Reaction & Review | Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a kaiju film from 1995. That movie is "Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe".

Now, I should state right off the bat that my history with kaiju films have been extremely limited. I've only seen about, maybe, 2 or 3 of them in my life. And most of those feature Godzilla. I've seen the original Japanese version of the very first Godzilla movie from 1954, AKA "Gojira". And I've seen the Godzilla movie from 1998. Which I know most people don't count, because it's not technically the 'real' Godzilla. However, I will say that the movie wasn't that bad. But then again, I saw that movie well over 2 decades, so maybe my opinion of it would change if I saw it again today. And on a side note, I've seen a little bit of the animated series that was based off the 1998 movie. Which, so far, I think has been pretty good.

So anyway, as I just stated a moment ago, my history with these kaiju movies have been rather limited. I haven't seen any of the new films that came out in the U.S., so I can't really gauge an opinion on those. And part of the reason why I have been rather absent with these sorts of movies is because I didn't exactly know where to start with them. But then I found something that, I think, would be kind of a good starting point. You see, I found a little DVD box set at my local mini-mall which features 3 movies centered around Gamera. And I figured that these particular movies would be perfect to start with. So, you pretty much already have an idea as to what I'll be mostly covering this month.

Now, I don't really know much about Gamera, outside of it being a friend to all children. But as for what I know about these particular movies is that they serve as sort of a darker reboot for the Gamera series. Now I don't really know if that's a good thing or not, considering that I've never seen any of the previous Gamera movies. But regardless, it does leave me rather curious to see how this is all gonna play out. So really, the only way I'm gonna find out if these movies are any good at all is to just quit stalling, and hope that, at least, the first movie will start off in the right direction. And the only way I'm gonna find that out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe".

10 minutes later

OK, so we just had a scene where these guys were mapping out exactly where this giant creature, who I'm going to assume it's Gamera, went after it's last sighting. So, what exactly do they plan on doing after they find it? Are they gonna either capture or kill it? And how exactly do they plan on doing either one of those things? I'm kinda curious now, because they haven't physically seen what this thing actually looks like. They better have figured something out, otherwise, it's probably gonna end up being a disaster for them.

7 minutes later

So...there's actually 3 of these monster birds that are flying around that island. Well, they're not really 'birds', per se, they look more like dragons, so to speak. I gotta say, while that's actually a little bit terrifying, it leaves me wondering where exactly these bird monsters came from? Kinda hoping the movie will provide some sort of explanation for this.

13 minutes later

OK, so their plan of closing the stadium's dome to trap these dragon-like creatures sounds like a decent idea. Don't know if it'll actually work or not, but whatever, it sounds like a decent plan, if executed correctly. But, what about Gamera? It's been reported that it was also on it's way to the stadium. To do what, I don't know. But don't you think they would've quickly come up with a backup plan, in case that thing arrives at the stadium? I totally understand that they just got this news about that creature, and that they probably didn't have any time to come up with some sort of strategy for it. But still, they could've, at least, come up with something.

14 minutes later

So...apparently, there was a hidden nest on the island that these flying creatures were inhabiting. And apparently, a couple of these other flying creatures tried to eat each other when they weren't being fed. Well...at least it answers my question on where they exactly came from. Still though, the fact they their corpses are still there is kinda gross, honestly.

15 minutes later

Whoa, wait a second here! So, the military has been wailing on Gamera with all of the fire power at their disposal. Yet, when Gyaos comes into the picture, they decide to cease fire because...reasons, I guess. I'm going to assume that they're trying to let Gyaos finish off Gamera while it's on it's back. But it still makes no fucking sense, especially considering that Gyaos has been doing the terrorizing for the entire time that it's been in the movie! I guess, even in 1995, the Japanese military weren't really the brightest bunch.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...all right. So...I guess, I can say that if this movie is anything to go by, then I think I'm in for a pretty good month here. Because this movie was really fucking good, and it mostly lived up to my expectations.

But I guess I should probably get into this thing by talking about the writing. Now, as I stated a couple of times earlier, I have not seen a whole lot of kaiju films. While I may know about certain kaiju names and a couple of other things about them, I have not seen any of their movies, with the two exceptions being those Godzilla movies I mentioned at the start of this thing. So basically, if you're expecting me to compare what was seen in the previous Gamera movies before this one, then don't bother. Because I'm not the biggest expert on these particular movies, so I may be missing out on certain details. However, I also have to consider that this trilogy that I'm gonna be watching this month is, pretty much, a reboot of the Gamera series. So, at least with these particular movies, I don't have to worry about continuity issues from the previous movies. In fact, I think that this movie's biggest positive would be that you don't have to worry about watching any of the older Gamera movies in order for you to understand what's going on here. Because this movie is basically an origin story about Gamera, and it's a really solid origin story, too. And as for it being darker in tone, well, honestly, it's not THAT dark. I mean, there are some dark moments here and there, but it's not really that dark. Now, who knows? It may be darker in later installments of this trilogy, but I think that this movie doesn't delve into being too dark, because it still shows some of it's goofy light-heartedness, as well. So, at least, with this first installment, it does a good enough job in balancing it's tone.

Now, setting aside the movie's tone, there is another story to this movie. Basically, it's about the birth of Gyaos, as it's being shown to fly around and basically destroying anything by eating, whether it's humans or other things. And it's also tied into a prophecy regarding Gamera, in which I'm not really gonna go too much into detail here because it would tie into spoilers. While I'm on the subject of Gyaos, I kinda want to touch upon a slight issue that sorta bugged me a bit about the creature. You see, earlier on, before it was even called Gyaos, and the fact that there were multiple versions of it, people often referred to these creatures as 'birds'. And I'm sorry, but these things don't look like birds at all. As I said earlier, they look more like dragons, what with them looking scaly and all. Hell, earlier on in the movie, the ornithologist admits that they weren't really birds at all when she first encountered them. But as the movie continued on, almost everyone in this movie kept referring to these flying creatures as birds. Let me ask you question, guys. If you ever saw these flying creatures in your area, would you ever refer to them as 'birds'? Chances are that you probably wouldn't. Now, maybe if they had referred to these creatures looking like pterodactyls, then I probably wouldn't have had that much of an issue with it. But the fact that they still referred to it as birds still kinda bugged me a bit. Now admittedly, as I just said, it was a slight issue that I had, but I eventually got over it. And when the movie finally decided about halfway in to officially call it Gyaos, they finally stopped referring to them as birds. So, it wasn't too much of an issue for me.

As for our characters, most of them are developed really well, and you do have a reason to care about most of them. Now admittedly, I don't remember most of their names, outside of one. Which would be the character known as Asagi. She is the most important of the bunch, because she forms a psychic connection with Gamera through a stone that kinda looks more like magatama. Which was something that was discovered on the shell of Gamera. Well, to be accurate, it wasn't just that one stone, there were plenty of them that were found on Gamera's shell. And one of them was given to Asagi as a souvenir. And as I said, Asagi begins to form a connection with the creature. Most notably, during when Gamera is being attacked by the Japanese military, followed by a surprise attack from Gyaos. Because whatever damage Gamera takes will also be inflicted upon Asagi. For example, if Gamera's arm receives a cut, then Asagi will bleed from the same arm that Gamera is bleeding from. If Gamera receives a cut from it's cheek, then Asagi will get that exact same cut on her cheek. So, that's how it kinda works. Admittedly, I don't remember her ever being a psychic from before she first receives that stone, but it's not really an issue that I consider worth looking into. I will also say that they try to shoehorn in a bit of an environmental message into it's movie, but I'm willing to give it a slight pass, because it's brief, and it's never really brought up again afterwards.

So overall, the writing here is really strong. Just about everything here makes sense, and there's not really a whole lot I can make mention of when it comes to negatives, outside of a couple of nitpicks here and there. With that being said, let's get into the acting. Now, prior to going into this movie, I opted to watch the English dub. And I will say that, while the dub here sounds a little bit weak, it actually starts to grow on you as the movie goes on. Now I can't guarantee that for every viewer, considering that there are those who don't want to risk watching a god-awful English dub. Which is why this version of the movie on DVD does have an option for you to watch the original Japanese dub with English-speaking subtitles. So if you're not interested in watch this movie's dub, then the subtitled version is there in case you want to watch it that way. But for anyone else, the dub here is mostly serviceable. It's not the best dub I've heard, but it's nowhere near the worst dub I've heard, either. So, it's just something that you have to take for what it's worth.

Special effects in this movie are mostly fantastic. I'm talking about everything from the sets of Japan, in which it's used for the giant monster battles. The suit-work on Gamera and Gyaos looks really good, too. The CG is, admittedly, the one thing that would have to be the weakest point of the movie's special effects. And that's mostly for stuff like missiles, because you get some close-up shots of them being fired, and they look a little bit suspect, even for the standards of 1995. They just look a little bit off to me. Now beyond all that, the special effects for everything else looks great. From blood effects to everything else I just mentioned, it looks really fucking good. And I hope that they continue to look good, or even better, in the later installments of this trilogy.

Camerawork here is really good. The lighting here is lit very well. Our sound-mix here is mixed perfectly fine. The music here is great. Just about everything is done here with an orchestral score, and it definitely is a really good score, too. So yeah, this movie's score is definitely another positive.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, can I recommend "Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe"? Oh, hell yes, guys. This movie was fucking great. If you want to get into any kaiju films for yourself that don't have Godzilla's name on it, then I think this movie will definitely be a good starting point for you. And the best thing about it is that, as I stated earlier, you don't have to worry about watching any of the previous Gamera films, since this movie is starting off as a reboot for itself. Now I don't know if the rest of the movies in this trilogy are gonna be any better, but I am hoping that they are. Because this first movie was really great, and I'm hoping that the other two movies will be just as awesome as this movie was. So yeah, guys, I can totally recommend "Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe". Now, since I don't have any other kaiju films on DVD, it kinda makes it difficult to find something else to watch that's something related to kaiju movies. I guess I can probably pop in one of my Japanese films like "Tokyo Gore Police", "Audition", or even "The Machine Girl". I don't know which one at this point in time, but I'm gonna pick one of those movies next after I'm done putting this review together.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.