As I listen to August Ragone’s audio commentary for the DVD, I am writing this review for the first legal, legit DVD release of DAIKAIJU GAMERA in the US. I was lucky enough to have the DVD come out right when my family’s pay check arrived, therefore I was most lucky to be treated to a day of going to different stores and while almost getting the first volume of the manga AKIRA (which I should have been a bastard to get), I did go to Best Buy to get this DVD (conveniently taken out of the scifi section and put into horror). Of all the good decisions I have made, waiting to see the first Gamera film as such is one of the best.
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Watching Gamera for the first time, I got to give the film more credit than what I originally considered. The direction by Yuasa is pretty impressive. With a nice black and white format, he really brings some fresh (for the time anyway, and some more me personally) photography choices to the genre. Such as the beginning credits with close ups on Gamera and his body. These are some very good shots, and a good third of the special effects shots are pretty good, maybe enough to say that it is maybe a notch or two below Tsuburaya. The most impressive special effects sequence in the film though is Gamera’s attack at the geothermal plant and everything else leading up to our first experience seeing the process which Gamera goes through to get that flying saucer flying ability he is so well known for.
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However, something which I have to give the film credit for is that it is obvious that this film has had more of an influence in kaiju eiga other than just turning Godzilla for a time into his pop-culture securing role as a hero. DAIKAIJU GAMERA seems to share many parallels with Godzilla’s 1984 film, "The Return of Godzilla". Such is the coming together of the Americans and Soviets in Japan (though the two films have the endings of this triumvirate show very different outcomes - with GAMERA showing Russia and America successfully come together to defeat a common menace while the 1984 Godzilla film shows the two super powers unwilling to work together due to nuclear weapons use disagreements and the Soviet’s mess up with the nuclear weapon which they had prepared before the popular cabinet meeting scene in the 1984 film, as if they were assuming the Japanese would accept the weapon). Also, it is interesting that both films end or almost end with the monster’s being (temporarily) rid of on/in Oshima Island with both films exhibiting a volcanic explosion. More parallels are apparent (such as parallels with "GAMERA: THE BRAVE", but I will go into them later in time.
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The DVD itself is quite a piece of work. Starting with the cover, it is pretty good looking, maybe better looking than the digital image which I have seen on the forums. When opening up the DVD case, it gave me a feeling of no longer disliking translucent DVD cases, with the anatomical pic of Gamera being something as interesting as the booklet given. The booklet, containing an essay also present on the Toshiba/Daiei Video DVD release of the film in 2002, gives in Yuasa’s own words some of his thoughts regarding Gamera. They are good notes, and while I would like to go into detail in one of the things mentioned, I am going to restrain. It is a good booklet and has a smaller, more tangible version of the anatomical pic of Gamera. And we also have a credits list, and it is nice to see Brett mentioned (who is also working on a DVD release of DESTROY ALL PLANETS, the AIP version of GAMERA VS. VIRAS).
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An image of the "GAMERA PRESERVATION LD BOX SET".
.The DVD, once popped in is pretty good. Watching the special features first, the documentary, which is from the rare GAMERA PRESERVATION LASERDISC BOX SET from 1991, is some what of an interesting choice for the sole video special feature. It is a good feature to have, since it clearly makes notice of the other Showa Gamera films (to remind non fans who may buy this disc) and has a lot of good making of anecdotes from a lot of people involved with the production. The best thing about this thirty minute documentary is the "GAMERA VS. GARASHARP" feature, something which I have sparingly watched from SHRINE OF GAMERA and Youtube, is now on DVD in a great looking form which really gets your imagination going (got mine going anyway). I do not know how many special features are on the PRESERVATION yet, but if there is more I hope that they will be spread out through the release. Note, this special feature is not anamorphic, therefore some may want to adjust your TV with the aspect button on your remote to watch it in it’s original format.
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The picture galleries are pretty good, with the press book and international sales brochures getting their own galleries with film stills and some making of stills. All of these are good, and gives a nice behind the scenes look with the film. Same thing happens when you listen to August Ragone’s audio commentary. It's a very informative audio commentary. And August does have some fun with the commentary it seems, such as what he says when the assumed Commie plane crashes, thus releasing Gamera or the mentioning of a Col. Sanders beard, making August claim he is hungry for chicken. While it may stick out at first, these comments keep the audio commentary fun. A big part of the commentary though is the continuous mini-biographies and resumes for the numerous cast and crew of the film. Not a negative, but I can see some of the more casual viewers thinking "Wow… that’s a lot". But defiantly cool, showing August’s amount of research (August went on to tell me that there was one main helper, "there weren't five people assisting me with translation/research for the commentary script, there was only one: Jason Varney. He and I split the work to reduce production time. The other people, whom I listed in the booklet, contributed to other aspects of this release (some of it major, some of it, minor), including locating materials and information.").
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In the end, DAIKAIJU GAMERA is a DVD which deserves to be recognized. It towers over the Sony DVDs and is in the league of the Classic Media and Media Blasters DVDs (more on the side of Media Blasters). This DVD though represents many things. First, it carries on the tradition it seems that all legal Gamera DVD releases usually get better releases the first time around compared to the Godzilla films. Second, it marks the DVD release of probably the last major kaiju eiga benchmark. Last, it finaly gives August the DVD he deserves. While working on some of the more Henshin-oriented tokusatsu DVD releases, August has been awaited by fans to do a commentary for the Classic Media DVDs - with did not come to pass - and to have a part with the ICONS OF SCI-FI set (none of the affairs I will go into on this review). August seems to have outdone himself with the "Friend of Children" (though he will always be for me the "Guardian of the Universe" personally) and I hope that the future releases will be just as good, if not, better.
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Overall:
9/10
