Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion (1996)

A meteor shower brings the Legion to Earth: large insects along with a single true giant. They build nests, that when complete, launch a pod into space to further spread the species—the launch destroying everything in a six kilometer area. Colonel Watarase is on the case, leading soldiers against the bugs. He’s aided by Midori Honami, a general purpose scientist, and her computer-savvy friend.

Attack of the Legion isn’t really a sequel to Guardian of the Universe, and that’s its biggest flaw. The only returning human characters are Osako and Asagi, and their parts are extended cameos. The new characters are fine by daikaiju standards, but are a let down after the first film. The colonel is a generic, noble, military man. He’s fine, though forgettable. The replacement scientist is more of a problem. After strong-willed Nagamine, we get timid Honami. She hesitates before every sentence. Since she’s another young, hot, female scientist, I’m assuming they couldn’t get the actress from the first film, but didn’t rewrite anything except her name, and in order for the character to be different, they told the new actress to act scared all the time. Whatever the case, a weak woman was not the way to go.

Additionally, Legion has nothing to do with the mythology. Gamera is a gyoas fighter. So why does he show up to fight Legion? Yes, it’s to save the Earth, but that wasn’t his job.

So, as far as the Gamera story goes, this is a detour. But it isn’t a bad one. The FX is a touch better than in the previous film. There’s plenty of giant monster action (though it gets a bit silly at the end with each monster pulling secret powers out of nowhere), and the early stages of the film have some effective horror moments. And since there are lots of “little” monsters as well as the giants, there’s something for the humans to accomplish.

Note: I watch these with the Japanese language track as the dubbing was not done with care, but you can find this film with a second dubbed track, Lake Texarkana, where everyone speaks like rednecks. It’s amusing, though not the one to go to for your first screening.