Gamera Trilogy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Gamera Trilogy Blu-ray Movie Review

Second release, third movie are both charms.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 17, 2011

"Fiction" -- defined by the Mac OS X widget dictionary as "invention or fabrication as opposed to fact" -- is a creative medium whereby most anything goes and most anything can find an audience. Whether fiction derived from fact or fiction derived from the furthest reaches of the imagination, there's something magical about fiction's unique ability to create, alter, or dismiss completely the realities of life and take readers, listeners, or viewers into a world where people, places, and things are allowed to circumvent anything and everything held true or possible in favor of a make-believe plane of existence where, yes, anything goes. Japanese cinema has long since fascinated audiences -- both on her own soil and around the world -- with a spate of reality-bending fictional tales of larger-than-life monsters fighting epic battles amongst that nation's greatest cities and landmarks, effectively creating an entire industry of fiction that deals with the classic good-versus-evil motif amplified in size and scope as dueling monsters of varied origins, strengths, and allegiances do battle and leave a swath of physical an emotional damage in their wake. These Monster -- or Kaiju -- pictures hold a special place in the heart of film lovers everywhere; amongst the giants (pun intended) of these fictional works of art are the Gamera series of pictures, now on the third revision since the character's debut in 1965. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Gamera: Attack of the Legion, and Gamera: Revenge of Iris represent the series' second iteration, all three pictures B-movie goodies that generally rely not on cinematic scope, A-list special effects, top-notch writing, or exceptional direction to win over audiences, but instead a good old-fashioned fun factor whereby the spirit of the films supersede all else.

Gamera? He ain't got nothin' on my rainbow.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Rating: 3/5

We're just sewing the seeds of our own destruction.

Long ago, an ancient civilization hailing from the lost continent of Atlantis bred large winged creatures known as Gyaos as a means of controlling rampant pollution. Unfortunately, they bred rapidly and, through their great numbers and strength, destroyed the Atlanteans, but not before those doomed people were able to create a savior they dubbed Gamera, a powerful turtle-like creature with a hardened shell and a propulsion system that allowed him to fly. Fast forward many millennia. Gamera and the remaining Gyaos have been awakened off the coast of Japan, setting the stage for an historic confrontation between monsters that could destroy a nation and put the world on the brink of disaster. With a nation on edge, monsters battling for supremacy, and the future of the world playing out on the streets of Japan, two humans -- an Ornithologist named Mayumi Nagamine (Shinobu Nakayama) and a young girl with a unique psychic connection to Gamera, Asagi Kusanagi (Ayako Fujitani) -- must work together to ensure Gamera's victory, preserving modern man's way of life and avoiding the same fate as the doomed Atlanteans.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is an enjoyable romp of campy B-movie goodness that features a rather haphazard plot and unbelievable characters and developments, all in the name of innocent Monster movie fun. Because of its cheerfully none-too-serious tone, the movie makes giant flying birds and an oversized turtle with something akin to jet engines on its feet and the ability to buzz around like a UFO into two entities that audiences accept from the get-go; never does Guardian of the Universe seem disingenuous or ridiculous, generally because the entire movie is one giant wink-and-a-nod. Both species hail from a bygone era when Atlantis was a continent rather than a myth and the Earth found itself on the brink of some sort of environmental catastrophe, and it's that origin in something fascinatingly foreign yet oddly tangible that seems to allow the material to work far better than it should. Indeed, Guardian of the Universe simply has fun with its very premise, and its endearing stance that remains well on the side of fiction and fantasy -- even in the midst of a not-so-thinly-veiled cautionary tale -- allows the audience to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show without that inner debate as to the purpose of the film or the validity of its premise to interfere with what is nothing more and nothing less than a good old fashioned beat-em-up Monster movie.

At its core, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is all about its monster-on-monster action. It weaves in a couple of ultimately converging human stories, too, but pound-for-pound the film revels first and foremost in the combat between its gargantuan heroes and villains. The special effects are effective if not somewhat cheap; in a way the rubbery-looking monsters and the obvious miniatures in and around which they fight work better than even some of the finer CGI monsters and environment seen in bigger and supposedly better movies (though one can't help but giggle at the obviously plastic chunks of meat used as bait at one point in the movie). It all gets back to the film's B-movie charm and appeal, and half the fun is reveling in a movie that doesn't really take itself all that serious yet still gives its audiences exactly what they want. Better yet, the film's not-so-thinly-veiled cautionary message on the environment never really interferes with the feel and flow of the movie. The creatures' origins are nicely weaved into the story, incorporating a little bit of make-believe history around the "save the planet" theme. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is all in good fun, from the rubbery creatures to the thin plot, and audiences that can accept this film for what it is should find plenty of value and a surprising re-watchability that makes this a heartily recommended picture.

Gamera: Attack of the Legion
Rating: 3/5

It's like the world is coming apart at the seams.

A year has passed since Gamera's destructive battle with the Gyaos, but Japan isn't out of the woods quite yet. Scientists have discovered an object hurtling towards Earth and threatening to impact the tiny island-nation of Japan. Oddly enough, the object appears to be slowing as it approaches Earth, and upon impact, scientists confirm that theory. As panic reaches a fever pitch with phone lines interrupted, a mysterious green glow illuminates the nighttime sky, and a series of impossibly large plants are seen growing within the city limits of Sapporo. It is theorized that the meteor carried extraterrestrial life, and that the plants are meant to alter Earth's atmosphere to better suit the needs of the aliens, ultimately killing man. With co-existence impossible and time running out, Japan's military is ordered to destroy the creatures and the plants at all cost. The fighting is difficult and the loses extreme, but when all hope appears lost, Gamera -- the ancient turtle-like creature of enormous strength -- returns to once again do battle with an impossibly difficult foe.

Attack of the Legion is less about mythos and more about action when compared to its predecessor. While Guardian of the Universe delved into species origins and gave its human characters a rather significant role in the story's development, Legion eschews much of what made the first Gamera picture a success and focuses instead on wall-to-wall raw action. That doesn't make it a lesser film; different, yes, but still a wild and fun ride in its own right. The film does share many other characteristics with its predecessor, namely in its retention of similar-looking special effects that give the monsters a rubbery texture and employing cityscape miniatures that are going to fool only the most naïve or novice of viewers. Still, the low-budget charm -- arguably both this picture's and the entire series' most endearing element -- is retained for all its worth, giving the movie an innocently fun feel that makes Attack of the Legion an easy watch.

Gamera: Attack of the Legion suffers through a somewhat choppy pace and incorporates several freeze-frame images, both of which only interfere with the film's flow, effectively sucking the viewer out of the experience. Fortunately, both are masked by the film's several extended action sequences and amped-up (but in no way excessive) violence that plays in contrast to the film's more scientific and dramatic elements that do just enough to advance the story and slowly create a back story for the attacking Legion. Their efforts to re-arrange Earth's atmosphere are handled very well; the picture smartly gives its main storyline big visuals and easily-distinguishable villains, aiding in the storytelling process while also affording the film a few more opportunities to put big special effects and nicely-captured action scenes into the forefront of the experience. There's not much substance here or in Guardian of the Universe, for that matter; that's OK, because neither film plays its cards close to the vest, instead laying exactly what they are on the table and not striving to trick audiences into believing that they're getting anything more or anything less than good old fashioned Monster movie fun.

Gamera: Revenge of Iris
Rating: 4/5

Humanity is plodding towards its own extinction.

The years following Gamera's battle with the Legion have not yielded peace. The world remains at the mercy of the deadly Gyaos, winged creatures with a penchant for destruction. They've returned to do battle over Japan, and when Japan's monster-hero Gamera, in his pitch battle with a pair of particularly potent and determined Gyaos, destroys a large section of Tokyo that inadvertently leads to the deaths of thousands of innocent human bystanders, the Japanese government takes up arms against the creature, vowing to destroy him once and for all, no matter his strengths, benefits, and abilities to battle other, deadlier creatures. At the same time, young Ayana (Ai Maeda) has vowed revenge against Gamera, believing the creature to be responsible for her family's death some years earlier. She discovers an ancient egg long protected by the guardians inhabiting a small village, and when it hatches, she befriends the creature and projects onto it her hatred for and vow of revenge against Gamera. The creature matures quickly and, when it reaches full size and strength, takes on Gamera in a bloody battle that can only lead to great violence, destruction, and despair for all involved.

So infrequently can it be said of a movie trilogy that "third time's the charm," but that holds true in the case of Revenge of Iris, the best Gamera film of the three for a myriad of reasons, chief amongst them its bleaker tone and more involved supernatural plot line. On the surface, though, the movie bears a close resemblance to its siblings. The formula hasn't changed much, the special effects are only incrementally better, and the characters are only a bit more developed, but the movie settles into its routine much faster than the other two, thanks in large part to a superior story and its setting in a world weary of the ravages of destructive monsters. No matter the destruction and darkness, however, for one girl, anyway, that world has become a gateway for further violence and devastation for her own ends, justified or not. Revenge of Iris' dark underbelly is its best asset and gives the film a more substantial feel than is offered by either of its predecessors, which play with a somewhat more detached tone rather than the more personal, immediate, and emotionally traumatic structure that defines this third entry.

Despite its heightened awareness as an emotionally-grounded and thematically-complex picture that speaks on the nature and reality of revenge, Revenge of Iris still plays to its audience at a very basic level, too. Director Shusuke Kaneko's picture is saturated with action and violence, both heightened considerably from the previous entries, which is of course one of the key rules to any Action/Adventure-styled movie follow-up. The movie is superficially spiffy, with great looking practical monster effects and a great deal of mayhem. Not all of it looks like something out of a Hollywood summer blockbuster, of course, but the effective merging of plot, action, heart, and spunk allows for lesser production values and budget when compared to Tinseltown's best. The secondary plot line -- Gamera: Friend or Foe? -- could use a little more fleshing out and exploration into the whole "defender of humanity but at what cost?" question that certainly hasn't lost any relevance since the film's 1999 release or, indeed, at any time in the nuclear era. Nevertheless, it's one shortcoming in a movie packed with great action and effecters work, not to mention a deeper, more though-provoking plot that all make Revenge of Iris a Monster movie lover's dream come true.

Gamera Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Rating: 4/5

It's redemption time. No doubt about it, Mill Creek stunk up the joint with the abysmal Total Terror release that's arguably Blu-ray's worst; other than simply showing a blank screen, that release represents about the worst a home video release can look. Gamera fares much, much better. No doubt the film is helped out by better source material; the results are Blu-worthy to be sure and, while not the best looking image in the world, this is one that Mill Creek can point to as a real, honest-to-goodness quality release. Guardian of the Universe sports a sturdy and stable image that offers up quality detailing and fair colors, both yielding a pleasing filmic image. Although the transfer exhibits a few bugaboos -- slight blocking, minor aliasing, a few jagged edges, and occasional banding -- none appear with any regularity or at an obnoxiously high level. In fact, this is borderline upper-tier stuff, and it might very well be the best transfer of a bargain-bin title yet. Well done, Mill Creek. Keep it up.

Gamera: Attack of the Legion
Rating: 3.5/5

Attack of the Legion looks fairly similar to Guardian of the Universe on Blu-ray. This stable, generally crisp image offers satisfying but not awe-inspiring detailing in the usual places -- faces, clothes, building façades -- that gives the transfer a balanced appearance that's just about right for a mid-90s mid-budget Monster movie. Colors, too, travel down the same road, looking smart and steady but not dazzling in any way. Black levels occasionally appear unnaturally light or, on the other end of the spectrum, a bit too dark and to the detriment of foreground details, but flesh tones always maintain a positive balance. Moderate grain is retained over the image, and along with the good detailing, fair color reproduction, and 1080p muscle, Attack of the Legion delivers a nice cinematic texture. Only a bit of haloing distracts from an otherwise good-but-not-great Blu-ray effort from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Gamera: Revenge of Iris
Rating: 3.5/5

Mill Creek's snazzy 1080p transfer of Gamera: Revenge of Iris is sure to please fans. This is a sharp image that's well detailed and that yields lush colors throughout. Grain appears to swirl in places but seems a little less organic -- frozen, maybe -- in a few spots, but never to the great detriment of the overall image. Details on faces, clothes, natural vegetation, and manmade objects and places throughout the cities alike all sport good clarity and texturing, the end result a positive film-like façade in most scenes. The color palette is neither drab nor unnaturally vibrant. It finds a happy medium and appears naturally balanced, whether in the brightest outdoor scenes, night shots, or even in a submarine drenched in red lighting. Blacks are sturdy, maybe a touch dim here, a hair dark there, but like the colors, enjoying a good, solid middle ground throughout. Compression artifacts are scarce, and the print shows no signs of excessive wear. All in all, this is a solid Blu-ray transfer from Mill Creek.

Note: Because the first two films are identical to the original release, all screenshots in this review come from 'Revenge of Iris.'

Gamera Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Rating: 3.5/5

The native Japanese (optional English subtitles are available) DTS-HD HR 5.1 soundtrack offers listeners a good but far from exceptional listening experience. Dialogue is adequately delivered through the center channel, and the remainder of the track's various elements are nicely spaced around the 5.1 configuration. Surrounds are used both in support of music and to carry many effects, whether several action elements or environmental ambience, such as a crunchy and crackly thunderstorm heard in chapter two. The track additionally yields a fair amount of bass, though it's never as precise and potent as most would hope. Nevertheless, the track offers a well-balanced listen; the back channels, as noted, carry plenty of information, but they're used correctly and not simply as delivery vehicles for a barrage of needless sound. Unfortunately, the English subtitles fail to offer translations for various credits, title cards, or newspaper clippings that are found throughout the film. Otherwise, the native Japanese track is the way to go, and Mill Creek's DTS soundtrack gets the job done.

Gamera: Attack of the Legion
Rating: 3.5/5

Attack of the Legion features a similar DTS-HD HR 5.1 track, available, again, in both Japanese and English variations. This is a satisfying but not particularly memorable track. "Workmanlike" might be the best descriptor, and that suits the quality of the movie quite well. The track's signature elements include good spacing across the front and a noticeable but not overwhelming or phony surround support structure that helps out with not only music and light effects -- like a subtly blowing breeze -- but heavier elements such as falling meteors and various action/military sound effects. Directional effects are implemented with fine results in several scenes as military vehicles dart around the soundstage, while alarm klaxons and echoing voices reverberate throughout the entire listening area. Music occasionally looses some heft, but it's generally satisfactory in delivery. Dialogue, too, remains soundly focused in the center channel. Attack of the Legion won't dazzle Blu-ray newbies or audiophiles, but Mill Creek's soundtrack does a good job of supporting the movie.

Gamera: Revenge of Iris
Rating: 3.5/5

Gamera: Revenge of Iris spits out a potent DTS-HD MA 5.1 Japanese-language soundtrack. The surround channels are used extensively throughout to create an immersive and active environment; whether yelling villager's at film's start, echoing voices and dripping water in a cave as heard in chapter three, or the general din of a city under siege in various stretches throughout the movie, the track is never at a loss when it comes to delivering a well-rounded, full-field listen. Music, too, enjoys a hefty surround support element in addition to good spacing and strong clarity across the front. Bass is hefty in support of the film's more critical and loud action scenes. Gunfire, explosions, and the general chaos of battling monsters brings a good sense of havoc into the listening area as well. It's all very well balanced throughout the entire spectrum of sonic elements. Additionally, dialogue is center-focused and clear. For those tempted to listen through the lossy English 5.1 track: take heed. It's puny compared to its lossless companion. Best to stick with the original language track, anyway.

Gamera Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Gamera Trilogy comes packed with almost three hours worth of extras, all presented in standard definition. It's important to note, however, that all of the extras for all three movies are found exclusively on the Revenge of Iris disc; the first two films come packaged identically to the original double feature release. Note that selecting any of the features (aside from the trailers) from the menu -- no matter the movie -- will cause the disc to simply jump to the appropriate starting point in the 2:51:59-long collection of bonus materials; these are not encoded separately.

Gamera 1

• Behind the Scenes (0:00:00-0:18:21).
• Camera Tests & Special Effects (0:18:21-0:21:44).

Gamera 2

• Action! On Location (0:21:44-1:18:16).
• Creating the Legion (1:18:16-1:58:04).

Gamera 3

• The Awakening of Iris Remix (1:58:04-2:41:47).
• Deleted Scenes (2:41:47-2:51:59).
• Theatrical Trailers (1080p, 2:44).

Gamera Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

None of these three movies -- Gamera: Guardian Of the Universe, Gamera: Attack Of the Legion, or Gamera: Revenge of Iris -- are works of high art, but they're fun little Japanese diversions in the tradition of that nation's great heritage of Monster movies. Somewhat clunky but serviceable special effects, generic plots, overacting, and occasionally questionable direction all add to the B-movie charm of the first two, but Revenge of Iris improves on the series and gives it a heftier and more thought-provoking plot to go along with the best and most violent action of any of the three films. No matter any of the problems inherent to any of the three films, each are well made and well worth a watch. American audiences in particular couldn't do much better as a starting point for expanding movie horizons into the Japanese Monster movie market. Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of this trio of Gamera films adds some much-needed supplemental fare -- as clumsily implemented as it might be -- to go along with quality Blu-ray presentations across all three films. Recommended.