Three movies in and Gamera has already evolved from a terrifying force of destruction to a goofy friend to children. Glad to see this universe’s Japan is even more forgiving than Godzilla’s. Took him nearly twice that many films to become the good guy.
Thus far, the Gamera movies have been a mixed bag. A mostly fun bag, but still a mixed one. There have been some boring moments, some so-bad-it’s-good comedy, some strong visuals, and more than a few laughs. I’ve been having a great time so far!
Now the real question is: can ‘Gamera VS Gyaos‘ keep that streak going? Or are we about to hit our first real dud?
Let’s not beat around the bush any longer and get right into the movie.
Unusual earthquakes have caused massive volcanic eruptions across Japan, drawing the fire-devouring Gamera back once again. Meanwhile, an expressway construction project is brought to a standstill by a greedy village. Unbeknownst to either villagers or construction workers, another monster resides in the nearby mountain: Gyaos, an enormous flying laser-shooting man-eating force of destruction. Now, humanity must find a way to combat this new threat.
Only for their efforts to mean absolutely nothing and for Gamera to save the day again. Ah, kaiju movies. Don’t you ever change.
Visually speaking, this movie is definitely a step down over the last two. The Gamera suit suffers a massive downgrade, and the Gyaos suit is laughably bad. Still, the miniature work is solid, the sets are convincing, the music is decent, and some of the special effects are fairly creative, if dated.
As for the story… let’s be honest, you all know the drill by now. One-note characters, kaiju shenanigans, the whole kit and caboodle. The usual.
Like the first movie, this film largely focuses on a child character, Eiichi. His sole character trait is that… he likes Gamera. Oh, and he likes to play and shout a lot because he is, in fact, a child. People with more tolerance for kids might not mind him, but me? I got tired of the little snot real quick. Still, it’s either him or the cardboard cutouts; pick your poison.
I worked in the food industry for six years, dudes. If you had to put up with screaming children almost every day for that long, you wouldn’t like ’em either.
Oh, and don’t forget about Dumb and Dumber. They’re not especially important, but boy howdy, do they have screen time. Which would be fine, if they were as funny as the director seemed to think they were. But they’re not. At least not on purpose.
Unlike the last movie, Gamera actually plays an important role in this movie. This is where they really started to go in on the ‘Friend to All Children’ thing. It actually makes for some really sweet and fun scenes. I much prefer this Gamera to the nothing burger we got in the last movie and the sadistic demon of the first movie.
Gyaos makes for a surprisingly sinister antagonist. Dude straight-up eats people; you don’t see that a lot in kaiju flicks! Beyond that, he’s actually kind of cool! Being vulnerable to fire, he’s also got flame-suppressing gas, which is used to creative effect throughout the film. I also like that his laser cuts things rather than burning them or blowing them up (though it still does plenty of both). It’s a refreshing change of pace that shines a strong light on the solid effects and miniature work. If his suit didn’t look like absolute ass, he’d be awesome!
The kaiju fight scenes are a mixed bag. The first few are pretty boring, but as the film goes on, they gradually get more creative and enjoyable! The final battle is the perfect blend of genuinely cool choreography and cheesy, hilarious effects and cinematography! It’s rubber suit kaiju fun at it’s finest, I love it!
The human plans to stop Gyaos gave me more than a few hearty laughs throughout the film. My favorite is when they discover that Gyaos is vulnerable to ultraviolet rays; keep it out in the sun too long, and it will die. Their plan: lure it on to a spinning disk using fake blood and make it too dizzy to move long enough for it to get roasted.
I’d like to remind you all that Gyaos can fly. A fact that all the characters, including Gyaos himself, completely forget.
Their plan after that: start a forest fire. Hooray, ecosystem devastation! Gyaos can’t destroy Japan if we humans do it first!
All in all: I really enjoyed this movie! It had a few annoying moments and the cast was flat, but that’s to be expected with old kaiju movies. I came looking for dumb kaiju fun, and boy howdy, did I get it! Of the three Gamera movies we’ve discussed thus far, this one is my favorite.
We’ll see how that changes as the series goes on. There are nine movies left. Plenty of room for this one to rise or fall among the ranks.
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