Oh boy, two dudes in rubber suits beating each other up! The little kid in me is squealing with excitement! Sure hope this movie doesn’t let him down!
Last time, we covered the first Gamera film, ‘Gamera: The Giant Monster.’ It had some decent moments and impressive visuals for its time, as well as some so-bad-it’s-good comedy. Overall, I wasn’t especially impressed, but I had a fun time watching it!
Now it’s time for the natural progression of any kaiju series: the first versus flick. We’ve seen Gamera reduce Tokyo to a burning hellscape. Now, we’ll see how he fares against another kaiju.
Let’s waste no more time and get right into it. It’s time to talk about ‘Gamera VS Barugon.’
Half a year has passed since the end of the first movie. A meteor crashes into Gamera’s rocket, destroying the prison and letting the kaiju free, whereupon he immediately returns to Earth and attacks Japan once again. Meanwhile, a group of thieves head to a cave in New Guinea, searching for a large opal. Only it’s not an opal; it’s an egg, containing the infant Barugon, who begins to mutate and rapidly grow in size. The two monsters are on a crash course, with Japan caught between them.
Again, the visuals still hold up surprisingly well for a movie from the 1960s. The miniature work and sets all look fantastic. Both Gamera and Baragon still look pretty good (Gamera more so than Baragon), although the suits can look pretty silly. All things considered, the series made the leap into color fairly gracefully.
Luckily for my ears, they’ve largely figured out Gamera’s roar sound effects this time around. No more head-splitting shrieks.
Though the editing can be a bit wonky. There are some awkward and sloppy jump cuts scattered throughout the film. Small things, mostly, but just quick and noticeable enough to be jarring.
Once again, the cast is flat and uninteresting. They serve to exposit information, not to have feelings or motivations or growth. What few character traits they do have are flat and one-note. This guy is a skeptical, this guy wants to start his own airline, this guy loves his brother, etc.
But at least this time around, the narrator is around from the start instead of popping up halfway through the film.
There is one notable exception: Onodera, played by Kôji Fujiyama. He’s basically the true antagonist of the film. He’s greedy, manipulative, and ruthless. Better yet, these traits actually inform his actions, which have direct consequences on the narrative. He even gets his comeuppance at the end due to his own treacherous actions. Sure, he’s a simple and cookie-cutter antagonist, but compared to the cardboard cutouts surrounding him, he’s practically a real living person!
Speaking of antagonists, I gotta talk about Barugon. This dude is more silly than menacing. Sure, he looks kinda cool. More than anything, it made me laugh. Mother fucker shoots ice mist out of his tongue and fires rainbows out of its back! I wouldn’t call it an interesting monster, but it sure as hell was entertaining!
The fights were a bit more of a mixed bag. They were decently shot and the effects were good, but they were kind of dull. The fights between the human characters had more creative and interesting choreography, even if they’re repetitive and go on for way too long. I damn near fell asleep after the first kaiju battle, and the last one is over as quickly as it began!
I don’t know why they even bothered including Gamera. He’s three scenes in the whole movie! The titular character! He’s got top billing on the poster and everything! At that point, just make it a solo Barugon movie!
Final verdict: I don’t mind this movie. I don’t love it; there are long stretches where it’s just flat out boring to watch. Still, it had some great moments, cool effects, and it was never painfully dull. ‘Meh’ is the best word to sum it up.
Two movies down. I’ve had some fun so far, and more than a few hearty laughs. But I’ve got to admit, Gamera’s origins haven’t been quite as impressive as I had hoped. Though we’ve still got a whole series to go; I have hopes things will start to improve.
Or they’ll lean even harder into cheesy dumb kaiju fun. Either way is just fine with me.
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