Friday 13 March 2009

Random Film Moments #2 - Gamera Vs.Guiron

The Giant monster genre or Kaiju ( the Japanese word for "Strange Beast" ) as its more affectionately known to its fans, has over the years has given us numerous random moments, ever since Godzilla first went on a rampage through Tokyo back in 1954. However these classic films have often had some extremely random moments, so much so that they often truely defy belief with this weeks random moment being a prime example.

Taken from the 1969 Gamera movie "Gamera Vs. Guiron" which is part of the Shōwa Gamera series , I have to admit when I first saw this random moment, I had to actually rewind the tape, as I wasn't sure I'd seen what I thought I did, as you can see for yourself the reasons why will soon be clear.

Yes you did just watch a giant space turtle working the parallel bars, but strangely enough this kind of insanity is pretty common in alot of the early Kaiju movies, though most not as random as this particular scene it has to be said.

Personally I liked the landing the best, as he goes all out to finish with proper gymnastic style, which leaves you half expecting to see, a group of giant judges holding up scorecards. Gamera might be seen as many as a cash in on the popularity of Godzilla, but as I will go into no doubt in future reviews, the Gamera series has enough originality to hold it's own against the King of Monsters, but surely it's better to have twice the amount of Kaiju action than, just having one dominant series, still for the moment both series are currently in Mothballs, with Godzilla bowing out in 2004's "Godzilla - Final Wars" and Gamera's last appearance being the 2006 "Gamera the Brave", but with current popularity for both characters still high, there is nothing to say that either monster won't be stomping through Tokyo in the near future.

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