A unique and wholly engrossing mishmash of genre and style, Colossal establishes director Nacho Vigalondo as a creative filmmaker of innovative skill, while giving platform to Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudekis who deliver entertainingly complex performances.

Cloverfield brought back the giant monster movie in a big way, and by and large subsequent takes on the popular sub-genre (Troll Hunter, Godzilla) have been a success. But they are not Colossal. Sure, many of the classic elements is there: Big monster. Metropolitan city. Chaos and destruction. Yet it’s in the wide-ranging differences where Colossal stakes its claim as one of the better and unique monster movies to stomp its way across the big screen.

The film stars Anne Hathaway as Gloria, an unemployed writer whose hard-drinking tendencies results in her getting dumped by boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens). With tail between her legs she returns to her hometown. There she reconnects with childhood friend Joel (Jason Sudekis), with whom a strange relationship begins to form when Gloria realises that she is somehow connected to a giant monster attacking the South Korean city of Seoul.

Although its premise is most certainly wacky, Colossal contains much in the way of humour and grounded emotion to make it a very human story that delves into big issues. The theme of being “drunk with power” is one that is especially transparent, yet never overcooked or preachy, Vigalondo taking his penchant for taking creative thematic and visual approaches to genres that certainly could use a good shake up now and again. That the film can swing from relationship comedy to dark thriller as quickly as a swig from a beer bottle, says quite a lot about Vigalondo’s skill with pace and story. That it ends with a joke says even more about his daring to mess with genre tropes.

The casting of Anne Hathaway is a masterstroke, the Oscar winner reminding of her penchant for comedy with a goofy cool performance as a drunkard whose life is a literal wreck. Hathaway previously portrayed a know it all drunk in Rachel Getting Married, yet this time she carefully avoids resurrecting the pretentious annoying tone of that role, opting for an oblivious wrecking ball whose oddball charms matches her brazen behaviour.

The real surprise is Jason Sudekis. Known more for Saturday Night Live and varied comedic performances in film since then, Sudekis takes his easy going laid back every man charm and twists it into a figure of anger and desperation. There is a long history of comedic actors taking on dark turns, ranging from Robin Williams in One Hour Photo to Dane Cook in Mr. Brooks. Sudekis’ performance deserves to be in the top heap of that list.

Yet such is the strength of Colossal. Vigalondo takes the conventional and twists and turns them into interesting and engrossing new avenues to explore and embrace. The talented Spaniard has done quite the job with the monster movie. It’ll be interesting to see if a studio will allow him to work his magic on a monster of a blockbuster.