Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Legion of Quality, July 4, 2004
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe vastly improved upon the poorness of the old Gamera films. This second film in the new series continues to do that. Shusuke Kaneko continues his work, taking place two years later, with the decision to return to the alien-invasion roots of the older 60's and 70's films. It might be considered a gutsy move, but it pays off.This film is much less disjointed than the beginning of the first one. It begins with an American weather station noting some unusual activity that they label a freak meteor shower. On the night of the shower, one large meteor creates a trail through the trees and disappears. It's tracks appear to be slowing down. Soon after, various incidents are reported with transmissions problems and sightings of strange creatures, including an attack on a subway car, that culminates in a giant flower-pod emerging in a tall building. The oxygen in the area becomes dangerously flammable, giving the army little ability to stop the strange invasion until Gamera appears to combat the flower, as well as the invaders known as Legion. There's a lot of science and figuring when it comes to the aliens in this film. While it's very easy for that to become boring, it's very interesting the first couple times through. The aliens are insect-like by nature, and there are both small ones, and a big one, for Gamera and the army to deal with. Of the trilogy, this is the only one where the plot isn't disjointed at the beginning, and it's also the only one where Gamera and the Japanese military are not disjointed. They actually work together here against a common threat from outside Earth. The special effects improve upon the previous film. While the full-CG Gamera looks very bad most of the time, it's not used often, and CG is used mostly as an assisting tool, like it should be. The suits look excellent, and they managed to find a way for Gamera's "jet" flying to look better by giving him gliders on his arms that morph away when he no longer needs them. The battles are exciting, with a combination of flashy fights and suit brawls. As with the first movie's DVD, this one comes loaded with extras. Featurettes, documentaries, etc, and of course, the Japanese language track. The movie is somewhat less emotional than it's predecessor (or it's follower), but it's still an entertaining movie, a great middle-path in the new Gamera trilogy, and an excellent kaiju film overall.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
IT DOESN'T GET BETTER THAN THIS!, February 20, 2003
This IS the all-time best giant monster movie ever made. The script is tight, the direction is keen, the pace is fast, and the special effects are so convincing you WILL believe a giant turtle can fly. This time Gamera battles a horde of alien insects infesting cities and, in one memorable scene, blowing one of those cities up. This is the first ever release of this film in the U.S. (I've seen the Japanese release) and it's about time. The DVD comes with both a Japanese language track and an English dubbed track. I haven't seen the English dubbed, but I always recommend watching it in Japanese with the English subtitles. A lot can get lost in translation. For a good sci-fi romp that everyone in the family can enjoy (although really small children might be frightened by some scenes), it really doesn't get better than this.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Kaiju! ...with some horror mixed in., May 1, 2003
Most fans know this movie as Advent of Legion. At the time of this writing, Amazon.com is showing that title too, but the DVD is actually using the title Attack of Legion. Since I prefer the subtitled version, I actually prefer how this DVD was made compared to the previous one. When I saw the preview on the first DVD, I was afraid they were going cover up some of the creativity used in the titles. I was surprised they left all of the Japanese titles in place - including some Japanese subtitles for the English spoken in the opening scene. The downside involves the English newscasts if you prefer subtitles. If you notice there are no Japanese subtitles for them. There is Japanese spoken over the English - with the English track's volume level reduced. There are no titles for this. You do have to struggle to hear the English for those parts only. You aren't missing much though. This concerns the Japanese audio only. If you listen to the English version, the newscasts were dubbed too, and there is no problem hearing these segments. When using the Japanese track with subtitles, this DVD is alot like my fansub but with the titles translated too. Overall, the English voice acting is pretty good. Some good, some not as good. ADV seems to have decided to have a little fun with the English dub. By accident, I found a fairly bad joke near the 50:50 (minutes:second) mark in the English dub only. There are no subtitles for the Japanese spoken at that moment, but the joke's reference didn't exist in 1996 so this was definitely added for the dub even if the original Japanese had a similar meaning. It involves a man using a mobile phone during a chaotic moment. Subtitles aren't needed. That's the only added joke I've found so far. The small Legions provide some nice bits of horror such as the subway scene near the beginning. It a little tame compared to some American films, but it's still good. There are a few cheesy scenes like when a web site crashes, but the story itself is still nicely done. There is a little more humor than in the first movie. There were some debates between Godzilla and Gamera fans over how Legion was too similar to Destroyah (in concept). I understand the points, but I see too many differences to view this as a Destroyah [imitation]. (I'm a kaiju fan. Not simply Gamera or Godzilla.) Most of the extras are nice. You have the second part of the Shinji Higuchi interview. There are also Japanese trailers and TV spots. I have mixed feelings over the ADV produced extras, but this isn't the first DVD to include material where the English voice actors have a little fun. The DVD of Legend of the Last Labyrinth (anime) also had something similar. Among the ADV previews, there is a Gamera 3 preview. If you haven't been watching the Higuchi interview, here's a glimpse of why many of us have been commenting on the film. I feel the new Gamera movies show what kaiju can have. ...what the genre can be. The filmmakers involved haven't limited themselves to what's worked in the past. The only traditional element that remains is having a man in a monster suit walking on a miniature set of a city. Even the monster suits appear to have more detail than those in most other kaiju films. Here, they mixed some CGI into the process too. Gamera 3 uses even more CGI. I also feel the overall editing and photography represent something fresh when compared to the Godzilla movies of the early 1990s. (There were no Godzilla movies between 1995 and 1999. Gamera 2 was released in Japan in 1996.) I highly recommend this movie to any kaiju fan, and some non-fans might enjoy it too.
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