| Like a lot of die-hard Godzilla
fans, I ignored almost all things Gamera; passing
the monster off as nothing more than a cheap Godzilla
rip off. The only viewing of the Showa series
was in clip form and what I saw further distanced
me from the monster. When Gamera: Guardian
of the Universe came out, I passed on it
and the rest of the trilogy, deeming it not worth
my time. However, after seeing Shusuke
Kaneko’s phenomenal job on Godzilla,
Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out
Attack (2001), the best Godzilla film
of the Millennium series; I began to wonder: "If
he did this grand of a job on Godzilla, what did
he do for Gamera?" Soon my interest peeked,
and I quickly acquired the Gamera trilogy box
set and was astonished at what I saw in this movie.
In the Bering Sea, a freighter
carrying plutonium runs aground on a strange atoll.
The navigator, Yoshinari Yonemori, offers to help
in the investigation of the atoll, feeling responsible
for their running aground. They soon discover
that the atoll is moving! Meanwhile strange bird-like
creatures are attacking villagers on a small Japanese
island. After the disappearance of a renowned
ornithologist, Professor Hirata, Mayumi Nagamine,
a colleague of his, goes to investigate along
with Inspector Osako. They find the island ravaged
and discover a large mound of droppings, signaling
that the bird responsible is quite large. In the
droppings, she finds items that belonged to the
ornithologist, which shows that he was a victim
to the large creature. When she goes looking for
it, Osako is none too thrilled with the idea.
Suddenly, one flies overhead, and they give chase
in a helicopter. When Mayumi takes photos of the
creature, the flash causes the animal to go crazy,
showing that it is sensitive to bright light.
They soon discover that there are three creatures
altogether. When they report their findings, the
Cabinet gives the order to capture the monsters,
pressured by the Chairman of the EPA.
The investigation team, led by Dr. Kusanagi and
accompanied by Yoshinari, locates the atoll. During
their search, they find several beads that resemble
a comma and a large tablet with writing on it.
They take pictures of their finds. As they try
to unearth the tablet, Yoshinari touches the artifact
and it shatters. The atoll begins to quake and
Yoshinari falls into the water. While underwater,
he sees a giant creature swim out of the landmass.
While trying to figure out how
to capture the flying creatures, Osako suggests
to Mayumi that they use the baseball stadium dome
in Fukuoka. That night, the JSDF uses lights and
tranquilizer-laced meat to lure the three into
the stadium. The creatures take the bait. Yoshinari
arrives with news that the creature he saw is
headed this way, but the dome closes too slowly.
The Defense Force opens fire on the creatures
with tranquilizers. One escapes while the others
are subdued and placed into cages. A JSDF helicopter
chases the escapee and when it nears the bay,
a giant turtle-like creature springs out the water
and smacks the bird, killing it. The monster makes
it way to the stadium where the other two are
held. The stadium is evacuated and the birds awaken.
They fire a beam like projection from their mouths
that slices the bars of the cages and they escape
from the stadium and the presence of this new
monster. The giant turtle withdraws into its shell,
sprouts jets from the openings, spins like a flying
saucer and takes off after the birds.
The next evening, Yoshinari visits
Dr. Kusanagi’s house and discusses the recent
events. The writing on the tablet is translated
from pictures that were taken before it shattered,
and the text reveals the origins of the creatures.
The giant turtle is called Gamera; the bird-like
creatures are named Gyaos. An ancient Atlantis-like
civilization called the Mu Empire created the
Gyaos to eliminate pollution. The creatures instead
began to feast on the people. They created Gamera
to destroy them, but unfortunately, the empire
was destroyed and the Gyaos were put to rest along
with the other monster. Yonemori gives Asagi,
Dr. Kusanagi’s daughter, one of the beads
as a surprise. While she’s holding it, the
bead glows, and a psychic link forms between Asagi
and Gamera.
Mayumi discovers the nest of the
Gyaos and finds that the other nestling creatures
were victims of cannibalism. The JSDF decides
to turn their focus on attacking Gamera, because
of the creature’s large stature and the
possibility of increasing property damage. The
flying creatures are found at Mt. Fuji, snacking
on the locals. Gamera arrives and saves Yoshinari,
Mayumi, and a young boy twice (once by killing
one of them with a plasma fireball and from a
laser beam fired by the second Gyaos). This convinces
Yoshinari that Gamera is truly an ally. The other
creature takes off with Gamera close behind. Dr.
Kusanagi and Mayumi try to explain that the remaining
Gyaos is bigger and harder to capture, but the
EPA chairman ignores them. Then, some not-so-good
news is found. Gyaos have one chromosome of which
they can alter the structure, which in turn can
alter their gender, which in turn can mean rapid
reproduction. Just as Gamera catches up with the
Gyaos, the JSDF shoots him down. When on the ground,
they open fire on the creature. Gyaos appears
and attacks Gamera as well. Asagi, violating an
order to stay away from the area, witnesses this
event close up. Feeling the pain that Gamera experiences,
thanks to the psychic link, she cries for him
to fly away. Gamera gains enough energy from her
cry to escape.
The remaining Gyaos grows bigger,
becoming Super Gyaos, and attacks Tokyo, chowing
down on the populace. The JSDF realizes after
the massacre that it’s Gyaos, not Gamera,
who is their enemy. An attack on the creature
is unsuccessful and topples Tokyo Tower. That
night, Gyaos builds a nest on the fallen structure.
The next morning Gamera shows up and destroys
the nest along with two eggs. The two engage in
combat, taking it all the way into the stratosphere.
Gamera, after ripping the right leg of Gyaos,
crashes into an oil refinery. Gyaos lights the
area on fire with its beam. Gamera converts the
fire into power and unleashes a plasma fireball
large enough to destroy the Gyaos. Gamera heals
the wounds that Asagi received during the recent
confrontations and swims away.
Characterization is something that’s
sometimes non-existent in kaiju eiga, and this
film bucks the trend. Kaneko creates 3-dimentional
characters, as opposed to the too-often-seen 2-dimensional
mold. Yoshinari Yonemori (Tsuyoshi Ihara) is a
guilt-ridden ship navigator who becomes entangled
with the whole ordeal between Gamera and Gyaos,
and shows an interest in ornithologist Mayumi
Nagamine (Shinobu Nakayama). Mayumi is a determined
woman who’ll stop at nothing to find the
reason for Professor Hirata’s disappearance
and pushes the measure to attack the Gyaos instead
of Gamera. Inspector Osako (Yukijiro Hotaru) seeks
to find who’s responsible for Prof. Hirata
disappearing (and becomes the equivalent of Shaggy
from Scooby Doo when Mayumi wishes to
find the creature). Dr. Naoyo Kusanagi (Akira
Onodera) is an expert who’s sought to investigate
the moving atoll, discovers the origins of Gamera
and Gyaos, pushes to attack Gyaos with Mayumi,
but despite his successes, he is a father who
knows little about his daughter, Asagi (Ayako
Fujitani). Asagi herself becomes the all-important
human link between the title monster and the humans
he protects.
Another element Kaneko brings to
Gamera: GOTU is something that hasn’t
been touched on since the first two Heisei Godzilla
films: realism. The monsters’ origins are
well fleshed out. They don’t seem to just
show up out of nowhere and for no reason. The
comment that the attack on Gamera will be the
first military action for the JSDF is nice touch.
It reinforces the idea that Japan hasn’t
been attacked before; since moviegoers know Japan
as the monster capital of the world. Something
else of interest is the specifics of the evacuation
aspect. This is something that is rarely, if ever,
touched on in a lot of kaiju movies; and his showing
the stock market dropping is a logical impact
that hasn’t been mentioned since The
Return of Godzilla (1984). Another note
of realism is politicians and their ignorance
to bigger problems. This is shown when the minister
of defense continues to focus on Gamera, not Gyaos,
and the EPA chairman continues to push for the
capture of the Gyaos. When confronted with the
argument that the Gyaos pose a threat to people,
the Chairman argues that a T-Rex would also be
a threat and rhetorically inquired whether or
not it too should be captured for study as well.
What about Gamera? Why not try to study him?
Sure the Gyaos are eating people, but Gamera is
causing property damage. Destroy it! This
does not make sense. While this may sound like
a negative aspect of the film, in reality it further
supports what Kaneko is try to say about politicians
and their double standards.
When it comes to special effects,
this film blows majority of the Heisei Godzilla
series out of the water. The monsters were so
life like; it’s almost like they were real.
The blending of the CGI with the standard methods
of kaiju performances was wonderful. The CGI blended
well with the scenes; it never looked out of place.
The animations for Gamera’s plasma fireballs
and Gyaos’ laser beams were beautiful. The
scenes with both monsters and humans were spectacularly
realistic, especially the scene where Gamera blocks
the Gyaos’ laser beam from hitting the three
humans with his hand. The scenes of the Gyaos
eating the humans were well done and the sound
it made was really creepy. In flight, Gamera’s
jets and flying saucer takeoff were absolutely
wonderful. The Gyaos’ flying was realistic
in the fact that they flapped their wings in flight,
the opposite of which is a condition that has
plagued the genre. The effects weren’t perfect,
however. In some scenes of the Gyaos flying, the
movement of the creatures was choppy, but these
kinds of scenes can be found sometimes in even
today’s movies and do not distract from
the viewing experience for the casual viewer.
If anyone else can find a flaw in other special
effects scenes beside these, they’re looking
too hard.
The music was mesmerizing. Every track fit the
mode of the scene. It was rarely too loud or too
soft for the respective scenes; it was just right
when it needed to be. Another mention of music
is the lack thereof in the end of the final battle
between Gamera and Super Gyaos. The silence in
the scene really built up the suspense of the
final turnout to the battle.
Now of course, it’s time
for the kaiju. First the star of the film, Gamera.
He was absolutely wonderful. His look was great:
a fierce, yet caring appearance. He looked ferocious
in battle, but when he showed concern (like when
he saved the humans and in the end, when he looked
at Asagi and thanked her by healing her wounds)
it came through. His plasma fireballs are better
in many ways then his old flamethrower breath
(Showa series). His flight was more believable
and he does not get dizzy when he flies like a
flying saucer; it’s merely a faster way
to fly than his jets. The reason he defends people
is because it is his reason for being. It’s
not because he cares deeply for children (à
la the Showa Series); instead, he cares for all
of humanity. The other monster of the picture
is Gyaos, a former Rodan rip; now a respectable
kaiju, like Gamera. The creatures look hideous.
These things are the stuff of nightmares. They
look like a cross between a reptile and a bat
that has a flattened head (that looks like it
crashed into something). When the Super Gyaos
flies next to the train with its blood red eyes,
it’s down right chilling. The battle between
the two creatures was wonderful, both the ground
and aerial sides. Super Gyaos, a flying creature,
performing a well-executed ground battle is something
that hasn’t been seen before.
While this film is more lighthearted
than
Godzilla (1954) or Gamera
3: Incomplete Struggle (1999), or even
the often-overlooked
Gamera 2: Advent of Legion (1996) for
that matter, it is still way more mature then
the kiddy orientated Showa series. This movie
has accomplished something that few kaiju films
have; it has been praised by American critics.
This is a rare honor indeed. Kaneko gave Gamera
something that many people thought was impossible:
an honorable reputation as a movie monster. If
you are a kaiju eiga fan, I not only recommend
seeing this film, I recommend buying it and the
rest of the trilogy. The series only gets better.
This movie is not to be missed.
|
(4.5/5)