Powerful

Crappy film

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Blistering performances.

This time around, Gamera takes on "The Legion", a biblically-named, huge insectoid alien and its accompanying swarm of little insectoid aliens. The swarming scenes are typical of what has become a popular trope (e.g. Star Trek: Beyond, The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)) but are pretty well done, as are the fights with the big one. There is lots of high-quality military footage (both stock and made for the movie) – a far cry from the wobbly little model tanks that used to be sent in futile attempts to stop giant monsters. The scenes of the 'pod/flower' forms of Legion growing and wrecking cities are also very well done. The film plays up Gamera as guardian of the Earth (sort of a giant flying eco-warrior) rather than just a friend of mans (probably a helpful distinction considering the amount of damage he does when saving us). Generally a good kaiju film marred (IMO) by a deus ex machina ending, which sees Gamera, on the ropes, pull a super weapon out of nowhere that abruptly puts an end to any threat from Legion. Once again, the big turtle seems to be in some kind of psychic link with a young girl – an unnecessary subplot but a vast improvement on the little boys he used to chum around with in the 60's. I do miss the cheerful Gamera march but it would be out of place in these somewhat grimmer movies.

I came back to Gamera after revisiting the series from the MST3K DVDs I bought. I knew there were a few updated new movies out back in the '90s and finally was compelled to buy the box set. I don't regret it. This second movie of the trilogy begins with a freak meteor storm that impacts Japan and surrounding areas. Folks go investigate the crater, learn the meteor slowed down and disappeared, get a scientist babe involved, etc. Things start happening, and they seemed to occur as if the incidents started at the crater and moved in a deliberate march towards population. "Maybe the meteor moved."Long story short, the rock spawned a silicon beast with lots of little beasts and a flower the size of a building which will launch a seed into space. And Gamera appears to save the day. Eventually.The SFX were done very well. The destruction of an entire city, Gamera's new retractable fins (Who knew Gamera was a convertible?) and new, "Mana Blast." The acting was pretty good as well. Asagi and Osako, the girl who helped Gamera in the previous movie and the inspector (Now he's a security guard at a warehouse full of beer -SWEET!), return.Not as good as the third Gamera movie, but still ranking up there for me.There's a special surprise I'd just discovered that compelled me to write this, though. Yesterday, I popped this in and started it up so I could sleep (I seem to sleep better if the sounds of giant Japanese monsters ripping through cities are playing in my head -don't ask me why). I must have changed the audio settings in my sleep. There's three on my DVD: English 1, English 2 and Japanese. Well, all the times I watched this movie I had it set to the first. While sleeping, I set it to second and OMG! The Colonel suddenly sounded like Bill Clinton, launching wisecracks at every opportunity. Asagi sounded like Daisy Duke with a thicker accent. And whenever a crowd of Japanese folks was running for their lives from certain destruction, someone always yelled, "HOLY CRAAAP!!" I couldn't stop laughing. I don't know if this was some kind of fun humor, or a cruel prank on the movie's producers. If for no other reason, rent this DVD and set the audio for some fun. It'll be worth it.I'm going to see if this was done to the other two Gamera movies today.

I love these three 90's Gamera movies. What a comeback. Gamera is the Rocky of Kaiju as he always gets the crap beaten, burned and stabbed out of him and comes back still to kick a*s and win. Usually I much prefer to watch with the Japanese dialog and subtitles but on these movies the english dub is too entertaining to pass up. There are some great humorous moments that are only there with the english dub that are done well and not at the expense of the characters or the story (well except for the southern fried version they do in the extras on the DVD, which is hysterical). I like Attack of legion better than Guardian of the Universe (still great!) as Gamera is a little less clumsy looking and the Legion idea is so cool. When Gamera flys in and does a sliding circle on his feet around legion while firing fire balls it's truly awesome!! I think I'm starting to like Gamera more than Godzilla. I like his connection with Humans and his origin is a lot more interesting. Still Godzilla has the best roar of all time. I haven't had this much fun watching a guy in a rubber suit since I was a kid watching the 60's kaiju movies. Forget CGI monsters, Japan still does it best with inventive visuals and a lot of love.

Gamera 2: Advent of Legion is really good. Not perfect, and not as good as Gamera 3, but still pretty good. The movie uses several innovative techniques new to the kaiju world. For example, the movie introduces the human-sized legions as a horror element. They attack (and actually kill, something rare in kaiju films), the people on a commuter train. And it has pretty good marionetes. The mother Legion itself looks pretty good and has remarkable mobility for a creature of its size. If you compare it to Destroyah...well, no contest. Gamera looks different too, and has a new mode of flight. His hands transform into flippers when he flies. This is a controversial change, to say the least, but I think it looks ok. Anyway, I think there is enough good stuff about this movie to purchase it. A step up from Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe and a step up from the Godzilla series. Don't worry Godzilla fans, Godzilla can still make the best destruction films, but for an actually GOOD kaiju movie, check this one out. But if you want the best go for Gamera 3...