Sooner than I expected, GAMERA Trilogy COMPLETE! I bought a box set containing all three films so now I have a double of "Gamera 3: Revenge of Irys", but I'm sure f.y.e. will take it, getting a buck or two in return. Both films are fantastic, Kaneko really proving himself here. His work just puts other monster films, like the Mothra trilogy and albeit a few of the Millennium Godzilla films, to shame. The third still just on a whole norther level.
The first in the series, this film is Gamera's rebirth, a task no other director could handle. A lot of the characters who appear in this film will appear in the third and final film. All give wonderful performances, Mr. Osako being are evident comic relief. Watching this film really helps one understand the plot of G3, which is why I guess you should never see a sequel if you haven't since the first film. Gamera looks awesome, still a bit cute, and this film right off the bat shows man's fear and uncertainty of the monster's stance with or against the human race. Hell, this seems to me to be the only "hero" trilogy where the authorities are trying to kill the good guy with even greater effort than the bad guy. Also in this film, we really see Gamera and Asagi's bond, the girl actually sharing the monster's pain. A beautiful aspect to the story. Gyaos looks just sick in this movie and the way the featherless "bird" is portrayed ( as a man-eating, asexual, doomsday bio-weapon) is simply excellent. Only now I do get the ironic plot point and Kuarata Shinya's rantings in G3: The 'Ancients' were a highly advanced race, similar to our own. Soon, also like us, they became a decadent, enviormental and self-destructive race. To counter their own self-annihilation, they created Gyaos to, as Kuarata put it;"reduce it's swollen numbers". These creatures however did their job a little too well, and as a backlash created Gamera. Also, the amulet-stone object allows certain chosen people to mediate with Gamera, which makes him stronger. Still, the Gyaos multiplied to an extent where they completely destroyed the Ancients and so with their food supply gone, they laid eggs. Gamera also went dormant. 12,000 years later, humans have apparently created a similar enviorment to the one the Ancients did, and so Gamera and Gyaos awake again. In the third film, it is revealed some Ancients clearly thought humanity would never stop destroying the earth and created the 'perfected Gyaos', Irys (who's real name technically is the Ryuseicho). This final answer to crush humanity heeds the "Earth spirit" while Gamera the human one. Irys can also "mediate" with humans, although in a more extreme way (by fusing with the selected mediator). Yes, I have a lot of free time to think about these things.
Getting back to the review, despite "Godzilla vs. Destroyah" being the King of the Monster's heisei finale, this film clearly has a bigger budget, the special effects being incredible (don't take it the wrong way, I love that movie. "Godzilla vs. Destroyah" is the saddest G-film ever and one of my personal favorites. ). The action is great no doubt, the air duel looking incredibly cool. Koh Otani serves up some bad-ass music that I for one am thoroughly impressed by. Whereas the latter two films have decent dubbing, this film's is horrible. Definitely watch in Japanese, although the audio quality is only 2.0. Anyways, this film didn't disappoint, that's for sure!
The first in the series, this film is Gamera's rebirth, a task no other director could handle. A lot of the characters who appear in this film will appear in the third and final film. All give wonderful performances, Mr. Osako being are evident comic relief. Watching this film really helps one understand the plot of G3, which is why I guess you should never see a sequel if you haven't since the first film. Gamera looks awesome, still a bit cute, and this film right off the bat shows man's fear and uncertainty of the monster's stance with or against the human race. Hell, this seems to me to be the only "hero" trilogy where the authorities are trying to kill the good guy with even greater effort than the bad guy. Also in this film, we really see Gamera and Asagi's bond, the girl actually sharing the monster's pain. A beautiful aspect to the story. Gyaos looks just sick in this movie and the way the featherless "bird" is portrayed ( as a man-eating, asexual, doomsday bio-weapon) is simply excellent. Only now I do get the ironic plot point and Kuarata Shinya's rantings in G3: The 'Ancients' were a highly advanced race, similar to our own. Soon, also like us, they became a decadent, enviormental and self-destructive race. To counter their own self-annihilation, they created Gyaos to, as Kuarata put it;"reduce it's swollen numbers". These creatures however did their job a little too well, and as a backlash created Gamera. Also, the amulet-stone object allows certain chosen people to mediate with Gamera, which makes him stronger. Still, the Gyaos multiplied to an extent where they completely destroyed the Ancients and so with their food supply gone, they laid eggs. Gamera also went dormant. 12,000 years later, humans have apparently created a similar enviorment to the one the Ancients did, and so Gamera and Gyaos awake again. In the third film, it is revealed some Ancients clearly thought humanity would never stop destroying the earth and created the 'perfected Gyaos', Irys (who's real name technically is the Ryuseicho). This final answer to crush humanity heeds the "Earth spirit" while Gamera the human one. Irys can also "mediate" with humans, although in a more extreme way (by fusing with the selected mediator). Yes, I have a lot of free time to think about these things.
Getting back to the review, despite "Godzilla vs. Destroyah" being the King of the Monster's heisei finale, this film clearly has a bigger budget, the special effects being incredible (don't take it the wrong way, I love that movie. "Godzilla vs. Destroyah" is the saddest G-film ever and one of my personal favorites. ). The action is great no doubt, the air duel looking incredibly cool. Koh Otani serves up some bad-ass music that I for one am thoroughly impressed by. Whereas the latter two films have decent dubbing, this film's is horrible. Definitely watch in Japanese, although the audio quality is only 2.0. Anyways, this film didn't disappoint, that's for sure!