User blog:Ghido/Review: Gamera vs. Gyaos

I have been rewatching a few movies recently, but this time I have actually been sitting down and concentrating on them. The most recent one I saw was Gamera vs. Gyaos. This film seems to get a bad wrap, so I'm going to do a review on it.

Story
Wow, this had a wild one. One of my favorite parts of this movie was the various ways of explaining how Gyaos worked. They used his foot to find out some of his weaknesses, and the child's studies on his behavior. Gyaos acts like a real animal, and there are very few moments where I felt that anything was forgotten with his behavior. I loved how there are many attempts by the humans to stop Gyaos instead of just relying on Gamera like following monsters. Speaking of which, the ways they try to stop him are very creative. They try the typical strategy, TANKS! Then they try spinning him and killing him in the sun. And finally, good ole Gamera!

Speaking of Gamera, he is kind of...lacking. He only really shows up when the plot finds it convienient. They manage to summon him with fire at the end but....it was kinda sloppy.

Speaking of the fire, it was the kid that discovered Gyaos' weakness to it. Seriously? No scientist in that room full of scientists noticed that? Also, Gyaos has the cool power of a yellow mist that extinguishes fire. I was surprised when they used the tactic of setting a forest on fire to burn him out, and he actually used it to extinguish the fire. I was expecting them to forget it for the sake of plot.

There is a sub plot with the humans involving a highway and greedy villagers. This comes full circle when the villagers realize that the gods are punishing them for being greedy, and give the military permission to burn their forest for an attempt at redemption.

Monsters
Gyaos is awesome. His anatomy and weaknesses are slowly revealed throughout the movie. It is explained how his laser works, saying he has two throats. This also means he can not move his head, explaining the suit limitations. He also contains a yellow mist that puts out fire, giving him full ability to take care of major threats. The only thing he can't defeand against is sunlight, making him a full vampire. Gamera is kind of shoehorned in, and really has no purpose but to kill Gyaos.

Effects
The effects of this one are okay...mainly faultering during the flight scenes. Gyaos flies unrealistically for his biology, flying more like a jet. There is A LOT of stockfootage in this one. Gyaos flying scenes were often replayed, along with the scenes where jets fire missiles. But, given that this is a Showa Deiei film, it can be forgiven.

Music
The film has some cool music. Not something that would jump out at you, but interesting nonetheless.

Pros

 * Creative Story
 * Gyaos is cool
 * Creative strategy of killing monster
 * Realistic realization of monster features
 * Kid is not as annoying in the Japanese version
 * Cool music

Cons

 * Gamera is shoehorned in
 * Somethings suspend my suspension of disbelief to unrealistic levels

Score
I give it a 6/10. If you are a Gamera fan, you will like it. If you are a kaiju fan, you will like it. If you are an average movie goer or a critic, you will not like it.