Prime Time: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

I had some trepidation when I picked this film for my latest "kaiju-watch", having not been a big fan of one or two of the films preceding it, but I'll be damned if I allow myself to be beaten before I've even managed to get about halfway through this journey through the world of giant Japanese monster movies. Thankfully, Gamera vs. Viras is a lot of fun.

A couple of boy scouts, Masao (Tôru Takatsuka) and Jim (Carl Craig), get themselves aborad a small submarine and spend some time getting up to mischief underwater. Gamera appears, spending some time racing them and generally playing around, which is only a precursor to a potential alien plan to cause havoc on Earth. The aliens find out about Gamera's weakness, how he will always try to protect children, and they end up capturing Masao and Jim until they can get Gamera in their clutched, placing a controlling device on the back of his head, and then using him to start destroying cities. This eventually leads to a battle between Gamera and the aliens, who merge together to form the giant Viras.

It's hard to sound intelligent and critical when discussing this film, as it can be with a lot of the kaiju movies, but the main thing to convey to other people is just how goofy and endearing this film is. Director Noriaki Yuasa and writer Niisan Takahashi make great use of what makes Gamera stand out from other well-known kaiju figures, and it helps that there's a sense of real joy and playfulness throughout, even as things start to get a bit tricky for "our hero' as we move fully into the third act.

Takatsuka and Craig are enjoyable in their roles, the design of the aliens makes them an interesting onscreen presence, and Gamera is allowed to keep busy doing Gamera things, which is what you want to see in any Gamera movie.

This won't please anyone looking for scenes of mass destruction, those are just a very small part of the runtime, but it should please Gamera fans. It's in line with the films that have come before, it stays true to the character, and it's a highly enjoyable and brisk 75 minutes. Best described as knockabout fun, with the emphasis on the second word in that descriptor.

7/10

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Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)

You would think that sending Gamera into space would have been enough to keep Earth safe, but Gamera vs. Barugon quickly shows that not to be the case. First of all, there are always new creatures that can suddenly come along and cause panic. Secondly, a travelling rocket being hit by a meteorite is enough to send Gamera back down to our planet. And that's really all you need to know.

There's a bit more to the plot, of course, and Barugon is a creature hatched from an egg that people mistakenly think is a large opal, but things only ever liven up when people are trying to figure out how to deal with a new monster menace. Barugon looks a bit goofy, Gamera still looks great, and the humans feel even less significant than ever.

Directed by Shigeo Tanaka, and written by Niisan Takahashi, this follows on from the first Gamera film in a way that is simple enough, and also a bit disappointing. The contrivance to get Gamera back on our planet feels a bit lazy, Barugon is far from the best big beastie we've ever seen onscreen, and there's a major void in the cast that isn't filled by anyone we can empathise or sympathise with.

Kôjirô Hongô, Kyôko Enami, Yûzô Hayakawa, Takuya Fujioka, and Kôji Fujiyama are the cast members I will mention here, but they're just there to look on in awe as the creatures do their thing, when people aren't squabbling over the "opal" that leads to the appearance of Barugon. They do what they're asked to do, but they're just not asked to do anything that helps them to feel worth spending time with.

Gamera is still great, and the reason this is worth your time, which makes the fact that the rest of the movie is so weak seem even more disappointing. It needed either a better foe for our "hero" to battle or just some more scenes showing Gamera doing what Gamera does best. All the rainbow rays and mirror traps in the world aren't enough to make up for the disappointing sidelining of Gamera in one of their own movies.

Knowing how much better the later Gamera movies are (the 1990s films, referred to as the Heisei era) is enough to keep me powering through these, but I am worried that I'll end up slogging through a lot of lesser fare until I get back to those more enjoyable features. I've watched a lot worse though, and every film has the inherent plus of the second-best kaiju in cinema (a point I am sure could be argued over by fans for a long, long time). There's also something about kaiju movies that somehow makes it impossible to rate even the lesser films as a complete waste of your time. There may be less moments of absolute brilliance, but there are always some small treats here and there.

5/10

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