Gamera, Guardian of the Universe
aka, Gamera daikaijű kuchu kessen
Review
by : Kyle
DuVall
Starring: Gamera
Directed by: Shusuke Kaneko
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Gamera
was never as cool as Godzilla, nobody's ever going to argue
with that. Let's just review the facts: Godzilla is a gigantic,
radioactive dinosaur. Gamera is a big turtle. Godzilla's best
buds were Rodan and Mothra. Gamera Hung out with an 8 year
old named Kenny. Godzilla had the awesome title: "King of
The Monsters." Gamera was "friend of children".
At recess
Gamera was always the last monster picked for kickball. In
the hallways of Monster Island Jr. High, even Anguiris was
giving Gamera wedgies.
But take
heart Gamera fans. In 1994, the titanic, tyke-loving turtle
shook off his loser-in-a-half-shell image with the film Gamera,
Guardian of the Universe, a Gamera remake that not only re-tooled
our favorite fire-breathing tortoise, but also set a new standard
that ushered in a Japanese monster movie renaissance.
Like the
later, unsuccessful U.S. remake of Godzilla, Gamera, Guardian
of The Universe features a newer, more modern monster. But
fear not, all the things Gamera's dozens of fans have come
to love about the super turtle over the past 3 decades are
still intact. This new Gamera's still got that great shell,
he's still got that famous underbite and, yes, he still flies
by shooting jet exhaust out of various orifices in his shell.
This new
Gamera, however, is not the product of radiation and post-war
paranoia, instead, Gamera is, as the title suggests, Guardian
of The Universe, an ancient, genetically engineered relic
of the lost continent of Atlantis hidden away at the bottom
of the sea to defend the world from an unknown evil. One of
the film's characters sums it up best: "How else would you
explain a turtle that flies through the air like a flying
saucer?"
This new
custom-built Gamera is tougher, stronger and more lovable
than ever, but like all great foam-latex heroes, this Gamera
has to have a vulcanized villain to fight. Gamera fans know
there's only one thing more pathetic than Gamera himself,
and that's Gamera's rogue's gallery. This is another category
where our poor turtle just can't compete with Godzilla. Godzilla's
arch-nemesis was King Ghidorah, a 3-headed thunder-spewing
space dragon. Gamera had nemeses like Zigra, a walking punchline
who looked like a cross between a butter knife and Gumby.
But Guardian
of the Universe also updates one of Gamera's "classic" adversaries:
the triangle-headed pterodactyl Gaos. In the 60's Gaos was
basically the poor man's Rodan, but in the new film the gaos
are actually a whole species of pre-historic terrors. These
flying knock-offs, who gobble down Japanese ornithologists
and bullet train commuters like sashimi, are also relics of
Atlantis, only the gaos, whose asexual reproductive system
makes them completely uncontrollable, turn out to be the force
that destroyed Atlantis in the first place.
It may
have been made in the 90's, but, as you can see, the people
at Daei films haven't really strayed from or over-dramatized
the sacred, big rubber monster movie paradigm. It's basically
Gamera vs. the 3 Gaos, duking it out in a battle to save Japan
by stomping it into the ground. Sure, there's some scientists
running around, some greedy government bureaucrats and even
a psychic 12 year old just so we'll know Gamera is still "friend
of children", but Gamera, Guardian of the Universe never lets
too much screen time roll by without a rampaging monster scene.
This is a real old-school monster flick kids, and one that's
just a cut above the rest.
Of course,
all these refinements don't mean you should necessarily be
strapping yourself in for the latest, state-of-the art special
effects. In Gamera, the rubber suits are a little more detailed,
the scale miniatures are a bit more realistic, but in the
end, you've still basically got guys in rubber suits stomping
on toy cars. Cult cinema geeks can always find campy entertainment
in this kind of "suitmation" but, thanks to a rip roaring
screenplay by Kazunori Ito (Ghost In The Shell), and the gleefully
inventive direction of Shosuke Kaneko, Guardian of the Universe
sets itself apart from its peers by throwing in some sincerely
inventive and effective set-pieces and visuals.
There's
a battle with two gaos inside a domed baseball stadium, a
monster vs. monster firefight over a suspension bridge, cool
shots like the one of gaos in his nest atop the Tokyo tower,
and a climactic battle that is so gigantic it spills out of
Tokyo and right into orbit.
Gamera,
Guardian of The Universe is a silly movie, but its easily
as much fun as any sincere Hollywood sci-fi flick. In Japan,
the giant monster genre is kids fare. In the US its for the
kid in all of us. Second stringer Gamera's 1994 renaissance
represents all the best aspects of the old-school monster
flicks and, subsequently, helped kick off a giant monster
movie resurgence. Godzilla 2000 certainly owes a lot to Guardian
of The Universe, and some scenes from the lackluster 1997
American Godzilla were outright plagiarized from Gamera.
For Gamerophiles
everywhere, Gamera, Guardian of The Universe is the ultimate
vindication. Finally, after all these years, it seems even
the king of the monsters himself has given lowly Gamera a
nod. Now, if only they could have integrated that great old
Gamera theme song into the film: "Gameraaa… gameraaaa…Gamera
is really neat! Gamera is full of meat…"
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