VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE is a misstep of a Japanese kaiju movie, faiing to get off the ground at all times and becoming tedious as a result. The first twenty minutes, full of academics, butterfly collectors and disaster, is quite interesting and involving, but once Varan himself shows up the pacing slows to a crawl. There's a set-piece of Varan swimming across an ocean which goes on for at least half an hour of tedious repetition, then an endless climax of him getting shot and bombed. I love Varan himself - he looks like a dinosaur version of Godzilla on steroids - but he barely does anything and by contrast the destructive humans just feel cruel. Even the Americanised version was slightly better, and it's rare for me to note that.
Review of Varan
