Gamera Vs. Barugon Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.

 

Just one year after the release of the incredible “Gamera, The Giant Monster”, came its first sequel, “Gamera Vs. Barugon”. With a new director, Shigeo Tanaka, and a mostly new cast (and the one returning played a wholly new character), one would be forgiven for being a bit tepid when approaching this movie. Does magic strike again? Is it too rushed for its own good?

 

Set almost immediately after the first movie, the plot has a lot going on:

A meteor smashes into the rocket carrying Gamera off of our world, and frees him. Still being a bad monster at this time, of course he destroys a dam, causing lots of havoc. Meanwhile, on a small South Pacific island, three explorers are hired to retrieve a giant opal, once found and hidden by a WWII vet. After a fatal scorpion attack, double crossings, and a cave-in, only Onodera (Koji Fujiyama) escapes. On the way back to Japan, the opal comes in contact with infrared light and hatches into the lizard-esque Barugon. Rapidly growing, Barugon starts using his freezing breath to destroy as much as possible, including freezing Gamera, during their first encounter. All this as the military figures out a way to harm Barugon, using mirrors to refract his own rainbow beams (I did not make this up!). While that does injure the lizard, it takes an unthawed Gamera to even have a fighting chance.

 

So, before we begin the review proper, I want to discuss the transfer of the movie. I own the Blu-ray four movie set released a few years ago, and I’ll be damned if “Gamera Vs. Barugon” doesn’t look downright phenomenal. The colors are crisp and vibrant, there is virtually no grain or scratches (aside from a few stock footage moments), and the sound is crystal clear. If you have any desire to watch this movie, do so on this Blu-ray, it is beautiful!

 

Now, on with the review! While there are two monsters this time, there’s also a good amount of time spent with the human characters. So, after the destroying the dam, things do slow down a bit. However, most of the characters are fleshed out enough to be more than just monster food waiting to happen, and how involved the military are in the hunting of the monsters fleshes out the world rather nicely. The actors are very good, with Koji Fujiyama as the treacherous Onodera and Kojiro Hongo as Keisuke Hirata (the explorer that survives the cave-in) being the stand-outs for me. Fujiyama only reveals his intentions a little bit at a time, making for a fun, slick antagonist. Hongo is very dashing and intense, as our lead hero. His chemistry with Kyoto Enami (village girl Karen, whom saves him from the cave-in) is very good, and they have a nice rapport going throughout.

 

Gamera’s first attack, on the dam, is very well shot and staged, allowing us to see the full scale destruction that it brings. He and Barugon’s first encounter isn’t as epic as one would expect, and is over rather quickly. However, Barugon’s numerous encounters with the military are exciting, and it is also pretty fun to see the military learn and use different strategies throughout the movie’s runtime.

 

The epic climax is the ending battle between Gamera and Barugon. The suitmation actors do an excellent job fighting in the costumes, and the detail on the miniatures surrounding them is very good. It is a truly exciting sequence.

Design-wise Gamera hasn’t changed at all, and the suit still looks and moves credibly. Barugon’s design is a bit silly, but I attribute that more to time period than anything else, so I won’t complain too much about it- long rhinoceros like tusk, two rows of tiny spikes going down its back to the long tail, and a front weighted tongue that can go in and out like a snake’s and be used as a bashing weapon. One gets use to it, but it’s a bit overdone, and silly.

 

What I will complain are the rainbow beams and tongue basher. The rainbow beam, while it may have been a solid effect back when this was originally released, didn’t not age well. It always appears to have stopped short, as if it should be extending much further than it does, but simply doesn’t. It makes me giggle because of how obvious the effect is. The tongue that bashes moves very slowly and is hilarious to watch. Luckily, it only comes into play every now and then, so it never becomes too distracting.

 

While there are some small issues, some having more to do with age than anything else, this first sequel in the ever popular Gamera franchise has a lot of charm, good monster-on-monster action, and smart, interesting human characters. Not as good as the original, but still a worthy and fun follow up, that I heartily recommend.