Now Showing: Gamera

 

Gamera

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi

Director: David Leitch

Writer: Nic Suzuki

Based on the Japanese film series

Cast: David Harbour, Hiroyuki Sanada, Karen Fukuhara, Nicola Coughlan, Violet McGraw, Courtney B. Vance, Jurnee Smollett, Cameron Monaghan

Plot: In the icy expanse of the Arctic, North Korea's nuclear missile tests send shockwaves through the icy earth, triggering unprecedented seismic activity, causing the ice to crack and shift. A massive figure is revealed, frozen in the ice.

Dr. David Foster (David Harbour), a dedicated marine biologist and his daughter Emily (Violet McGraw) are aboard a research vessel where they are studying the effects of the missile tests on the marine life. Emily wanders off to explore, causing her father some anxiety. He tells her to go back inside, worried that the missiles to the north were not the last. They notice unusual behavior in the marine life and strange energy readings on the vessel's instruments. While David is reviewing some of their data, Emily sneaks off the vessel to get a closer look at the water, where she sees whales behaving erratically. David realizes that Emily is missing and rushes to find her just as a massive tremor shakes the ice around the vessel. Together they witness a massive, dormant turtle-like creature - Gamera - encased in a massive block of ice. Gamera's appearance is awe-inspiring - a towering figure with a rugged ancient shell plating adorned with faintly glowing runes. Gamera's eyes being to flicker open, terrifying the Foster duo. Massive icebergs collapse as Gamera awakens from his frozen slumber. David grabs Emily and rushes her to safety as icy debris falls around them. Gamera plunges into the waters, descending deep.

David reports his findings to the authorities. Dr. Kenji Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) is called into investigate to the marine vessel. He brings along Dr. Sarah Kensington (Nicola Coughlan), an archaeologist with interest in myths and facts. When David asks Kenji what his specialty is, Kenji refuses to answer, instead acting mysteriously, but hinting at a deep knowledge of the creature's origins. Kenji and Sarah analyze every image David managed to capture of the giant beast. Sarah takes special interest in the rune design on Gamera, translating some of them for Kenji, who reveals that Gamera appears to be an ancient, prehistoric beast, a guardian created by nature itself to protect Earth from other monstrous threats.

General Jack Washington (Courtney B. Vance) and his daughter Maria Washington (Jurnee Smollett), who work for the Global Defense Initiative (GDI), an international agency formed by a coalition of world governments to handle global threats, are alerted to the emergence of Gamera. They coordinate a spectacle of fighter jets and battle ships all being deployed toward the Arctic circle where Gamera was discovered. David and Emily watch with worry as the global military effort descends upon their research location. David warns Emily to never trust the military as they profit from war, while everyone else suffers. Emily nods in acknowledgement. 

Dr. Mayumi Nagamine (Karen Fukuhara), a chiropterologist, is studying bats in the depths of the Amazon jungle. Her research team is attacked by a swarm of Gyaos, a large bat-like creature with sleek, predatory bodies and membranous wings with a span of nearly 50 feet. The Gyaos' blood-red eyes gleam as it unleashes its sonic beam - sound waves that slice through the jungle and annihilate her team. Mayumi barely escapes with her life as the sole survivor of the attack. Traumatized and determined to warn the world, Mayumi returns to her home in Toko, believing she is now safe. However, the Gyaos has followed her and begins attacking citizens in Tokyo. As Mayumi tries to warn authorities, multiple Gyaos emerge from the shadows, attacking the city, slicing through building with their sonic beams and causing massive destruction. 

The GDI learn about the attacks in Tokyo. General Jack Washington sends  his daughter Maria to lead the effort in Tokyo. She arrives in Tokyo with a squad of GDI soldiers, including Alex Mitchell (Cameron Monaghan), in Humvees that speed through the city streets to combat the Gyaos threat. Soldiers fire machine guns mounted on the Humvees at the Gyaos, but the bullets have little effect on the creatures. As the other soldiers crash and fail in their pursuit of the Gyaos swarm, Maria continues on driving her Humvee with expert precision with Alex on the back firing at the Gyaos. They finally manage to injure one of the Gyaos, sending it crashing into the streets. They exit their Humvee and finally get a good look at the creature. After one Gyaos has fallen, the others of the swarm fly away from the area as a pack. Mayumi is called in to analyze and dissect the fallen Gyaos. Mayumi determines that the creature is similar to a bat, but is ancient and unique. Maria calls her father to give him an update on the situation in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Gamera, after his initial awakening, is seen traveling across the ocean. He senses the presence of the Gyaos and heads towards areas of increased seismic activity and environmental disturbances caused by the creatures. Along the way, Gamera battles a small group of Gyaos that attempt to attack him. Gamera uses his plasma fireball ability to fire upon the creatures, defeating them.

Back in the Arctic, a meeting his held featuring Kenji, Sarah, David  and Jack. Emily secretly eavesdrops. Kenji reveals that Gamera's awakening was prophesied by ancient civilizations that worshipped the creature. Jack demands to know what Kenji is a doctor of. Kenji finally reveals that he has spent his life studying kaiju - giant, prehistoric monsters that pre-date even the dinosaurs. David has been tracking the energy signature of Gamera and informs the others that Gamera appears to be on his way toward Japan. Jack, worried about his own daughter's safety, has everyone board a military helicopter to follow Gamera. At first he tries to stop David from bringing Emily along, but David refuses to help track Gamera without Emily's presence. Jack relents when Kenji agrees with David. On the flight, Emily asks what Gamera is going to Japan for. Kenji explains that Gamera must be following the Gyaos, driven by an instinctual need to eliminate them and preserve the balance of nature. Sarah occupies herself on the flight by working translating some relevant ancient texts that elude to Gamera's presence on Earth.

In Tokyo, Kenji, Jack, Sarah and David rendezvous with Maria, Alex and Mayumi in a newly set-up GDI command center on an aircraft carrier off the shore of Japan. Sarah points out that maybe they shouldn't be based on water with a massive creature traveling in their direction via water, but Jack assures her that the ship cannot be capsized. The room is filled with tension and urgency, and things quickly become argumentative as Jack, fearing the destruction Gamera could cause in a highly developed country like Japan, argues for a defensive stance, suggesting that they prepare every short-range missile they have to fire at Gamera as soon as he emerges. Kenji and Mayumi both advocate for understanding Gamera's true purpose before they make any rash decisions they cannot unmake. Suddenly alarms blare in the command center. David announces that the time is here. Screens light up with footage of massive waves forming in Tokyo Bay right near them. The ship begins to violently rock in the water. Everyone holds on for dear life as the ship almost tips over. Sarah screams in fear. David holds onto Emily, protecting her. David sees Mayumi about to fall into a wall, but he grabs hold of her before she can get hurt. Finally the ship manages to stabilize in the water. They all watch out the ship's windows as Gamera's colossal form slowly rises from the depths of the ocean. Gamera, standing upright is over 200 feet tall. His ancient rugged shell glistens with water, the mystical runes faintly glowing. 

Gamera takes his steps onto the shore, each step causing the ground to quake. The GDI task force watches in stunned silence, their earlier debates forgotten in the face of Gamera's arrival. Gamera is attacked by the swarm of Gyaos, attacking him in a coordinated assault. Gamera roars in defiance, unleashing a massive plasma fireball from his mouth that lights up the sky in a bright orange glow and explodes with tremendous force, taking out several Gyaos with one strike. David finally breaks the silence, pointing out that it looks like Kenji was right - Gamera is here to protect. The Gyaos swarm is down to one, which Gamera grabs and crushes with his massive teeth.

Sarah reveals that in the ancient texts, Gamera is meant to fight something much bigger in the full prophecy she has discovered. Sarah shows the rest of the task force an image that shows an ancient drawing of Gamera fighting what looks like a Gyaos, but about 10 times bigger than the ones Gamera has defeated in Tokyo and with a crown-like structure on its head. Jack tries to claim that's just a story made up by cave people.

GDI begins to organize a mass evacuation of the area around Tokyo Bay. Sirens blare as emergency vehicles and personnel flood the streets, guiding citizens to safety. Maria and Alex help to lead the efforts on the ground, calmly assisting the locals toward routes away from harm's way.

Suddenly the sky goes dark. David looks at his watch and notices that it is still a couple hours from dusk. Frightened by something, Emily tells her father to look toward the sun. The light of the sun is being blocked by the Queen Gyaos and its 500-foot wingspan leading an all-new swarm of Gyaos. As the swarm attacks, the Queen Gyaos watches from the skies above. 

David and Kenji both worry aloud about how to keep the monster brawl from going to far inland from the bay. Jack interrupts them, informing them of a  force-field generator GDI has been working on designed to protect military bases from drone attacks. He proposes that if they were to set up the generator near the battle, it would contain the destruction to the inside of the force-field. Kayumi asks how tall the force-field is, inquiring if it would trap the Queen in. Jack shakes his head, saying that the monster is far too high in the sky. David chimes in saying that they will have to activate the device once the Queen attacks Gamera. Jack explains that would require someone activates it manually at the right moment. Maria volunteers for the mission.

From the GDI command ship, Jack orders an assault of ground-to-air missiles be fired at the Gyaos swarm to help Gamera out. Alex takes the controls of the missile command program. He begins taking out the smaller Gyaos with expert precision. Kenji tells Alex he is impressed with his work. Alex jokes that he plays a lot of video games. Gamera sees that the humans are helping him and gives a slight nod toward the command ship. Emily notices the nod, but nobody else believes that Gamera could possibly be thanking them except for her father David. 

Jack gives his daughter Maria a hug before she gets behind the wheels of a Humvee loaded with the force-field generator. Maria carefully drives towards Gamera to an ideal location to set up the device. With the swarm of smaller Gyaos taken care of, the Queen still just hovers above the bay, waiting. Gamera retracts his hindlegs into his shell. Suddenly blasts of energy come out of the leg holes, propelling Gamera up into the sky. He flies up toward Queen Gyaos, grabbing the beast by its wings. The two colossal monsters fight above the bay until Gamera throws Queen Gyaos down to the ground with an earth-shaking thud. Gamera then flies toward Queen Gyaos, tackling the winged monster into the earth. Jack orders Maria to activate the force-field generator immediately, but Maria's Humvee has been flipped over and she struggles to reach the switch for the generator. Just as Queen Gyaos begins to rise and fire a dark energy blast from her mouth, Maria finally manages to reach the trigger and activate the force-field generator. She takes cover as the energy blast, trapped within the force-field, causes a massive explosion of energy. 

The wave of energy from Queen Gyaos' rocks the command center, causing Emily to fall overboard into the waters below. Without a hesitation, David dives into the water after his daughter. Gamera sees David and Emily in the water and keeps the fight with Queen Gyaos away from the water. Mayumi sees David and Emily in the water and goes down with a life raft to retrieve them while Gamera and Queen Gyaos continue battering each other in a vicious brawl. Gamera grabs Queen Gyaos by the neck. Gamera channels all of his energy into a massive plasma fireball, launching it directly at Queen Gyaos at close range. The explosion engulfs her, turning the winged monster into ash. 

With the battle over and Queen Gyaos defeated, Jack discusses keeping the force-field active so that the GDI can capture and conduct tests on Gamera. Kenji objects to this, but is met with opposition from Jack who insists that his superiors aren't going to let him simply free a giant monster. Kenji asks Sarah to keep Jack distracted while he finds a solution. Sarah asks Jack dating advice, much to his annoyance. Kenji calls Mayumi and tells her, David and Emily what is going on. David, Emily and Mayumi make it to shore and travel through the rubble until they get to Maria's Humvee containing the force-field generator. David goes to turn it off, but Maria draws her gun on him, ordering him to stay away from he generator. David manages to talk her down, explaining that they owe Gamera for defeating the Gyaos, so the least they can do is allow Gamera to go back to the sea. Maria agrees and turns off the generator. Jack notices the force-field disappearing and tries to call Maria, but she turns off her phone. Gamera, turns to the command center ship, and gives a slight bow before diving into the waters and swimming away. Jack's superiors call Gamera a hero, and Jack ends up being praised for letting the creature go. Kenji approaches Jack with a proposition that will serve all parties well.

Months later, a permanent task force funded by the GDI, is created to track and study kaiju. The task force is called the Kaiju Observation and Defense Initiative (KODI). David is offered a position on the team by Kenji, given the responsibility of tracking Gamera's movements at sea, utilizing his expertise in marine biology. David agrees if his daughter can come with him. Kenji says of course, as Emily seems to have a slight bond with the creature. Kenji, David, Sarah, Emily and Mayumi make up the KODI team.

The KODI research vessel, a permanent command ship equipped with advanced technology courtesy of the GDI. Emily stands at the front of the ship, gazing out at the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. David, monitoring the radar, notices the familiar blip of Gamera nearby. He joins Emily at the front of the ship. Together they watch as Gamera's head briefly rises from the  water, his eyes meeting Emily's for a brief moment. Gamera dives back down, disappearing into the depths.