by rockstarbd82 » Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:12 pm
GAMERA: SUPER MONSTER
I know alot of you are gonna disagree with me here, but this is one gamera film I can never get sick of.
Unfortunately, I never knew this film, Gamera vs Jiger, and Gamera vs Viras existed until I went to my first G-fest in 2005. The only titles I ever remember seeing as a kid at rental/suncoasts were Gamara: The Invincible, Gamera vs Barugon, Gamera vs Gaos, Gamera vs Gurion, and Gamera vs Zigra. It just always irks me why these films were so hard to find back then when I was younger as some of them like Destroy All Monsters would've been great to have in my collection at that time. But like the old saying: Only in Japan . . . Only in Japan.
Anyways, I was told that it was all just stock footage battles from all the previous films going into it. People also warned me that this was literally one of the final films Gamera's company released before their bankruptcy in the 80s. But I was still curious to see how it would play out.
So I popped it then (and recently now) and everytime, I feel like the young kid I used to be who loved the oldschool gamera!!!
Story wise, this has to be the funnest and most entertaining human story ever in a Gamera film, especially for a kids film too.
The whole theme of good alien women who've made lives on earth trying to protect the planet from a deadly race of aliens is an interesting variation to the whole space theme in monster films. I'm blanking on names now but the lead good and bad alien girls in particular were really good.
The kid also has a very touching role in the plot and is far better than any of the other children characters I've seen in the predecessor films. The fact that he has a pet turtle, realizes it'd be happier in the wild, releases it is kinda a tear jerker. It almost makes me want to believe it indeed became Gamera or not (ok it is far fetched) but also kinda cool on the other hand.
I also really dug the alien cat fight. Don't see that too often in Godzilla/Gamera. (I heard the heroine was actually a famous female wrestler of the time or something.) However if you watch close as the villain girl does those flips, its pretty evident that its a "stunt man" haha.
The alien ship, I think we all can agree, just screams "STAR DESTROYER" from Star Wars. Sure its great for a laugh, but I also say for a knock off, that was a pretty bad @$$ one.
The monster side is pretty much all the gamera battles we've seen before, just edited/condensed down to fit in one film with the new human story. The editing I'll admit was a bit choppy, but still brought back some good memories and introduced some new fights I never got to see as a kid (I never saw vs. Viras or vs Jiger at this point mind you). The only new shots of Gamera I have to assume are from the matte flying shots with the city backdrops. Whether or not the prop was new, it still looked awesome. My only fret would've been to add some new monster footage mixed in with stock footage, but on their dwindling status while making this film, its understandable.
The music here is actually really awesome for the time and for a kids film. The main theme is so upbeat it makes me remember what being a Godzilla/Gamera fan was like as a kid. Even the ending theme was pretty touching as if still trying to lift the mood after Gamera's sacrafice.
Now onto the ending. This was definitely a shocker for me (even as an adult). And its probably a good thing i never saw this as a kid as this would've made me very sad. Seeing it now, its defintely a gutsy way to have Gamera die/go out, however one problem. They should've showed a little more of a close up battle between Gamera and the Star Destroyer. In the poster it depicts the destroyer flying/exploding through Gameras shell sorta. It def would've played out better to see a few more scenes/min of a final last stand battle, but again, no budget, understandable.
My final thoughts is that this film, imo succeeds where Godzilla's Revenge doesn't quite do it for me anymore. I'm sry if that comes off as a bold statement, but its just my opinion. For a stock footage last hurrah of the showa Gamera series (or Gamera: Final Showa Wars if you wanna call it that) this film really delights. Everything about it has an uplifting feel of the era, a fun human/alien story, and the oldschool Gamera we remembered loving in our hayday.
"ooooo GODZILLA is "roasting" KING KONG.!!!!"