Gamera Vs. Guiron(Attack of the Monsters)

5.5/10

"Gamera Vs Guiron" was a 1969 entry in the Gamera series. It took a very bizarre plot, and made it B-Movie fun. I personally can't put this movie even close to the original, but it is still a fun movie about one of the greatest monsters ever. 

The movie begins in space, as the narrator tells about the many stars, nebulas, etc in the sky. After describing them all, he said "a star is in trouble."  The movie then cuts to the opening credits, and some very trippy scenery of lava fills the screen. I thought this was pretty neat, because it had the very cool vintage 60's feel, and I was drawn in. After the credits, the narrator then talks about satellites, and how they get messages that may be from outer space. After the narrator is done, the movie goes into a huge astronomic meeting, where many questions are asked about these signals and space.  Soon after, the scene cuts to two boys named Akio and Tom looking through a telescope, where they see a spaceship.  These boys go to the spaceship after it lands, and they fly it around. In space, they find their friend Gamera, and he helps them fly around. Suddenly, Gamera gets freaked out, and they think that he is trying to help them stay away from something. The boys then land on a planet, and it is an interesting place where water runs backwards, and monsters take over the land. One of these monsters is named Guiron, and he is a unique looking monster with a knife for a nose, and strong body.  He has the power of shooting lasers, along with stabbing creatures.  After Guiron goes back into his home, the boys become curious, and they go into a mysterious building on the planet. This was a mistake though, as two women take control of them.  These ladies hypnotize the boys, in preparation to eat their brains.  The boys have no hope, except for Gamera. Luckily, Gamera attempts to save them, but it won't be easy, because first he has to fight Guiron...

Being the original Gamera film was the only one to have the monster as a villain, this one especially shows him to be a hero, and "child's best friend."  Personally, I don't find this isn't awful, but I thought that the character was much cooler as the bad guy. In this movie, he is basically like the dragon from "The Neverending Story," because he just flies around saving the kids. Personally this really took the series from its original horror background to being a "kiddie flick."  This was also very apparent in the writing, because of how ignorantly literal the dialogue was. One of the funniest lines was "I just found out that these people are cannibals."  It does fit the mouth of the young people well, but I just wish that the movie had a more mature way about it. 

Even though Gamera is good now, he still has some pretty cool battle scenes with Guiron to save the kids.  The fights were very exciting, as the monsters brutally threw each other around, and just smashed each other into a pulp. It was also cool to see the individual creature use their different powers at times, because it made them stand out more. I found it pretty awesome when "Guiron" shot ninja stars out of his head. I also thought it was good that their was a lot of concern as to whether Gamera could win, rather than it just being an easy match, because it gave some more suspense to the story, and made the movie cooler.  

I was quite surprised by some of the Communist undertones that came up in the film, because you would think that they would be better hidden. One of the most alarming lines showing this was, "when someone is useless, it is time for them to go." Even though a naive person could see this as a line to spice up the movie, I personally saw it as an extremist line that may have been sadly true to nations under the political method. 

The movie's budget was obviously very low, and it added to the hilariousness of everything. The costumes of the cannibals ladies were pretty corny, because they looked like silver Martians, and rather  than being scary, they were just goofy. I don't see this as bad in my eyes though, because I love the cheesiness, and it makes the movie more fun.  The movie had the typical voice dubs of foreign films, and they were actually pretty good. I don't know if it was that the amount of words in the Japanese language were closer to English or what, but the lips matched up pretty well, and it were easy to follow. The costumes of Gamera and Guiron were your "basic man in suit," and they were pretty sweet because of it. I especially liked the look of Guiron, because he had a campy menace to him. Overall, this low budget was a helping factor to the movie, because it was a silly premise overall, and would've been innapropriate as a big money film. 

The climax of the movie was pretty exciting, because the lives of the boys and Gamera were really at stake. Things looked terrible for all three of them, and many crazy fights take place. I was pumped by all of this, because the battles became more and more brutal, as did the pressures for the children. The ending was obviously happy, and this wasn't good or bad for me, because I knew it was going to happen, and it was the appropriate thing to do for a film of its nature. It would've been cool for a surprise ending though, because it would've really shocked people.  The message conveyed by the boys at the very end was so corny, and I was laughing my head off from their words. 

Overall, this movie has no merit to be a masterpiece at all. It is very cheesy, and it was nowhere near the quality of the original. Regardless, the movie was still enjoyable, and I spent a lot of the time with a smile on my face. The absurd plot, cool monsters, and laughable acting all make a fun B-Movie experience for all fans, and it is definitely worth a watch.