YMMV / Colossal

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Joel seems like a much nicer person than Oscar overall, but it's worth noting that he offers minimal-to-no resistance to any of Oscar's more destructive actions, not even speaking out against them. Even when Oscar and Gloria are fighting on the ground, he does nothing but ineffectually tell them to stop - and although Gloria's fearful and dismayed by Oscar's sudden gift of furnishings, Joel sees this as a peace offering that makes up for everything. There's also the possibility that he might just not see Oscar for what he is and truly consider the gifts a solution, all playing into the interpretation of him having some sort of undiagnosed disorder.
  • There is also a possibility that Joel, clearly being a weak willed person, was already a victim of Oscar's abusive and controlling tendencies. His lack or resistance could very well be because he simply can't say no to Oscar.
  • Given Gloria's memory problems, the fact her flashback self seems to realize what Oscar is doing before he smashes the diorama, the fact she remembers very little about him and their friendship compared to how much he remembers about her, and the above-mentioned likelihood that Joel was also a victim of his abuse, its highly likely that he had been openly abusive in their youth and she's merely forgotten what he was like, instead of them actually being childhood friends. Its not uncommon for bullies and their victims to mis-remember one-another as actually being a friend because of a nostalgia filter, and given her memory problems likely date back to the incident that created their monsters, its highly likely Oscar is aware she has a shit memory for details given he's immediately taking advantage of it.
• Catharsis Factor: Gloria flies to Seoul so that her kaiju avatar will appear in her hometown instead right as Oscar is about to try intentionally smashing up South Korea, and she watches his robot avatar to get an idea of where he is on the other side of the world. She grabs him, putting him at her mercy and he turns into a blubbering wreck begging her not to kill him, but still insults her in the process. She hurls him into the distance, killing him and destroying his avatar, which basically the entire world cheers at. The bastard had it coming.
• Complete Monster: Oscar is a childhood friend of Gloria's, getting her a job at his bar and inviting him to his circle of friends. When Gloria discovers she has a giant monster avatar, Oscar's true colors quickly show, from threatening to beat up his friend Joel; ending another friendship in a drunken argument; and mocking Gloria's remorse for the accidental destruction she causes. Oscar discovers he has a mechanical avatar of his own, making himself feel special. Revealing himself to be a controlling and entitled stalker to Gloria, he demonstrates his hold over her by setting off fireworks in his bar to intimidate her ex, gloating that she'll never leave him. When Gloria stand up to him, Oscar beats her down, forcing her to watch as he has his avatar rampage through Seoul, killing hundreds of people; he threatens further rampages for every day that Gloria isn't with him, a threat he attempts to make good on and start off by attempting to crush a child to death.
• He Really Can Act: It's quite unexpected for Jason Sudeikis to be in a dramatic role let alone a villainous one and pull it off.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Oscar is revealed to have violent temper fits - it's a little funny that his monster isn't an angry bird.
• Moral Event Horizon: Oscar really crosses the line after he beats up Gloria and murders hundreds of innocent people before her eyes- or before the Kaiju's eyes- just to emotionally blackmail her into being with him.
• Nightmare Fuel: The mere concept of someone as petty, sadistic, and monstrous as Oscar having a kaiju avatar.
  • Notably, when a group of kaiju fans were informally polled as to which kaiju they found they found scariest out of the whole genre, those who had watched this film said that they found Oscar just as terrifying as the Shin and GMK Godzillas and the Monsterverse version of Ghidorah, if not even more so. For those with little knowledge of kaiju, Oscar is being ranked with a Godzilla who is basically a giant, walking Body Horror-ridden tumor that effortlessly wrecks most of Tokyo, a Godzilla who is an actively-malevolent, sadistic Undead Abomination possessed by all the innocents who died in the Pacific Theater, and an alien Draconic Abomination Planet Destroyer who wipes out entire worlds' biospheres For the Evulz.