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Gamera Limited Edition Box Set
ADV Films // Unrated // September 28, 2004
List Price: $39.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Some readers may be most familiar with Gamera through his many appearances on the third season of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Gamera, who is, incidentally, full of turtle meat, appeared five times that season, as Mike and the 'bots riffed on Gamera, Gamera vs. Barugon, Gamera vs. Gaos, Gamera vs. Guiron, and Gamera vs. Zigra. That encompasses most of the seven Gamera films produced between 1965 and 1971, before Daiei Studios retired the rubber turtle suit. For close to a quarter-century, Gamera lay dormant, only poking his head out of his shell for the dismal stock footage assault of Super Monster Gamera in 1980. The mid-'90s saw Gamera's return to the big screen, appearing in three releases throughout the decade -- Guardian of the Universe, Attack of Legion, and Revenge of Iris. ADV Films released all three movies on DVD domestically and is now repackaging them in this limited edition box set. There's nothing new here to appeal to owners of the current discs, but it's a package worth picking up for the uninitiated. The Gamera revival begins with Guardian of the Universe, which sees Japan yet again under siege. The attacks begin on a remote island as several birdlike monsters devour everyone in sight. Clever ornithologist Mayumi Nagamine engineers a plan to trap the creatures in a domed sports arena, which goes awry even before the arrival of Gamera. The military predictably misinteprets Gamera's motives, determined to destroy him and capture the escaped Gyaos birds. The discovery of a prophecy naming Gamera as mankind's last hope does little to persuade the military to call off their attack. Still, Gamera's determined to save Japan whether it wants his help or not, and a select few believe in him, particularly Nagamine and a young girl who holds a bejeweled psychic rapport with the giant turtle.
As the title of the followup suggests, Attack of Legion doesn't pit Gamera against just one creature, but an army of monsters. After a meteor skids across the Japanese countryside, downtown Sopporo becomes infested with large insect-like killing machines. A gigantic plant emerges in the middle of the city, preparing to launch the alien seed into space to wreak havoc on another planet. Gamera destroys the oversized flower in time, but the queen insect escapes. The city of Sendai isn't quite so lucky, and not only is an incomprehensible amount of devastation left in its wake, but Gamera lies near-death. Rounding out the trilogy is Revenge of Iris. Despite having repeatedly pulled humanity from the brink of destruction, Gamera finds himself again hunted by the military, this time after a destructive brawl against the re-emerged Gyaos results in the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Among the victims of that battle were the family of a young girl named Ayana. She finds an instrument of revenge against Gamera in a tentacled creature she dubs Iris, after her fallen cat. Iris attempts to merge with Ayana, but the process is prematurely interrupted. The orphaned Ayana is then hunted by Iris, who feasts on whatever random villagers she can plunge her tentacles into. Iris isn't the only one after Ayana; she's also pursued by a half-crazed video game programmer, a cult priestess, and our heroines from Guardian of the Universe, Mayumi and Asagi. Gamera finds himself not only pitted against Iris, but the Japanese military, who sees the flying turtle as the greater threat. As Gamera becomes embroiled in yet another battle to the death, a battalion of Gyaos swarm towards Japan, and the best efforts of the military aren't enough to stave off the impending horde.
Guardian of the Universe sticks almost unwaveringly close to the old formula: bad monster racks up a body count, good monster fights bad monster, military decides to battle the good monster, some kid gets tossed in the mix somehow, and Japanese metropolitan property values plunge. It looks and feels like Daiei Studios plucked a Gamera movie from the '60s and gave it a modestly-budgeted modern polish. I think that was the mission statement, and at that, they succeeded. Guardian of the Universe is fun without delving quite as deeply into camp as the original Gamera movies. It's okay, not really managing to coax much of a reaction from me one way or the other. Attack of Legion, on the other hand, might be my favorite Japanese monster movie. The tone is considerably darker, and at times the movie is downright brutal. I'm used to seeing the monsters take some abuse, but not the bloody spurt from an offscreen human death seen here. The devastation Japan suffers also extends far beyond trampled buildings. Gamera isn't just punched, kicked, and tossed around this time; the battles are remarkably well-staged, and although I'd like to think everyone knows who the eventual victor will be, Gamera really takes some punishment to get there. You will believe a turtle can bleed. Gamera almost seems like a supporting character in Guardian of the Universe, but the monsters really take center stage in Attack of Legion. I watch a monster movie for the monsters, not to see a boy named Kenny in too-short shorts trying desperately to pad out the runtime. Attack of Legion recognizes that and gives kaiju fans their money's worth. Humans still factor prominently in the movie, but their presence seems integral to the plot rather than just talky meat filler. 
Revenge of Iris doesn't hit quite those same heights, but it's still a strong successor. If Attack of Legion is mostly about the monsters, Revenge of Iris focuses on the human side of things. While Gamera might be saving the world everytime he slugs it out with a monster, that still comes at a cost, and Revenge of Iris does a great job of showing things from the perspective of those people frantically running for safety...the people we usually only see in brief shots intercut throughout the big battle sequences. The 'perspective' comment can be taken literally; there are a number of shots of the monsters seen from the eyes of a person on the ground, really hitting home how these creatures tower over everyone and everything. Production values continue to skyrocket as the series progresses. The special effects in Guardian of the Universe are decent but shaky, and some of the fundamentals to its approach aren't too far removed from the balsa wood miniatures of decades past. The combination of practical effects and CGI really gels in the other two movies, and the initial aerial assault in Revenge of Iris is impressive by any reasonable standard. The monster designs are great in all three movies, but the fluidity and ever-changing appearance of Iris really mark the apex of that skill and creativity. Although its premise relies heavily on humans, Revenge of Iris still manages to dish out a few incredibly impressive battles, particularly the lengths Gamera goes to in the climax. Revenge of Iris also serves as a great close to this trilogy since elements and characters from the first two movies return. The three DVDs in this box set have been available separately for a while, and the only difference between this collection and what you may already own is the packaging. Viewers who've never been too keen on rubber monster brawls are unlikely to be won over by this Gamera set, but I'd very highly recommend it to anyone with fond childhood memories of Godzilla and Gamera. These movies retain the excitement of those older films while giving them a more visceral edge.
Video: Despite what the "16:9" on the flipside of its keepcase suggests, Guardian of the Universe is not enhanced for widescreen displays, though it is letterboxed to 1.66:1. The lack of anamorphic widescreen enhancement is the biggest defect in what is otherwise a more than decent transfer. The image is nicely detailed, although the contrast seems a little off, and black levels strike me as somewhat weak. A couple of scattered sections are riddled with specks, but it's not a pervasive problem. The shimmering sporadically visible throughout is certainly not representative of ADV's best output nowadays either. Guardian of the Universe looks okay, but I wish ADV would have revisited the movie with a new transfer rather than just rehash the same old DVD. On the other hand, just because a DVD is in anamorphic widescreen doesn't necessarily mean it looks any better. In fact, the 16x9-enhanced Attack of Legion looks considerably worse than Guardian of the Universe. The source material may be clean, but it's noticeably softer, and all fine detail looks like it's been smoothened out. Color saturation frequently looks way off, with some hues (in clothing, particularly) taking on an almost flourescent neon appearance at times. If black levels were merely weak in Guardian..., they're flat-out anemic in Attack of Legion. Revenge of Iris is sharper but still suffers from some of those same flaws.
Audio: All three movies include English dubs as well as the original Japanese soundtracks, with optional English subtitles. Guardian of the Universe's Japanese stereo mix is the weakest of the bunch. There's ample stereo separation across the front channels, which would be immersive if the mix weren't so thin. A few sound effects are accompanied by a low-frequency wallop, particularly Gamera bounding down the streets of Tokyo, but the numerous explosions and collapsing buildings throughout are insubstantial, to the point where I hopped off my couch to make sure my subwoofer was even on. The Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 audio for the other two movies is considerably meatier, benefitting from ample activity in the surrounds and a thunderous low-end.
Supplements: The only difference between this box set and the previously released DVDs is the packaging. The DVDs are collected in a shiny, embossed cardboard box, looking as much like a turtle shell as a cardboard box possibly can. It's pretty slick looking, although I think I would've flipped the pictures used on the box, using the zoomed-in Guardian of the Universe cover for the front and leaving the less interesting Revenge of Iris art for the back.
Otherwise, these DVDs are the same as the ones that have been floating around for a while now. Each disc sports a slew of extras, most of which can be grouped into the same few categories. The most substantial of the lot is a collection of interviews with director of special effects Shinji Higuchi. Each DVD features half an hour's worth of comments, and spread across the three discs in this set, that's as long as Guardian of the Universe in its entirety. I was expecting to nod off during an hour and a half discussion of special effects, but the feature-length conversation is remarkably engaging. The first half hour is devoted almost entirely to flight, and the topics covered include the impromptu announcement of Gamera's flight at the initial press conference, masking Gamera's clumsy landings, crafting the look and execution of Iris, and nixing a planned underwater battle after Mothra 2 beat them to the punch. The second installment concentrates on explosions and destruction, as well as how much abuse can be dished out on Gamera and trying to convey the enormity of the monsters. Finally, the segment on the Revenge of Iris DVD focuses on the powerless humans, specifically the role of people in each of the Gamera movies and how they're more than just flailing arms on the streets below. Higuchi talks about what Gamera means to him and how these films are approached almost the same way as a disaster movie. He compares and contrasts the special effects in this trilogy with the laughably (but surprisingly expensive) effects in the original Gamera movies, and it's also interesting to hear how much of an influence Miyazaki was on the movies' visuals. These segments center primarily around the interviews and punctuating clips from the movies, but there is also some behind the scenes footage and even a couple of special effects outtakes. Very much worth taking the time to watch. 
There are several dry press conferences that briefly detail what went into the making of each movie (15:29, total), a collection of theatrical trailers and various TV spots, around twelve minutes of fairly standard behind the scenes footage, snippets from press junkets and various promotional appearances (12:23), and a thirteen minute glimpse at how packed theaters were during the films' opening nights in Japan with gracious appearances by the key cast and crew. A pair of gimmicky alternate soundtracks have also been tacked on: a Lake Texarkana redneck dub on Attack of Legion, which is exactly what it sounds like, and a mock audio commentary by the British turtle who's been playing Gamera for the past thirty years, Iris, and Soldier #6 on Revenge of Iris. Whoodathunk that Gamera had a relaxed British accent? In both cases, the novelty wears off kinda quickly, but they're good for a couple of laughs. Kind of along the same lines are mock-outtakes from the dubbing sessions of Attack of Legion and Revenge of Iris, running a little over seven minutes total. Finally, each DVD also includes a set of previews for other ADV releases. All three movies include a set of static 4x3 menus, and each disc comes packaged in a standard-size keepcase. The included inserts don't list the chapter stops, although the last two inserts do rattle off the bonus features.
Conclusion: Although there's nothing new here to convince owners of the current Gamera DVDs to whip out their credit cards a second time, this limited edition box set is a near-essential purchase for anyone with even a casual interest in kaiju. The movies in this set, Attack of Legion in particular, aren't just appealing from a nostalgic standpoint, but because they're genuinely good. There are plenty of extras, and the three movies in this box set cost about as much from most online stores as one new arthouse film, making a purchase even more compelling. I wish the video quality had been improved upon in the time since these discs were initially released, but what ADV offers here is passable. Newer, spiffier transfers would've netted this set a more enthusiastic recommendation, but considering the sheer amount of extras, a very reasonable sticker price, and, of course, the quality of the movies, this Gamera limited edition box set still comes highly recommended.
Related Reviews: If you'd like a second opinion on the DVDs featured in this collection or want to read about other Gamera releases, take a look at some of DVD Talk's other reviews.
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