Yesterday I watched Gamera vs. Viras; and it was rather abysmal! Directed by Noriaki Yuasa, and starring Tôru Takatsuka, Carl Craig, and Michiko Yaegaki; Gamera vs. Viras is a Japanese Monster Movie, featuring the giant monster Gamera, who falls under the control of a group of aliens, after they capture two boy scouts! I had been warned about this one, but I thought I would give it a chance. Gamera vs. Viras starts off rather well, as the alien ship is revealed. Both the interior and exterior of the ship looks amazing, I have never seen a flying saucer in a film that looks as interesting as this. The aliens themselves are really cool too, with their telepathic eyes, sinister voices, and the ability to sever thier own limbs. Right, onto the bad stuff!
Most of the film is filler! After the opening jostle, we focus on a couple of mischevious boy scouts, who take up far too much time driving a submarine underwater. When Gamera appears, things start to actually happen…after another 10 minutes or so! Then a clip show is played of moments of destruction from the previous three films, which also goes on for far too long, and gets borring very quickly. And then when Gamera goes on the rampage, it’s also largely made up of stock footage from previous films. Then there’s the two boy scouts, one of whom can’t decide which language to speak; given how he constantly switches between languages (and also he dresses up like one of the puppets in Thunderbirds)! Then there’s the issue of repetitive frames, seen largely during the final battle, where the same moment is repeated over and over and over again; much like the film’s main theme! Oh, and Viras‘s final form is just pathetic! The spaceship is good, the aliens are good, the twist and beheading before the final battle is good; but the rest of this film…is just dreadful!
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