Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) Review

Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) Review

After the successful reboot of the Gamera series in 1995, a sequel quickly followed the very next year from the same combo of writer and director and special effects creator. In some ways, the sequel, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (also known as Advent of Legion) is very similar to the first sequel to the original Gamera, the Giant Monster, Gamera vs. Barugon, because it features a new antagonistic kaiju and is even darker than its predecessor.

Whereas Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was a spiritual re-introduction of the shelled monster as a pure hero and a re-introduction of his most famous enemy, Gyaos, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion is the darker, militaristic sequel of the trilogy. That’s not to say it doesn’t retain any of the spirituality of the first film, but Attack of Legion is definitely more focused on being a sci-fi story of an invasive alien creature and how military forces attempt to stop it, along with Gamera’s help. Legion, as it becomes known, is named after Legion from the Bible (“the one who is many”) because it starts out as numerous cyclopean bugs that are as big as people, having come to earth on a meteor, and it spreads by growing large pods that flower and shoot seeds into space. The first half hour does not show Gamera at all; it is strictly about establishing the new threat, then Gamera finally shows up to destroy the giant flower growing out of a building. The small alien creatures swarm him, which is accomplished in some shots with CGI, and it doesn’t look good at all, but I can’t fault them too much, given the budget they had to work with and the fact that CGI was so new at the time. The practical effects, on the other hand, are outstanding.

The Mother Legion erupts out of the ground and later fights Gamera at a runway when he tries to destroy another of her flowers in Sendai. Legion is a bizarre monster, but not in the same cheesy way as some of the bizarre Gamera enemies from the Showa era. The design is unique and the suit is incredible—to look at it you wouldn’t even think there was a man inside performing as this creature. Gamera, too, somehow looks even better than he already did in the previous movie, and he has two great fights with Legion in the film, with a mix of close-up grappling and range attacks. Gamera has a couple new tricks up his sleeve (shell?) this time, too, such as a pair of flipper-like wings to help him fly straight in addition to spin flight. We never get to see him sprout these wings, though, so I was left wondering if they are supposed to be additional appendages to his regular front arms or if they are his front arms, just fused together and flattened. It’s a weird question that gets no answer.

A significant portion of this film depicts soldiers trying to combat Legion, and how much you enjoy these kinds of scenes in other monster movies will probably determine whether it’s your favourite from the Gamera Heisei trilogy or least favourite. It once again lacks any strong main characters to occupy the monster-free scenes, but there aren’t any characters that are too annoying or overstay their welcome, either, so it’s a bit of a trade-off. Everyone takes everything very seriously, and it follows the tone of the previous film well, but there are still a few light-hearted moments here and there. Somehow those moments don’t clash with the dark moments, like when a guy gets attacked by one of the small Legion creatures and his blood splatters on a window. Even though Gyaos was pretty scary in the last movie, I think Legion is an even scarier monster, and a worthy new adversary. The excellent music and sound design aid in its depiction.  

The best moments, unsurprisingly, are the ones with the monsters, and I would argue that the monster scenes are even better in this one than the previous one. There’s a part halfway through when Gamera sacrifices himself to destroy a Legion flower and the resulting explosion completely wipes out Sendai like a nuclear detonation. It’s an incredible moment, but it pays tribute to the Showa era in a way I wish had been avoided: Gamera is temporarily defeated and goes into a catatonic state to recover until the climax, which means only the military are left to fight Legion. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some great scenes of destruction even with Gamera out of commission, but it does feel like there’s a lack of Gamera at times, which the first film avoided better. The final fight makes up for this slight misstep, though, and to be fair, Gamera isn’t out of the fight for too long.

The best way I can sum up my review for Attack of Legion is like this: the best parts of this movie I find more enjoyable than the best parts of the previous movie, and the parts I don’t like I find less enjoyable compared to the parts of the previous movie that I don’t like, but I have fewer dislikes overall. I think Attack of Legion is a more well-put-together film compared to Guardian of the Universe, but it’s difficult to say I like any one of them the most because of the nature of these films being a trilogy. If I were to watch the Heisei era of Gamera films, I wouldn’t skip the first one and start with the second one—I don’t find Guardian of the Universe significantly worse, per say, but as a darker second chapter, I think I enjoy Attack of Legion more.