing control, just like it does as soon as he realizes Gloria has hooked up with Joel. It's really quite textbook behavior. Gloria's boyfriend Tim is a variation of Oscar, and I'd wager her life is filled with Oscars and Tims.

This movie requires work from the viewer. I admit, I was puzzled by it the first time, but it kept tugging at me, and I eventually went back and watched it again. That second viewing couldn't have been more different for me than the first. The second time around, everything fell right into place. It all made perfect sense. And, it IS a comedy, even if the comedy is so viciously dark that it doesn't seem that way to everyone.

Mark Kermode's review of it is excellent, like his usually are. He even says that he didn't like it as he was watching it, but then it didn't go where he expected, and he ended up really liking the actual movie. It's definitely not for everyone,but for me, after some thought and effort, it's pretty awesome.