Realeased in 1968, “Gamera vs. Viras” is the fourth opus of the then already well-oiled machine that was the “Gamera” franchise. The feature was directed by Noriaki Yuasa, who directed all Gamera between 1965-1980 (except for the second one). What is the story about, I hear you ask? It is a cleaver mix between children becoming heroes, space invasion and nuclear-monster-whose-weakness-is-that-it-likes-humans-too-much.
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A spaceship is targeting Earth. Its mission: occupy the Blue Planet, colonize it and kill all humans. Simple and straightforward. Or so that is what the invader would hope. The ship gets attacked (or, more accurately, counter-attacked) by a giant turtle that can breathe fire: Gamera. The latter's mission: to protect the Earth. Parallelly, we encounter two boy scouts. Masao is Japanese and very good at mechanics and creating gadgets (that are actually useful and work). Jim is American and very good at using his lasso. The duo likes to pull pranks. They go on a submarine trip, where they meet Gamera.
In order to trick the nuclear beast and to blackmail Earth, the aliens kidnap the two children. They also put a brain chip (or at least its ancestor) in Gamera. They have full on control. Despite its love for humans, the creature starts destroying Tokyo. With missing children, a brainwashed monster, and a city that is about to be wiped out, how is humanity going to survive?
I had never watched any Gamera movies before, hadn't heard that much about the franchise before, and didn't have particular expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the special effects are not amazing, it is a bit outdated and the story is far from unpredictable. However, with a fast-pace, decent acting, clean and efficient look, it is watchable. It is also entertaining for younger children, the targeted audience in the first place (or so I would think).
Interestingly, it is very much in line with social anxieties and environment in the 60s (nuclear questions- even more relevant to Japan-, space race, cold war, fear of having its protector/allies flip side). Moreover, it gives an idea of how aliens were thought of and perceived. Spoiler alert: it hasn't changed that much in over 50 years. For example, the spaceship has a lot of more ‘unusual shapes', and its style is very clean. Aliens can use telepathy and telekinesis. They plot in order to invade the Earth. All these elements can still be found in nowadays pop culture.
Movies like “Gamera vs. Viras” were fertilizer to our current pop culture. The 1968 feature is worth watching either with children or as a relatively entertaining witness of its time.
