Up From The Depths Reviews | Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996)

[@kaiju115]

"And He asked him, 'What is thy name?' And he answered, saying, 'My name is Legion, for we are many."

[@GasolineProductions]

Ghost Rider reference?

[@tagalaseimonlorenzom.11hum79]

Mark 6:5.

[@johnhallman3611]

As of right now, there is a Shin Ultraman film in production. Shin Gamera should be next!

[@Saltyaf38]

Then shin jesus

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

Now THAT'S a tasty idea!

[@raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961]

@Kyro But do they own Ultraman?

[@raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961]

@Kyro Just do a Disney-Sony and have Gamera crossover with Godzilla. It would be the 'greatest gladiator match in the history of the world'

[@raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961]

@Kyro So are Sony and Disney. Specially now.

[@theYokoHiguchi]

Up from the Depths: “...it’s hard to imagine Gamera can get much better than this.” Shusuke Kaneko: Hold my turtle 😂

[@SaurianStudios1207]

When a kaiju movie from Japan with a small budget has better effects than a 300 million dollar superhero movie (justice league).

[@SaurianStudios1207]

@Simon Corcoran one of the worst superhero movies ever made and I dont know how any one can like that fucking piece of trash (talking to you omni viewer).

[@Saltyaf38]

Its not a good movie at all but I had fun watching.

[@Kaiju-bm4ts]

@@SaurianStudios1207 I actually enjoyed it and yes I was aware of it's flaws but I didn't care because I didn't let them get to me

[@angryboi595]

Its quite embarrassing how a movie made in recent years can look so shit while a movie made from 1996 can look better

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

@Spartan SC I take it you have never seen Manos: The Hands of Fate or even Monster A-G-Go?

[@MrVidman14]

And you're telling me the trilogy had half the budget of the heisei Godzilla films...

[@UpFromTheDepths88]

Just goes to show that talent matters more than money to a certain degree.

[@SaurianStudios1207]

@@UpFromTheDepths88 filmmaking at its finest.

[@macrussell78]

Damn did not know that. I thought they had twice the budget, turns out they had twice the talent.

[@GasolineProductions]

Quality over Quantity

[@FlyingFocs]

Does that half to do with there only being half as many movies, or just the filns cost half of the average Heisei? Not trying to diss (because this is better than most of the Heisei) just curious.

[@JohnReiher]

One little thing I noticed on subsequent viewing: At the end with the soldiers saluting Gamera as he flies off, you'll note that not everyone salutes him. That's very telling and realistic.

[@ningenslayer6306]

It also foreshadows the distrust people will have towards Gamera in the next movie. Whether that was intentional or not, it's a nice hint of what's to come.

[@Godzilla-tu2cd]

Legion queen looks amazing.

[@DLRX]

Not just my favorite of the Gamera trilogy but one of my favorite Heisei kaiju films of all time.

[@tomferrara7884]

Gamera 2: attack of legion: is darker and edgier Gamera 3: revenge of iris: hold on my beer

[@UltraGalaxyify]

Honestly, I think Gamera 3 is slightly lesser than Gamera 2, at least I see it as my least favorite of the trilogy

[@haramberoth117]

@@UltraGalaxyify 1: gamera 3 2: gamera 2 3:gamera 1 Thus is the ONLY correct opinion on these movies

[@UltraGalaxyify]

@@haramberoth117 No, not really. You can have any opinion you want on these movies. You can say they all suck if you wanted!

[@thebatmanrn8908]

Easily the one of the best in the entire series, if not 'the' best Gamera film IMO.

[@grex7374]

The Batman RN I personally believe the third one is the best, but this is a very close second.

[@thebatmanrn8908]

@@grex7374 Both are great for sure. Such a great set of films that rival the best of any kaiju movies.

[@andrewtaylor940]

I know everyone loves Iris, but honestly this one is my favorite of the Gamera Trilogy. Legion in all it's forms is the best foe of any Gamera movie. Everything is so perfectly executed. Iris's effects always seem a bit to CGI, although it's dark and well fleshed out human story is superb. I'm surprised out host has not mentioned who Ayako Fujitani is, or why she might be of interest to Western fans. She's Steven Seagal's daughter. (I think she even shows up in one of his movies at some point)

[@alexgomez6723]

Ironic, I always felt that AoL was the weakest in the Hesei. The fights and monster designs where all fine and dandy, but I felt it failed to build on anything that was established in the previous, whether it be Gamera’s backstory and his connection with the human girl, the Gyaos themselves seem to be an after thought. If it just did the former at least, , it would have been a stronger sequel for me. As it is, it’s fine overall, but if feels like a standard Heisei Godzilla film with slightly better production values.

[@SaurianStudios1207]

I've seen this movie once and if there's one word to describe how good it is: it's the Dark Knight of Gamera/Kaiju movies. It's that good of a sequel/movie.

[@wes8424]

I would argue Revenge of Iris is better but yeah Attack of Legion is very good.

[@akinjones8642]

@@wes8424 i was actually surprise that i didnt like The third film more than the second one like most ppl. I mean the third film has the best human story and best Gamera design but the monster fights were lacking and outside of Gamera blowing off his arm, the fight didnt leave the same impressions like the second film's did.

[@andrewtaylor940]

It's not just Gamera movies. It's the Dark Knight of Kaiju films in general. Only surpassed by Gojira itself.

[@andrewtaylor940]

@@akinjones8642 You're not alone. I much prefer this one over Iris.

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

I think you mean The Dark Knight is the Gamera 2 of Batman movies.

[@thekungfukid1990]

Everytime you upload a video, I hear "UP FROM THE DEPTHS. 30 STORIES HIGH. BREATHING FIRE, HE STANDS IN THE SKY"

[@scado5679]

This movie, unlike most other sequels to giant monster movies that did well, manages to be completely new and still entertaining--now that's something you don't see every day! Legion and her drones are just so freaky; they kind of remind me of the little Destoroyahs, but with their own quirks that make them so much more fun to watch. And of course, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't mention how amazing Gamera's final move is.

[@kingbash6466]

I look at the Heisei Gamera trilogy the same way I see the Planet of the Apes prequel trilogy. Movies that elevated their franchises through visual storytelling and pushed the boundaries in special effects.

[@CreatureFlicks573]

Not really true. They didnt elevate anything. Both series were already great and well done cinematically speaking. The new Planet of the Apes movies are god awful but the Gamera movies payed tribute to the great showa era while being its own modernized take on the character.

[@isaiahcorbin4751]

​@@CreatureFlicks573 Well it's obviously clear that you don't know an actual good trilogy when you see one and yes i am talking about planet of the apes and it's also clear that you don't know what you're talking about you're talking out of your ass like any other stupid ass commenter on this dumb platform

[@megalon73]

The Gamera Trilogy. Is far more exciting and far more executed in the original franchise that was just worried me for kids. These was so great, I really wish they made more of them at that time.

[@nexusshark]

I love this movie. The Legion is an amazing antagonist that is more than just another Kaiju, but rather a community that Gamera could never fight alone. And I like the fact that the military was actually useful for once and worked with Gamera to defeat the Legion. The Kaiju fights were intense and bloody and I loved every second of it. I actually felt for Gamera during the fights and felt sorry for how much pain he had to go through. He was clearly the underdog in the fight and he had to resort to potentially doom the planet to win this fight. I give this one 5 out of 5 stars.

[@Crowder]

The best of the trilogy for me, love it.

[@ingbaza555]

"It's hard to imagine Gamera could get better than this" Yeah, it is hard. But it happened.

[@catyear75]

44TH! This was absolutely one of the best Kaiju movies - Not Just Gamera- the whole genre !

[@raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961]

1:19 Oh my gosh, that camerawork... 4:42 And again... those tracking shots rival some of today's blockbusters'...

[@nessiesearcher]

An excellent review of one of the finest kaiju films ever made!

[@bn3099]

The characters are fine imo. I sympathized a lot with Colonel Watarase, Dr Honami and Obitsu. It would've been cool if at least one of them returned in the sequel

[@HiveFleetOni]

The Legion design is just 👌 Truly imaginative, looks and feels great on screen and properly memorable.

[@wes8424]

Man, I remember getting this VHS as a kid from a video store at my local Japanese Super Market here in SoCal and being totally unprepared as a (I want to say) 9 year old for the amount of graphic violence that was in this after watching relatively tame Hesei Godzilla films before it. The little bugs, especially in that train sequence, gave me nightmares as a kid haha. I love it now as an adult but man, young me was a bit traumatized by the smaller Legion haha.

[@SuperSirianRigel]

My mother watched this with me once and when the smaller Legion pops up all of a sudden it actually made my mom jump. The only time I've seen her get startled during a kaiju movie. Ha ha!

[@omniviewer2115]

Fun fact: This episode was partly inspired by an episode of ULTRA Q, the precursor to ULTRAMAN. It also has a few hints of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Color Out of Space" mixed in. Up next, the controversial ending. Already gave my assessment of it. Should be interesting to hear yours.

[@SmallStudiosMoskow]

Which episode?

[@omniviewer2115]

@@SmallStudiosMoskow Episode 4, "Mammoth Flower". Highly recommended.

[@killerninjakitty815]

One of the criticisms of this movie is how the military kind of putting him to the side of his own movie but I think it's a good change up showing that he is the good guy and sometimes even the hero needs a hand.

[@BarbaraEyre]

Gosh - 20 years already?!??! Come ... bring him back!!!

[@SuperSirianRigel]

Yes! My favorite Gamera film! It is truly deserving of it's rating. I honestly don't know how you will rate the final installment of this trilogy. It doesn't top this one in my book. But I WILL say that it does have a little bit better characters... Probably. And the mainstream audience always thinks it's slightly better than this one. But I will never agree... The third one is a little too creepy for me. And the kaiju action is NOT quite as good. But I guess we will see what you say next week. Good review bro. Keep it up.

[@ScreamingScallop]

True. Gamera 3 suffers from Joker Syndrome--the opponent's backstory overwhelms everything else to the point that the main character barely appears in their own movie. Gamera makes a strong initial appearance, then virtually disappears until the climax...and the climax requires the kaiju to repeatedly stand around (*indoors*, for crying out loud) waiting for the humans' story to catch up. The entire dead-end subplot about the "sword of destiny" finishes in pure cringe and should've been cut.

[@SuperSirianRigel]

@@ScreamingScallop Ha ha ha. Hilarious. "Sword of Destiny." That one floored me. "Do something sword!" Cuts the girl's face. Yeah it was weird. lol.

[@GojiGuru]

Up next: the one review everyone has been waiting for since you reviewed Gamera (1965). 😁

[@dreamtcg]

As a long time kaiju fan seeing this movie for the first time a decade ago blew me away!

[@Comkill117]

Best Gamera movie, in my opinion. Everything about it is of the highest quality, and Legion is such a badass monster.

[@bentian3970]

The special effect also looks better than some of the Millienium Godzilla movies

[@miguelgcgamer9878]

Yea, except for GxMG and S.O.S

[@derajnitram1882]

The whole trilogy is good, but I still think this is my favorite, with Gamera 3 a close second.

[@sarmientoenricomiguelv.562]

Can you do a comparison of the Gamera Trilogy and the Hesie Godzilla Saga?

[@bentramer682]

This was probably my favorite of the 1990's Gamera movies.

[@BaldPerspective]

Leaving a like & a comment to boost up kaiju homie's channel for his eventual return!

[@nope5657]

This may be my favorite kaiju film ever made.

[@sammontanez6908]

This was my first exposure to the Heisei Gamera trilogy. And after watching it, I gained a newfound appreciation for Gamera. This film made me love Gamera more than I originally did. Now I enjoy Gamera just as much as Godzilla. All thanks to this movie.

[@owlstagawn1106]

Its surprising how much similarities Attack of Legion shares with Godzilla: King of the Monsters. An alien kaiju invasion, religious references, the heroic kaiju suffering a massive blow that puts him out of commission, the final battle where humanity and the heroic kaiju team up to defeat the alien invader, which is defeated from a powerful attack from the heroic kaiju. Did I forget to mention the Lake Texarana dub? Literally one of the best dubs for a monster film ever. And not in an ironic way.

[@MrVidman14]

People do bring up a lot of similarities to the monsterverse and heisei gamera trilogy

[@michaelmenei5403]

Godzilla (2014) also has lots of similarities to Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and it also seems Godzilla vs. Kong will be taking some similarities to Gamera 3 notably Godzilla going rogue.

[@GojiGuru]

Hey man, you pronounced Ko Otani’s name correctly! Good for you for being humble enough to correct mistakes-you rock!

[@UpFromTheDepths88]

I want to pronounce names correctly, so I'm always grateful when people point out if I'm doing it wrong.

[@chancecole437]

It's hard to imagine that it gets better.... but it somehow does! While I like the first movie more than Legion, it is still a fantaaaastic kaiju film. But the best is still to come!

[@GodzillaKid-px1le]

I have to agree this film is a true piece of art and had the heisei godzilla series not ended the fight would be as epic but until that happens this is the one film that can be my number 1 favorites

[@CyberXIII]

This movie is why I think we need a Shin Gamera, desperately.

[@Irrelevant402]

All three Heisei are why we need Shin Gamera.

[@cupcaketf223]

Don't know how would that work tho, shin's thing does'nt work so much with gamera.

[@Nedziller]

My absolute favorite of the Gamera films ❤

[@t4rv0r60]

whoah the effects were ahead of its time

[@UltramanTiga96]

This Gamera movie came out the same year as Ultraman Tiga.

[@MantraRay5286]

Just saw this movie for the first time yesterday. It was awesome!

[@parkerpshebnisky1051]

One of my fav gamera movies!

[@parkerpshebnisky1051]

A worthy and and a epic sequel!

[@brycevo]

This movie is so brutal and so good. The tokusatusu is really well done

[@sonnygallo5662]

I'm old and fell in love with Gamera in the 60s. Gamera taught me about sacrifice, what you'll do for love, facing bullies who are seemingly bigger and stronger. He taught me about collateral damage and casualties. Godzilla and Gamera along with Kimba the white lion, Gigantor and the Mighty Marvel super heroes were my favorite shows. Not to mention Ultra man Prince planet and Astro boy. Peace and love yo.

[@urutoraseven]

This movie would have looked perfect with the Gamera 3 design. I just love the menace face of it.

[@JeffreyDeCristofaro]

Legion is a pretty freaky original design, right up there with Biollante, Battra and Destroyah from the Heisei Era Godzilla films! I wish Hollywood would give us more practical FX monster creations like these!

[@kurumais]

i really dislike they broke the link between gamera and asagi. she was fantastic in all 3 movies. can you do video addressing the reason to establish thelink thennbreak it. why does that work in the context of the trilogy. great reviews as always. to me these are the 3 best kaiju movies ever made.

[@baragon301]

Definitely in my top 5 films of all time

[@raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961]

I never thought about that... Legion does kinda look like an Evangelion Angel!

[@MrKaiju-sr8wu]

Next up is my personal favorite

[@UltraGalaxyify]

Finally, a reviewer who actually LIKES Gamera 2

[@Irrelevant402]

...People dislike Gamera 2? What? Are talking about the same Gamera 2?

[@UltraGalaxyify]

@@Irrelevant402 I've no idea. They seem to have seen the same movie, but disliked it on some level

[@cosmicmorty4508]

That movie mixed elements from godzilla vs biollante and vs destoroyah and elevated the Kaiju Eiga Movie to another level. Also, it was Godzilla vs Megagrius before Godzilla vs Megagrius but actually good.

[@deathgoddragon3698]

And next time we will hit the best Gamera movie ever made. I really love this one too but because of the weak characterization stuff you mentioned I still kinda like Guardian of the Universe better, even if Legion as a concept is a great villainous monster.

[@chrisw451]

Okay I am gonna go back and give this one another shot. I stopped before things really got cooking I guess. The setup was so poorly done it just felt like a Troma movie or something. I know Godzilla films of the past aren't all masterpieces but they have something about them that is just different than Gamera. (Even though I loved Gamera as a kid) Thanks for the review!

[@Pendragon981]

I love Gameras flying disc mode, especially when he uses it as an attack.. 🐢🌀🌀🌀🌀

[@Irrelevant402]

Kaneko actually didn't like his saucer mode, he found it too outlandish. Thankfully Daiei won that argument. I'm also grateful they gave a little more room to Kaneko since he wanted Gamera to have flippers when he was in rocket mode.

[@rickferrari9042]

Gamera has always been my favorite since I was 14 I'm now 58 I will never change

[@burstmortem6638]

*LEGION WOULD LIKE A WORD WITH MEGAGUIRS*

[@scottpickering2382]

There’s also a parody dub called Lake Texarkana produced by defunct ADV Films. Everyone has a southern accent, harmonicas playing, and silly moments, everyone should check it out even once.

[@Rawkwilder]

This is the best looking 1996 Kaiju movie in my opinion... Honestly. The Big G! Himself didn't have movies looking this nice at this time it looks more like a 2000+ than Godzillas 2k era movies. - And it got better in gamera 3.

[@TemporalGuardians]

I'm fairly new to the Gamera Universe myself but they seem pretty cool the movies do

[@godzillacc5]

Next week, the best movie you've ever seen

[@atomicninjazyuranger5418]

I think Zigra would have been a good monster to use in the hessei Gamera films. Just change his origins and give him a new awesome design.

[@atomicninjazyuranger5418]

I just realized how Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) is like Godzilla vs Destroya (1995) .

[@cmdrDiscoCat]

That second film in the "newer" saga was indeed really generous with the fights :)

[@Irrelevant402]

Oh man I got to show my best friend the first two Heisei Gamera movies on Saturday. Out of the two he liked Legion a little more just because of the design but he said it was neck and neck. This is my favorite Gamera Heisei design, good blending of bad ass and heroic. Movie wish I think I give GotU a 4.5 and Legion a 4 because I think first flows a little better with teh two points of plots and Legion had slightly weaker characters. Great special effects though. I was happy when my friend was like 'okay that's bad ass' when Gamera does his sliding triple fireball attack. Anyone else notice that? Each film Gamera tries to spit three fireballs to quickly finish off the bad guy but it doesn't work? Gyaos avoids them, Legion can neutralize them and Irys just swats them away. Don't do it! Not this Saturday but the next I plan to show him Gamera 3 and GMK to complete Kaneko's monster work. Actually got to show my brother Gamera 2 and 3 while visiting him and he really liked 3 a lot, I feared he'd find it boring. Oh right lastly...I did some homework to figure out the screentime for Gamera in each Heisei film. GotU: 10 minutes 24 seconds Legion: 12 minutes 34 seconds. Maybe minus some 15-20 seconds since we see dead Gamera quite a few times. Okay gonna watch the review.

[@Naseem-fl3zt]

I watched this movie and it was a great movie.

[@charlespackowski6620]

So the Heisei Gamera trilogy is one of if not the best Kaiju thing ever

[@GreaterGrievobeast55]

The legion design might be one of the best designed kaiju in film, I wouldn’t compare it to one of the evangelion angels persay. As I feel like it is able to show it emotion and character in a far more interesting way. I would probably imagine this is the best of the gamera films though it’s hard to tell at times with this whole trilogy being gold!

[@tonybaker1268]

Love this movie and this review

[@Irrelevant402]

When showing my friend Gamera 1 and 2 I told him that the director said turtles don't exist in the movies. We thought it was a cool tidbit, basically Gamera is even more alien to the people. I told him how people in the comments were like 'but what Mario Bros!? What does he jump on!?' And I was all 'I think you're over thinking this.' Friend was like 'yeah I don't think that's important.' But then about half and hour later... Friend: Armadillos! Me: what? Friend: Armadillos is what Mario jumps on. They roll into a bow and then he can kick them. Me: Good enough for me...Then Koopa is a dragon-armadillo then? Friend: I guess so then. Me: Kind of want to see that now. So from us: In the Heisei Trilogy Mario fights goombas and armadillos.

[@jonrussell7577]

Best kaiju film of the Heisei era, imho.

[@rogerhwerner6997]

More beautiful ladies, and a pretty terrific villian kaiju. And the kinda silly flying turtle...

[@Dontuween]

Kaiju feature, one of the finest!

[@lolailo2199]

0:27 lmao

[@haydenpoe6475]

My copies are a bit lacking in the subtitles. Is there a Blu-ray copy of the trilogy with good subs? Also nice review. The fact that this is one of 3 5-star reviews on your channel shows just how good it is.

[@chrisgonzalez5883]

At Amazon you can find. The gamera trilogy on. Blue ray for around 10 dollars.

[@haydenpoe6475]

@@chrisgonzalez5883 Thanks!

[@chrisgonzalez5883]

@@haydenpoe6475 no problem but it seems the price has gone up. After i bought it.

[@lilredwagon5311]

To think that after the gamera trilogy was done a few of the gamera guys went to toho to create GMK

[@aliencovenant4284]

I wish TOHO would reboot the gamera franchise 🐢-🔥🔥🔥

[@garagefirestudios9802]

Why Toho? Gamera is owned by Kodakawa/Daei wich is Toho's rival.

[@Irrelevant402]

Five stars!? I dunno I think that's awfully high. When I was a teenager I liked Legion more for all the action but I'm older now and find the Legion characters a little weaker. I also appreciate Gamera having a flying enemy more with the Gyaos in 1 but they had Gamera fighting a land tank monster super well in this. I'm undecided if I think Gamera 3 is a 4.5 like Guardian for me or a 5.

[@TOKYOTOYBANZAI]

My personal fav!!

[@kathyyoung4757]

Fabulous i love gamera

[@beefbigshot8789]

Ya this film is good and all but what about the Lake Texarkana dub? It really restructures this movie to be a cinematic masterpiece. When your done reviewing all the Gamera movies I'd say you should go back and check it out for a full review

[@Armieyada]

Next week, Revenge of IRIS!!!!!!

[@59rlmccormack]

Gamera is awesome!

[@Irrelevant402]

I still got the ADV DVDs of these...I stick to them because while I think the subtitles for the blu-rays of the first two are alright...they got sloppy with the Irys blu-ray!

[@Grimmations]

Every time I see this movie and when I look at Legion idk why but I see a cgi monster, I know it’s a suit but seriously I see a CGI monster, maybe it’s the lighting or lack of texture. Still good effects tho 😁

[@Krooksbane]

HOLY CRAP!

[@andreiiiksavvv6054]

After you finish gamera you should review the kong movies

[@shirotapioca4354]

5 STARS 💞❓️⁉️ Thank-you so much‼️ 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@wallygator92]

The Gamera trilogy>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>the Godzilla anime trilogy.

[@cupcaketf223]

Me watching gamera's triology: IT'S PERFECT, THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE! Me watching godzilla's triology: Maybe i should k*ll myself now, i don't want to live in the same world as this kind of cr@p!

[@wallygator92]

@@cupcaketf223 the Godzilla anime trilogy was so bad it almost killed my respect for Toho

[@cupcaketf223]

@@wallygator92 Same, dude, same, i think they should stop trying to make godzilla into anime, because come on, godzilla earth was the first try, horrible, right? And then they make Singular point which is just as bad or even worse than the first anime!

[@Alex-hp2rs]

The SFX could easy outshine any modern cg if they just made things happen slower. The monsters moving at a human pace makes them look like humans and not big heavy monsters.

[@rickferrari9042]

The girl in these movies is Steven Segal's daughter

[@godzillafan1117]

To be completely honest, this one is my least favorite in the trilogy. Everyone who I’ve seen review it has this at either their number 1 or number 2 in the Gamera Trilogy. I think it’s at the bottom. I don’t know what I’m not seeing, but I think the characters are lackluster, and Gamera isn’t really in it as much as I’d like. Not trying to say that it should just be monsters dueling it out, just would like more of his presence. I like the end of the world aspect, just wish they game me more emotion with the characters, so I’d feel more attached to the world it tried to create. The effects and the sound effects are superb though. Everything special effects wise is top-notch. Am I missing something?