Prime Time: Gamera 2: Attack Of The Legion (1996)

When I first watched Gamera 2: Attack Of The Legion I wasn't too familiar with the series. I did enjoy it, a lot, but I had no major attachment to, or knowledge of, the main creatures at the heart of this (aka the Legion). Now that I feel fully-versed in the lore of Gamera, all I can say is that I enjoyed it even more. It's still slightly restricted by the boundaries of the kind of kaiju movie it is, but this is easily a fantastic time for fans of these films.

The plot is as simple as expected. Earth is visited by another alien beastie, although they work together as a crowd of beasties working together as one. As people start to figure out exactly what is going on, Gamera ends up poised to once again save our planet. The main people working on a solution, and waiting to support Gamera, are Lieutenant Colonel Watarase (Toshiyuki Nagashima), an engineer named Obitsu (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), and a science instructor named Midori Honami (Miki Mizuno). There's also a returning appearance for young Asagi Kusanagi (Ayako Fujitana, reprising her role from the previous film), a girl psychically connected to Gamera.

With both writer Kazunori Itô and director Shûsuke Kaneko returning behind the scenes, this is a great natural progression from the last film, although it also works very well as a self-contained story (one or two elements aside). Unlike every other Gamera movie I can think of, this takes time to make things surprisingly tense and creepy throughout the first act, potentially keeping the main antagonist as a mystery to those who may have somehow started watching it without reading the title. Starting things off on a relatively small scale proves to be a great way to turn this into something that stands out from the kaiju movie crowd, but anyone hankering for a bigger threat and more destruction doesn’t have to wait too long.

Mizuno is an enjoyable presence, and both Nagashima and Fukikoshi do well enough in roles that are, as ever with these movies, playing second fiddle to the titular creatures, but the real highlight is Fujitana, more because of being able to enjoy the continuity of her character’s journey than any superior acting performance.

Gamera movies are often inherently silly, and also happy to keep things as child-friendly as the more juvenile Godzilla movies. This particular film uses the groundwork laid by the previous instalment to deliver something a bit more tense and interesting, and the end result is one of the very best films in the entire Gamera filmography.

8/10

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