Monster Movie Monday: Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion (1996)
Review Overview
Featured creatures
8Gamera vs Legion
7.5Turtle powers
7Matthew Turner | On 13, Dec 2021
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Cast: Toshiyuki Nagashima, Miki Mizuno, Tamotsu Ishibashi, Ayako Fujitani, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Akira Ohashi, Mizuho Yoshida
Certificate: 12
Where to watch Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion online in the UK: Amazon Prime / Arrow Video / Apple TV (iTunes) / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / Rakuten TV / Google Play
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Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion is a direct sequel to 1995’s franchise reboot, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (also directed by Kaneko), and the 10th movie in the Godzilla-rivalling giant turtle series. The second film in a trilogy, it was followed by Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris in 1999.
Despite the previous Gamera movie having effectively ended on a cliffhanger that promised the return of Gyaos (the giant people-eating birds), Attack of the Legion introduces a new threat in the form of Legion, a hive of insectoid aliens whose queen is a gigantic kaiju with electric bolt firepower. When a meteor storm hits the Japanese city of Sapporo (a nice change from Tokyo), the aliens bury themselves in subway tunnels creating a giant seed pod.
Together with nerdy scientist Obitsu (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), intuitive science teacher Midori Honami (Miki Mizuno) figures out that the pod is intended to launch a new wave of aliens into space, to colonise another planet. However, the resulting explosion will completely destroy Sapporo. Fortunately, giant turtle Gamera emerges from the sea to attack Legion and protect the Earth, but the insectoid alien proves a formidable foe.
The creature design on Gamera (with excellent man-in-suit work by Akira Ohashi) is more or less the same as in the previous film, but with a couple of tweaks. For one thing, Gamera can now fly with what look like aeroplane wings (although he still uses his spinning, UFO-like form too), plus his fireball breath is now straightforward giant flamethrower breath.
As for Legion (played by Mizuho Yoshida in what must have been a very uncomfortable suit), the design work is certainly original. The giant version looks, at various points, like a stag beetle with extra bits and a cross between an armoured insect and a pterodactyl. The smaller versions are even weirder – you don’t see them in detail too often but they apparently have tentacles, claws and spikes, as well as a single eye housed in a horn.
City-based destruction is a genre staple of kaiju films and Kaneko once again delivers on that front, with all manner of buildings either getting knocked down or blown to bits. However, the effects work is something of a mixed bag – the model work is superb, but the digital effects look very cheap at times and the previously world-beating explosions seem positively tame by comparison. Maybe they spent their entire explosions budget for the trilogy on the first film?
The fight sequences are genuinely exciting, not least because Gamera is very clearly out of his depth – at one point Legion takes advantage of Gamera’s soft underbelly with her giant spike, causing him to bleed green blood, which then sprays all over buildings when our turtle hero flies away. The film also has fun with the monsters’ special abilities – “The big one’s using a new trick!” yells an onlooker – including one that seems to be activated by a pretty severe injury. That said, the film is also frustratingly vague about Gamera’s powers in general – there’s a whole thing happening at the end that could really have used a character popping up and explaining it for the audience.
On that note, the Gamera series also has an established tradition of brainy characters figuring out all the science and history behind the monsters. That’s especially enjoyable here, partly because Mizuno, Fukikoshi and Toshiyuki Nagashima (as military scientist Watarase) really sell the dialogue scenes and partly because the leaps of logic are so ridiculous.
Another frequent trope of kaiju movies is a direct allusion to the horrific real-life nuclear destruction in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That’s made explicit here, with both an actual (if poorly rendered) nuclear-style, city-levelling explosion (a rarity in these films) and a brief appearance by a 70-something character who gets a moving speech about having to run from fire as a child and not being afraid anymore.
The Gamera films also have a strong eco message, as Honami notes that Gamera isn’t there to save humanity, he’s there to save the planet, and woe betide humans if they’re ever on the wrong side of him with their planet-destroying behaviour. There’s an interesting development, in that Gamera loses his connection to humanity in this film, as the amulet that connects him to sulky-looking schoolgirl Asagi (Ayako Fujitani, reprising her role from the first movie) shatters during the final battle. Will that have an impact on Gamera 3? Watch this space.
There are nonetheless a number of amusing moments in Gamera 2. For one thing, the production clearly secured a huge product placement deal with a particular beer brand, as the Legion hive destroy multiple bottles of the stuff and there’s a very prominent billboard. You have to wonder at Coca-Cola’s deal by comparison, because Gamera smashes down a Coke sign at one point and he seems to enjoy doing so.
The film’s various 90s trappings (“No phones near the computers!”) also offer up nostalgia and amusement, especially when all the scientists are trying to use the internet and their modems go down. There’s some deliberate comedy in that department, with the senior scientists being unable to use computers in the first place without making the screen go blank.
Finally, although the dialogue is largely perfunctory, there is the occasional smutty gem, such as a panicked scientist yelling: “It’s about to launch its seed! It’s going to blow!” Oh, and at one point, the score so blatantly rips off the Superman score that you can’t quite believe they got away with it.
Come back next month for Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris!
Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion is available to watch online on Amazon Prime Video as part of a Prime membership or a £5.99 monthly subscription. It is also available on Arrow UK, as part of a £4.99 monthly subscription.