Film

Colossal

Name: Colossal
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Released: 2017
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson, Dan Stevens

Colossal is a wildly inventive film that fuses domestic drama with kaiju destruction—a woman's personal unraveling literally reshapes reality. It's whimsical and dark, funny and frightening, asking what it means when your inner chaos becomes everyone's catastrophe. For anyone who wants their metaphors to level city blocks.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like films that mix the gritty and the absurd, where a tight personal story carries a wild premise and the comedy keeps stinging rather than softening.

Skip it if you want a monster movie with spectacle, since the creature side stays modest and the drama leans on uneasy, sometimes abrasive conversations between its characters.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a slow build at a brisk 109 minutes, then accept a tone that swings from sharp comedy to bleak, uncomfortable stretches without warning.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Her2013

A deeply human sci-fi story about loneliness, connection, and how we use fantasy to avoid real intimacy. Like Colossal, it takes an extraordinary premise and uses it to excavate emotional truth.

But Moves slowly and quietly. If you want spectacle rather than introspection, this will test your patience.

The Lobster2015

Yorgos Lanthimos creates a surreal world where his premise is absolute law, forcing characters (and us) to reckon with its logic. That same committed weirdness defines Colossal's tone.

But The deadpan delivery and relentless bleakness alienate people looking for conventional emotion or plot momentum.

Swiss Army Man2016

A film where an absurd, impossible premise—a corpse with superpowers—becomes the vehicle for genuine loneliness and friendship. Both films trust their weird ideas completely.

But The premise is deliberately gross and ridiculous. Some viewers find it too much, too strange, too committed to its own strangeness.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Colossal

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Nope2022

Both films make the inexplicable literal; the internal crisis becomes a presence in the world that others have to reckon with. Both are fundamentally about people watching something destroy what they love.

Jordan Peele's film about two siblings confronting something inexplicable in the sky. Like Colossal, it locates cosmic horror in the specific geography of one person's damage and obsession. Same register of dread mixed with dark humor.

But Long stretches of mounting tension with minimal dialogue. Viewers expecting clear answers or conventional structure will find it frustrating and vague.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind2004

A science-fiction romance exploring how we delude ourselves in love and loss. Both films use their fantastical elements to make internal states visible and devastating.

But The nonlinear structure and melancholy tone can feel emotionally exhausting rather than satisfying.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind poster

A Monster Calls2016

A boy's grief manifests as a literal tree-monster that speaks hard truths. Like Colossal, it transforms psychological turmoil into something tangible and strange that others must witness.

But Heavily weighted toward sentiment. If you find emotional catharsis manipulative, the film's earnestness will feel saccharine.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Yorgos Lanthimos again—a film that maintains surreal logic while depicting mounting psychological horror. That tension between the ordinary and the nightmarish feels kinship with Colossal.

But Severely unsettling. The dread is relentless and the film offers no relief or hope. Not a comfortable watch.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World2012

A romantic comedy about two lonely people facing apocalypse. Both films balance catastrophe with intimate character moments, finding strange tenderness amid disaster.

But Tonal shifts between comedy and sadness can feel uneven. Some scenes aim for whimsy when the subject matter demands something heavier.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World poster

Rubber2010

A homicidal sentient tire. Like Colossal, it's a film that commits entirely to its insane premise and uses that commitment to explore something real underneath.

But Deliberately annoying. It's a provocation dressed as entertainment, and some viewers hate being provoked rather than pleased.

The Adam Project2022

A father and son form an unlikely bond against the odds of time and consequence. Both films use their high-concept framework to explore damaged people learning connection.

But Relies on earnest sentiment and a fairly conventional plot beneath its concept. Can feel overly manufactured in its emotional beats.

Shame2011

Both films refuse to soften their protagonist or their circumstances. Both show how private damage ripples outward, and how awareness of damage is not the same as stopping it.

Steve McQueen's portrait of a man whose sexual compulsion and emotional disconnection unravel his life. Not science fiction, but shares Colossal's commitment to making interior collapse visible through behavior. Devastating and precise.

But Brutally honest about addiction and shame with graphic sexual content. It's austere, unsparing, and offers no catharsis or resolution.

The King and the Mockingbird1980

Both use their fantastic premise to explore the collision between power and powerlessness, ego and insignificance. Both feature destruction as both literal and emotional event. Both are interested in how the impossible can be rendered beautiful.

Paul Grimault's hand-drawn animated fantasy about a tyrant king and a small bird—a visual marvel that's visually stunning, playfully dark, and genuinely strange. Animation allows Colossal's metaphor-made-literal idea to feel natural rather than forced.

But French animation from 1980 is a hard sell. Slow pacing, oblique storytelling, and a painted aesthetic alienate viewers expecting modern convention.