Gamera 2 : L'Attaque de la Légion

The second part of the Gamera trilogy is a very enjoyable movie! On one hand, it successfully imports the trademarks of the 70s (focussing more on the monster battle than on the human characters), but stylistically it is up-to-date for the 90s with its fast editing, cutting to photos and different locations all the time - that provides the bizarre action (come on, a turtle with jet engines?) with a realistic CNN report look. The 100 speedy minutes feel like 80. Gamera battles a giant crab (similar to actual giant crabs of the Pacific Ocean) and a swarm of smaller monsters here which may break out of the ground any moment - pretty effective compared to the monsters of old days who used to walk across the country so you could see them coming from miles away. When Gamera is covered by thousand of small creatures, the agony is almost tangible. Also, this time we have not much treachery, wickedness, ignorance or controversy among the humans - they all agree Gamera is the one who deserves support and it's a well organized co-operation this time.

...at least IMNSHO. It was high time someone thought up an insect kaiju that could be tough,scary,and interesting(Kumonga,Mothra and Kamacuras? Give me a break.Only Megaguirus came close to being interesting.) There was so much to like about this movie-intelligent dialog(even after the dubbing),great fight scenes,and the fact that the emphasis was placed on the monsters,and not the actors. No silly new "ultimate monster fighting weapon that gets trashed in 30 seconds"-just get those idiots from the JSDF out of the way,and let Gamera take care of business.But the big G had his hands full here-the Legion swarm were bad enough,but the mother creature was awesome,and didn't roll over when she got hurt. The mandible blasts were great,but those red "whip" beams that went right thru Gamera were awesome. I even liked the Legion's voice-it sounded like a rusty gate opening! Gamera was incredible,and that fireball slide trick he did was the bomb. With a new Gamera movie coming out next year,and Toho making it plain from the ending of Godzilla:Final Wars that they have no intention of waiting 5-10 years for a new Godzilla movie,I,along with many other kaiju fans,demand that Toho and Deiei quit fooling around,and make the deal-Godzilla vs.Gamera.What else is left?

Gamera 2: Advent of Legion is really good. Not perfect, and not as good as Gamera 3, but still pretty good. The movie uses several innovative techniques new to the kaiju world. For example, the movie introduces the human-sized legions as a horror element. They attack (and actually kill, something rare in kaiju films), the people on a commuter train. And it has pretty good marionetes. The mother Legion itself looks pretty good and has remarkable mobility for a creature of its size. If you compare it to Destroyah...well, no contest. Gamera looks different too, and has a new mode of flight. His hands transform into flippers when he flies. This is a controversial change, to say the least, but I think it looks ok. Anyway, I think there is enough good stuff about this movie to purchase it. A step up from Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe and a step up from the Godzilla series. Don't worry Godzilla fans, Godzilla can still make the best destruction films, but for an actually GOOD kaiju movie, check this one out. But if you want the best go for Gamera 3...

I must say, I picked this one up expecting it to be just another Japanese rubber suit monster movie and thought it might be a bit of a laugh in that 'so bad its good' type of way. I was surprised however to find a very decent film which kept me engaged from the beginning, with a logical and 'plausible' storyline (if you can suspend disbelief when it comes to pre-historic flying turtles stomping their way through miniature cities etc.) and a decent script. The special effects are also pretty good, even though the main protagonists are of the 'men in rubber suits' variety. The only problem is, I'm now going to have to go and hunt down the other 2 installments! I've watched many worse Hollywood films recently and would recommend this to anyone who likes a good 'creature feature'.

For years now, all I've had was the original Japanese language version, without subtitles, thinking this is the best giant monster film to ever come along. Now, after seeing it subtitled, I believe it's easily the best of the 3 new Gamera films. The situations involving people, are well integrated with the story, and kept in proximity to the action. Legion, the giant insect-like crustacean, is the best monster ever to come out of Japan. It's also one of the most articulated creatures ever designed. The icing on the eiga, is the great CGI effects, like the animated lasers Legion emits, and Gamera's fire-balls. Suspension of disbelief is not a problem. The most amazing thing is, that they were able to take what was ludicrous camp in the extreme, and succeeded in making it respectable art. You'll believe a giant prehistoric saber-toothed fire-breathing turtle, CAN fly !