GAMERA 2: ATTACK OF LEGION (1996)
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Genre: Dai kaiju eiga
THE MOVIE
Like the Lord of the Rings, trilogy, the ‘90’s Gamera movies seemed to get exponentially better with each entry. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was at least as good as the contemporary Godzilla series, which in itself was surprising in light of the overall quality of the Showa Gamera movies. By the time we get to the second entry of the trilogy, the series really hits its stride and is actually much better than any of the Heisei Godzilla movies.
Gamera 2 takes up about a year after the events in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. Japan has rebuilt after the cataclysmic battle between Gamera and Gyaos and a series of meteors strike the country accompanied by strange electromagnetic and atmospheric phenomenon. It turns out the meteorites were harboring an insectile alien life form which cultivate a giant oxygen producing plant that seeks to blast a projectile into space thus continuing the life cycle while destroying the surrounding area in the process.Well, Gamera will have none of it. He enters about a half hour into the movie in exciting superhero fashion, pin-wheeling his way to the giant alien plant and taking it down before being swarmed by the little aliens. By swarmed, I mean literally covered head to toe in them. It is at this point that it becomes obvious that the filmmakers are trying to push the special effects envelope to show you things unseen in previous kaiju movies. They freely employ CGI to augment their suitmation effects to give us scenes like the above where thousands of alien creatures attack Gamera.
One of the military guys names the creatures Legion after the Biblical passage.Gamera manages to shake the little creatures, spilling a great deal of his green paint-looking blood in the process. He retreats before another creature emerges: The Legion Queen, a giant space mosquito/crab. The rest of the movie deals with the creatures trying to reestablish their launch pod and Gamera’s battles to destroy it and the military’s attempts to co-ordinate their attacks with the giant turtle.
Returning from the first movie is Asagi (played by Steven Segal’s Japanese daughter) who has a special empathic connection to Gamera through a curved jewel that was discovered in the first movie. She teams up with an astronomy teacher who has been consulting with the military on the Legion invasion and the two keep a vigil when Gamera is critically injured trying to stop the Legion Queen, Also returning in a cameo is the bumbling cop from the first movie who looks like Japanese Michael Keaton. A year later he is a security guard at a brewery who becomes the first witness of the Legion invasion.
THE MONSTERS/SPECIAL EFFECTS
While Toho showcases Godzilla for his famous invulnerability (he rarely is seriously injured or bleeds), Gamera often takes a severe beating in his movies. Director Shusuke Kaneko seems to enjoy inflicting pain on his star. In this movie alone there are many wince-worthy moments as he is swarmed by biting aliens, is impaled, has part of his shell blasted off, is engulfed in a fireball, and is attacked by laser whips, I like to refer to the 90’s Gamera Trilogy as “The Passion of the Kaiju.” Gamera’s ability to take abuse makes him seem really tough and Ramboesque.
Of course, in this movie we also see Gamera’s ultimate power and I suspect learn the answer to the ancient question that has dogged man kind for over forty years: Who would win in a fight between Gamera and Godzilla? Here we see that Gamera has the ability summon Mana, or life energy from all the living things on earth and use it to fuel an energy column that shoots out of his chest. This power is nothing to sneeze at. I think Godzilla is a total badass but I don’t know if he would be able to withstand all of the power of all life on earth.
This movie also features the Legion, new monsters created for this series. Now, if there’s one thing about the Gamera Trilogy I don’t like it’s the design of the non-Gamera monsters. The Legion drones look like something from a “Legend of Zelda” game. In fact, I’m pretty sure they were in the fire dungeon in “Windwaker.” And while the Legion queen is interesting to look at she is ungainly, awkward and looks like something that was designed as opposed to evolved. How she can dig underground with such an unstreamlined body is beyond me.
The effects throughout are good and near Hollywood quality. Gamera’s first appearance and his destruction of the launch pod are only topped by sequences from Gamera 3 and Godzilla Final Wars as far as special effects in kaiju movies are concerned. The Gamera suit has been subtly redesigned to make it a little spinier and more intimidating part of a trend that continues into Gamera 3.MONSTERS FEATURED
Gamera
Legion Drone
Legion Queen
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
Gamera initial descent into the city to prevent the Legion from launching. I like it because the writer and director made it so that you don’t see or hear anything about Gamera for the first half hour of the movie. By the time you see him you are sort of waiting for him in the back of your mind while still enjoying this alien invasion story that has been established. Add to that the fact that he enters in his own unique manner and the crowd-pleasing way that he is coming to take on the invaders. The filmmakers have managed to change Gamera from a cheesy “friend to all children” to a credible antihero badass.
SEQUELS
Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris (1999) Gamera The Brave (2006)
DVD AVAILABILITY
Has been released on its own and in a three pack with the rest of the trilogy. The DVDs have a good amount of behind the scenes material, interviews with the director and special effects designer, and a couple of scenes where the dialogue is humorously redubbed.
SEE ALSO
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack 2002
TRAILER
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