Gamera 2: Advent of Legion (1996)

Two out of three ain't bad

Gamera 2 was my least favorite of this particular Gamera trilogy. With a larger budget than Gamera 1, the special effects were bigger and louder, but its heart wasn't.

In a world with Kaiju, a meteor headed toward the Earth is never just a meteor and this one was no exception. Before you knew it, Japan had a silicone-based infestation on its hands.

I didn't find Destoroyah, I mean Legion, particularly terrifying even with the blood spurting and city annihilations. Neither Legion's costume nor Gamera's were particularly inspired. I love guys in rubber suit Kaiju costume movies so that wasn't a problem for me. Most of the fight scenes were done in the blurry dark which obscured the suits even more. The immediacy and scale of these creatures compared to the populace and buildings was lacking. There weren't any real money shots of Gamera up close either. And I wasn't a fan of his new flying capability, I liked the retro spinning saucer style.

Gamera is a Kaiju if not for the people, at least for the Earth, and he's always on hand to dispense with whatever malevolent force comes along (look out humans, you may be on his list!). He usually has someone who has a personal connection with him and that was missing from this movie. While there was a group of children keeping watch over a possibly dead Gamera, that personal connection felt disconnected. None of the main characters ever felt like they were in imminent danger either further distancing them from the action.

The human cast was all fairly likeable and easy on the eyes, even if too much of the movie centered on them. At least they were able to take care of one problem with the Legion near the end of the movie instead of being completely reliant on Gamera.

For low budget 1996 special effects, Gamera 2 did an adequate job. The miniatures were excellent and were believably blown up and torn down. How they ever find someone to do tank duty when a Kaiju comes to town, I will never know! And in a world with Kaiju, if a giant extraterrestrial that is on a killing spree torches a building and lays a huge pod on it, I would get out of town---fast! See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya! But instead, people are still milling around the streets and have to be told to leave.

For me, this Gamera felt impersonal, and I never connected to the monster risking his own life and shell to protect Japan. There were still some entertaining scenes and the humans weren't annoying, a huge plus in this genre. If you are a fan of Gamera it is definitely one to try. It can stand on its own, but best to watch this trilogy in order to better experience it.


10/04/22

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An Overlooked Entry in the Greatest Movie Trilogy of All Time

For the longest time, I considered this to be my least Favorite of the Trilogy, that was until this rewatch. I mean it hasn't topped Gamera 3 and the human characters aren't quite as developed as in either 1 or 3, but this is a great step up to Guardian of the Universe.

As said before, While most of this movie's human characters aren't fully fleshed out like in the other two entries, they are still extremely likable. This is probably helped out a lot by the great acting across the board. We do get some more development with some of the characters from the first movie like Asagi and Osako, But they don't have that much screen time compared to the new human characters.

However, the Kaiju take the spotlight here. Both Gamera and Legion are awesome and the battles they have are some of the best Kaiju action I have ever witnessed.

Mother Legion and the hordes of Soldier Legions are very unique kaiju I have ever seen. They have an other worldly vibe to them and don't resemble any traditional kaiju, which makes sense as they are aliens. The smaller soldiers (about 6 feet tall) look like mutant ticks and minus being the size of humans, manage to swarm up and be a huge hindernece to Gamera. The Mother Legion (who is kaiju sized) is like a bug equivalent to a centaur and is a very busy design. Sure they may have no big symbolism like Gyaos or Iris, but they do pose a huge threat.

I also liked how Kaneko decided to create a brand new Kaiju instead of just re-using an old Kaiju from the Showa Gamera movies. Kaneko and the creative team he worked with realized that constant nostalgia bait was never gonna work and decided to do something different and that is something I always look forward to seeing.

Gamera himself is given even more depth. Wee really see how much he is willing to protect the earth from forces that harm it. Even when he is almost near exhaustion or death, he will do anything he can to save the day. It's truly inspiring to watch and shows you can make the heroic kaiju without making it a Saturday morning cartoon; a fault a good chunk of the Showa Gamera and Godzilla movies fell into all too often.

The story itself is all about the situation. This is the same kind of story telling used in the deserving acclaimed Shin Godzilla. Like Shin Godzilla, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion perfectly creates a terrifying disaster and cooks up high amounts of suspense, helplessness, horror and terror along with hope, passion inspiration and epicness.

The effects are top notch as always. The Gamera suit is a bit more agile, hunched and different to how he looked in the first movie of this trilogy and I love it. I still prefer his look in Revenge of Iris, but he still look awesome here. the Legion horde are a work of art. The soldier legion are very well handled but HOLY SHIT is Mother legion beautifully done.The fact that they pulled off this insane design to this level of greatness needs to be recognized and awarded for sure. The fact that most people don't recognize these movies for the amazing effects yet praise the dated looking effects in Spider-Man Homecoming is offensive to me. The miniatures, explosions and destruction are also all perfect as well

The cinematography is also very unique for a kaiju movie as well. A lot of it is shot like a horror movie and it is clear that Junichi Tozawa has the ability to shoot an amazing horror movie if he hasn't already. It also has an appropriate Documentary feel as well which helps the story a lot. The Music is just as perfect as ever. It manages to fit each scene perfectly with each scene it is placed in.

To conclude, While it may not be as deep as Guardian of the Universe, It manages to out do that movie by perfectly executing an already solid premise. I am Hyped to see Revenge of Iris this Christmas.

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