Gamera had always been the also-ran of Japan’s giant monster film industry. Made in the wake of Godzillaās success, the giant, flying, fire-breathing turtle started as most of the big critters did of that era, following The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Humans messing with what they shouldnāt wake the sleeping monster in the arctic and he goes on the normal rampageāhardly original, but not embarrassing either. Not being embarrassing didnāt last. It took Godzilla a decade to go from frightening force of nature to defender of Japan and a few years more to hit rock bottom as a plushy toy for four-year-olds. Gamera did it in a year. He became a friend to children and his films were filled with annoying kids yelling their love for Gamera. As I child I found this patronizing and irritating and nowā¦I feel more or less the same. The films dipped to lowest common denominator and kept right on going till studio Daiei went belly up in 1971.
So no one was expecting The Gamera Trilogy in the mid/late 90s. Gamera in a relatively serious film, with decent FX and non-annoying characters? The general filmmaking skill on display puts The Trilogy way above its contemporaries. And thereās several themes running through the films, including commentary on the Japanese government (it isnāt positive) and on Japanās constitutional inability to protect itself. A Gamera movie being the best Japanese daikaiju flick of the year is odd. Being the best of the decade was unthinkable. But the Trilogy starts with the best such film of the previous 30 years (and nothing better has come out since). The big turtle had finally beaten the radioactive lizard.
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)
Lieutenant Yoshinari Yonemori is part of a plutonium transport sea convoy that runs into an atoll. Overwhelmed by the near disaster, he pushes his way onto the insurance investigatorās team thatās trying to determine what happened. Meanwhile, zoologist and all-around science expert Dr. Mayumi Nagamine is pulled in by Police Inspector Osako to investigate deaths on an island. They discover giant dragon-like reptiles flying in the region which they later call gyaos. The two investigations intersect, with Gamera appearing to fight the gyaos, and the investigatorās teenage daughter, Asagi, ending up with a pendant that binds her Gamera.
Itās too bad that the title gives away that this is a Gamera film as thereās some nicely built up suspense around the mysterious atoll. But even knowing whatās coming, the detective portion of the film works well and introduces us to our human cast of likable characters that almost make a difference (this is still a Japanese monster movie, so the humans donāt really matter, but for a change they donāt just stand around looking at screens and narrating what is happening).
Nagamine makes for a strong female lead and Yonemori is noble without going overboard. And the switch from the old Gamera films where youād have cheering prepubescent āKennyā children connected to Gamera to a teenage priestess makes all the difference, and raises the stakes since she suffers when Gamera does.
The mythology alone makes this film work better than so many others in its genre. Gamera is a gyaos killer. Thatās what he is made for. He doesnāt have to be intelligent or noble and figure anything out (heās a turtle after all, so deduction should not be in his skill set). He was made to kill gyaos and thatās what he does.
By US blockbuster standards, the effects donāt shine. This is men in suits (and for the first time, a woman in the Gyaos suit), puppets, and miniatures after all, but for Japanese giant monster movies, this is the gold standard. Here and there, the FX took me out of the filmāthe young gyaosās randomly moving pupils and the animation of a high flying battleābut generally I liked the look of it.
If you dislike big monsters duking it out, or suit-mation, then Gamera: Guardian of the Universe isnāt for you, but if you have even a mild interest in the genre, this is the one to see.
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 speciesāthe launch destroying everything in a six kilometer area. Colonel Watarase is on the case, leading soldiers against the bugs. Heās aided by Midori Honami, a general purpose scientist, and her computer-savvy friend.
Attack of the Legion isnāt really a sequel to Guardian of the Universe, and thatās 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. Heās 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 sheās another young, hot, female scientist, Iām assuming they couldnāt get the actress from the first film, but didnāt 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, itās to save the Earth, but that wasnāt his job.
So, as far as the Gamera story goes, this is a detour. But it isnāt a bad one. The FX is a touch better than in the previous film. Thereās 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 ālittleā monsters as well as the giants, thereās 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. Itās amusing, though not the one to go to for your first screening.
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)
Four years earlier, Ayana Hirasakaās parents were crushed by Gamera in his fight against the gyoas. Now she lives with her uncaring aunt and uncle in a miserable little town filled with terrible teens. Within a temple, she finds, and binds with, a strange creature that is related to Gamera and the gyoas. It grows, and she sees it as her opportunity for revenge against Gamera. Elsewhere, the gyoas have returned, attacking all over the world, and Gamera’s attempts to stop them have racked up a far greater death toll than the flying lizards themselves. Elsewhere, Mayumi Nagamine is again studying the gyoas problem and trying to find a solution, and she brings back now ex-Inspector Osako and Asagi. Meanwhile, government policy is being influence by a cultist and a strange game designer.
Now this is how make a sequel. It isnāt just the same old monster battles, but an inversion of the first film. In Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, we saw a few negative side effects of a giant monster hero, but for the most part, it is clear that Gamera is great and cheerleading was the way to go. Not so here. This is about collateral damage (from monster fighting, yes, but also from any military or police activity). There are brutal and beautiful shots of Gamera mowing down thousands of people. He slips and shoots a fire ball into a coffee house. He focuses all his attention on burning a gyoas, an attack that fries everyone on the street for blocks. He stumbles into a building and it crashes down on those below. We saw the good in having a powerful weapon on our side; hereās the bad.
Everything is about side-effects. Osako was destroyed by the events of the previous two movies. Heās suffering from PTSD on the streets until Nagamine finds him. It is possible that Gamera is what has drawn the monsters to Japan, and all of the damage is what has allowed kooks access to the highest level of government. And then there is Ayanna, who is the anti-Asagi. Asagi has faith, which is easy to have when things have worked out. The cult-lady has faith too, and that doesnāt work out well. Ayana has pain and longs for revenge. When another kid tries to tell her that Gamera is her friend, I (and Ayanna) wanted to kick him in the shin.
Too bad Revenge of Iris canāt keep up that level of storytelling. For three-fourths of the runtime, only Godzilla ā54 was in its league. But the filmmakers didnāt know what to do with the ending. Thatās not surprising as while this isnāt a kids film, it still wants to play a bit in the young adult world, so it doesnāt go as dark as it needed to. We get some deaths, but the film needed more, as well as a better wrap-up for the theme. This is a very good movie, that was reaching for greatness, and couldnāt hold on. But very good will do.