If I had to take a guess I'd say that the Biblical excerpt in the title might just be misquoted. Maybe that whole 'we are many' line refers to an actual horde, since it's one of those clichés that must be out of context most of the time when it appears on film... but it's probably not referring to a swarm of giant bugs. From space. But I digress, let's get to the second outing of Gamera in the reboot trilogy. Out of the three this is probably the best of them and for the genre it definitely holds up well. That is considering it's another story about a giant turtle with super powers which involves the staple ingredients of rubber suits, a lot of collateral damage, and a few ecological messages.
This time the second incarnation of Gamera has to do battle with a new foe, alien insects. They have a few different larval stages throughout the film that keep things interesting, and when fully grown 'Legion' is part bug, part crayfish; and all arms. It has several different abilities but its main purpose is to grow a giant plant like nest in an effort to launch its seeds from Earth into outer space. Unfortunately this is a process that will wipe put humanity as it spreads. The smaller variants of the creature are used in a typical alien infestation plot as they hide in a subway where it's easy to jump out from the shadows onto unsuspecting victims. It's clichéd but it keeps the usual human elements from becoming too dull. The effects are used properly and they're hidden in the dark until the appropriate moment.
Strangely there's also a medium sized flying variant which is forgotten about after it makes an appearance. But bringing new ideas into the story and dropping them later becomes a recurring theme in the film. After a meteor shower lands in northern Japan (but unsurprisingly they later spread directly to Tokyo) sightings of these strange creatures are reported and unusual things like phone lines and bottles from a brewery are reported missing. As usual the military and science bods are pretty slow to work out what is going on, and there are a lot of standard scenes in which people talk about magnetic waves and silicon based life forms. Lucky for them of course our eponymous friend (to all children) is already on the case.
Unfortunately the film makers also insist on once again including the annoying plot device where one of the characters has a psychic link to the 'hero' creature. It was overused in the Godzilla movies earlier in the 1990s and in this series they already got all the possible mileage out of it during the previous instalment Gamera Guardian of the Universe. Here it's not really explored further or actually used with much effect. Obviously cutting this thread short is a positive since the results are often silly and melodramatic. But if they wanted returning characters why not do something interesting and flesh them out a little? If they're just here for a cameo during a monster attack with nothing else to do then maybe they should have been cut from the story.
There are a few things like this included -- undercooked dramatic elements which should have been focused on properly or dropped altogether. In some cases characters who apparently witnessed the previous film's events are not really utilised and also quickly forgotten. Elsewhere a huge shock-wave levels a whole city hinting that the story will become darker in tone, but then it's also left aside as things move along... and nobody really talks about it afterwards. Dry exposition and dull human elements are always problem with this genre, and in a story about giant monsters it needs pruning back or alternatively fleshing out all the way. Instead there are too many questionable half measures.
Fortunately the battles themselves are well staged, although it's a little odd that the main villain is so tall at full size. The movement of action in some shots seems limited by the obvious size difference between Legion and Gamera. But as a nasty alien antagonist it looks pretty good and all the legs and moving armour plates are very intricate. Purely as an example of suit-mation wizardry this is a film that monster fans should check out. Once again some computer generated elements creep in which is a shame and I miss the school old fire breathing effects which were more tangible. But generally the destruction is all achieved through detailed model work and real props, and at least Gamera's flying powers look a little better with less bad compositing shots.
People are here to see the larger than life characters duke it out after all, and it delivers where it counts. It's solid entertainment but I don't think it's a film that's likely to blow any minds or convert new fans in an age of far more advanced visual effects techniques. But as revived franchises go you could do a lot worse, and for anyone looking for examples of classic special effects methods it's a good time. It's a prime example of creative monster movie action without weird never to be resolved cliffhangers (as in part 3) or out of place family friendly vibes (as in the second reboot).
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
THE X FROM OUTER SPACE (1967)
Aka Guilala the Space Monster. Well what can I even say... This is by no means a good movie but just look at the image above, if it hasn't already made you feel nauseous. In its own way it's kind of magnificent as a piece of period pop insanity, even though it takes about forty-five minutes to even appear. A laughable dub doesn't help and there's an amazingly slow space exploration plot which never goes anywhere and there's a lot of weird 1960s music too. I guess this was just a new studio trying to get in on the giant monster trend of the time, whether they had the skills or not. At times the results are certainly more Yongary than Gamera.
The plot for what it's worth follows a series manned missions to Mars. Several ships have been lost because apparent UFO interference, and so Earth scientists plan to deal with it... by sending another mission. No time to worry about improving the ship or planning how to avoid further problems, just send more astronauts. The whole team seems to be a bunch of expendable idiots after all. Eventually after a number of fruitless rocket flights (which is unsurprising since they never get anywhere besides the Moon) the alien saucer appears. It looks like it came straight out of a bag of pick 'n' mix sweets. The ship hits them with a tractor beam and leaves behind some flashing crystals - one of which is collected since of course it will later birth the monster.
What's the motive of this alien? Why were the crew even going to Mars? What is with this awful romance subplot and why are the characters all so odd? Because of reasons I guess. There are some attempts at space travel in jeopardy but the supposed drama doesn't go anywhere and the storyline about finding the creature Guilala's one weakness is very simplistic. The astronauts involved definitely don't have The Right Stuff and get freaked out or sick after just a few hours in flight. Eventually they reach usual action scenes in Tokyo and there are set pieces that involve tanks and jet fighters for those in need of a destruction fix, but it's mostly terrible. For laughs only.
2/5
