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Released by: Mill Creek Entertainment
Released on: 10/12/2010
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Cast: Tsuyoshi Ihara, Akira Onodera, Shinobu Nakayama, Akiji Kobayashi, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Mike Mizuno
Released: 1995, 1996
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The Movies:
Oft times dismissed as 'Godzilla for little kids,' the giant flying turtle known as Gamera came into his own in the 90s when director Shusuke Kaneko (recently of GMK: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack! fame) gave the franchise a much needed kick-start and updated the series making him less of a kids franchise and more of a bad ass.
GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE
The first of the three films in Kaneko's trilogy, Guardian of the Universe finds the giant turtle back in Japan where, as usual, the military misunderstands him and launches an offensive against him. It turns out that Gamera's return has less to do with destroying Tokyo than it does with taking down Gyaos, a monstrous and man-eating prehistoric bird that looks very much like an evil pterodactyl, who has set up his headquarters at the highest point around, the pinnacle of Tokyo Tower.
GAMERA: ATTACK OF LEGION
In the second film, a giant meteor lands in the middle of Japan and unleashes mammoth amounts of "legion" creatures (they look a lot like the bugs from Paul Verhoven's Starship Troopers) that eventually start showing up in Tokyo. Of course, the military is unable to get the situation under control and it's up to Gamera, everyone's favorite space turtle, up to take care of business and save the world from the rapidly evolving space bugs.
These two films are a lot of fun. They put aside the hokey 'friend of children everywhere' aspects that made a lot of the earlier entries in the series a bit too corny for my tastes (though I admit, I still watch them whenever they're on TV, even if it is mainly for nostalgia's sake). Gamera is pretty menacing in these films and it's a blast to see him holding his own against the monsters that always seem to threaten Japan.
What really makes the films work though is the effects. Gamera looks great here. While before he was maybe a little bit too cute, this time he's more primal looking and you can believe that if this giant turtle did actually exist, spinning around through space as he does, he would be more than happy to kick the crap out of giant bugs or evil pterodactyls should the need arise.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Mill Creek's Blu-ray presents both pictures in their proper widescreen aspect ratios in completely respectable 1080p AVC encoded high definition widescreen presentations. While these transfers won't floor you, they're definitely noticeable upgrades from the previous AVD DVDs. There's a lot more detail, much more natural color reproduction and a lot more texture than has been noticeable in previous incarnations. Reference quality? No, but considering the price, the transfers on this disc are more than acceptable.
Japanese language tracks are provided for both films in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and in English in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The Japanese tracks are the way to go and these mixes are pretty decent. There's some good surround activity present throughout and solid bass response keeps the low end tight and solid. Optional subtitles are available in English only.
There are no extra features on this disc, unless you include the static menu.
The Final Word:
You can, at the time of this writing, easily find this Blu-ray double feature for under $7.00 online. What more do you need to know? The transfers are surprisingly good for such a cheap release and if there aren't any extras, well, so be it. The two Gamera films on this disc are a whole lot of fun, throwing in more monster mash mayhem than you can shake a stick at, and you really can't beat the quality for the price.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
