Movies - Gamera vs. Jiger

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	Movies - Gamera vs. Jiger

Gamera vs. Jiger (American title - Gamera vs. Monster X), or Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga(ガメラ対大魔獣ジャイガー) is a 1970 daikaiju eiga starring the giant flying turtle Gamera.

In this film, Gamera has his hands full right from the very beginning. Workers from the World's Fair (Expo '70) are interested in an embedded statue and try to remove it. Gamera arrives and attempts to prevent the removal of the statue, only to be shot at by the crew instead (one of the few times outside the first film that Gamera is attacked by humans). The statue is removed from the island successfully after a volcano erupts.

After the statue is removed, Jiger makes his first appearance and gets Gamera's immediate attention. The first of several fights ensues, and Jiger wins it by shooting what amounts to long spears from his nose. Those spears impale Gamera's arms and legs, piercing all the way through and preventing Gamera from taking to the air. To make matters worse, Gamera is on his shell, and only by taking off, can he right himself. He realizes that he can reach an outcropping of rocks to pull himself towards with his tail. Once that's done, he removes the offending spears from his back legs and is finally able to launch into the air. After flipping over, Gamera pulls out the other spears from his arms, enabling the more familar flying form with all four "rockets" going.

Meanwhile, Jiger is actively seeking the statue, which makes a noise similar to when a bottle is blown across its top. Jiger lets nothing impede that hunt, as he splits two ships in half, and starts tearing through Tokyo (Note: I'm assuming it's Tokyo here,it could be any coastal city in Japan). Scientists are beside themselves as Jiger displays another weapon...a heat ray that vaporizes not only flesh, but, entire city blocks. The JSDF does make a token effort to kill the beast, but the spears knock down the F-4 fighters, ending that involvement.

Gamera returns for round two as the fight is witnessed by several children. Gamera knocks Jiger around a bit, and appears to have the upper hand, until Jiger uses "suction" to pull Gamera to him...or should I say "her", as Jiger extands a needle from her tail and injects Gamera. Gamera staggers away, roaring in agony. Finally, he barely makes it to the Bay and his arms and head turn a chalky white color, almost like ice. Gamera is presumed to have died at this point as Jiger heads straight to Expo '70. Jiger finally obtains his goal of he statue, and throws it into the ocean, ending the nearly constant noise.

The scientists were checking out possible causes of the noise, as it affected humans, causing temporary insanity. The children convinced them to do a medical exam on the comatose Gamera, where it's discovered that there's a dark spot on a lung. One of the scientists served as a zoo director and realized that the spot might not be a fast spreading cancer, but, that there was a baby Jiger roaming in the lung. An operation was needed to remove the threat, so, the children took the initiative by taking a walkie talkie and a mini-sub. Ignoring the fact that radio waves don't work under water, communication is established with the kids. They enter Gamera through the open mouth, and after almost going into the stomach, they arrive at the problem lung. The chiuldren are able to exit the sub and walk around in the lung. There, they come face-to-snout of the baby Jiger.

The baby Jiger looks like the fully-grown one, except that instead of "arrows", the baby blows boogers which are rather sticky. But, the baby has a weakness, and, that's "white noise" from the radio. The kids discover this is actually a fatal weakness and manage to kill the baby using the static. They leave Gamera's body and report their findings to the scientists. They rig up large speakers to keep Jiger at bay, as well as figuring out that power would have to also be run into Gamera, who cannot recover on his own. The children make a final trip inside Gamera to hook up a set of power lines directly to the heart.

Jiger is kept still by the speakers playing the white noise. It's not enough to kill Jiger, but, buys enough time for the other plan to start. Gamera is subjected to high voltage shock before the electrical grid overloads. It's enough that Gamera revives on his own.

Gamera flies over to the Expo site for the final battle. This time, something will die. Jiger tries every weapon he's got, but, Gamera merely retracts into his shell when the spears start flying. A flick of his tail and he starts rolling towards Jiger, who responds with the heat ray. It doesn't affect Gamera's shell or even skin, but, the kids yell out that Gamera should protect his ears. Gamera grabs a couple of telephone poles and uses them as earplugs. Properly protected now, Gamera opens a can of whoop-(you-know-what) on Jiger by lifting Jiger several hundred meters into the air and dropping him a couple of times. Jiger isn't really affected, but it buys Gamera the time needed to go for a swim (he's taken the poles out by this point) to retrieve the statue from the sea floor. Jigar isn't happy about the statue's return and attempts to inject Gamera again. Gamera wasn't about to go through that again and used the statue to break the needle and Jiger's tail at the same time. Gamera taunts Jiger with the statue. Jiger, who has limited flight ability, tries in vain to catch Gamera and the statue. Gamera finally ends the fight by throwing the statue at Jiger. The statue penetrates Jiger's skull and brain. Jiger falls and with a final roar, closes his eyes in death.

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