Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)

When heaven and Earth are opposed, the result is destruction

Gamera: The Revenge of Iris is a good old fashioned monster mash with real stakes and believable monsters. I realize the ridiculousness of that statement when talking about a giant tusked turtle. This film is easily the best of the Gamera films I've watched. No annoying 8-year-old, just amazing Kaiju and realistic fights and consequences.

The story was complex and at times convoluted. G3 brought back a few characters from the first two of this trilogy, added some teens, a scientist, a priestess, a nihilistic dude, and the requisite small minded bureaucrats and military. Because of the collateral damage caused by Gamera in the beginning of this film and the two previous films, the government has determined he's simply too destructive to let live. Bad timing as the Gyaoses have started popping up all over the world. Even worse a nemesis in a cave is about to hatch and feed on a teenage girl's hatred of Gamera and need for revenge. She names the nemesis Iris after her dearly departed cat. Gamera save us from a vengeful teenage girl!

There is a lot of mumbo-jumbo about Gamera being created to hold Mana, the life energy of the earth and his nemesis being the opposite, a real destroyer. I appreciate the writer's desire to give us some meaning behind the monsters, but honestly, I never did quite grasp all of the talk about their version of The Force. Philosophically, the movie touched on things like is the enemy of my enemy really my friend or a necessary evil? Is Gamera a good guy if his protection costs tens of thousands to lose their lives? And does the cost seem acceptable as long as it's not your loved ones and home destroyed?

More than almost any Kaiju movie since Godzilla 1954 the humans were truly important and integral to the story, in fact the nemesis Iris, would not have been as threatening without Ayana the teenage girl's hatred to feed upon. The acting while not award worthy was enough to draw you into the story and give emotional heft to the actions being played across the screen.

Iris was a lovely, menacing terror to behold, it would make almost any Kaiju envious at the care taken in creating it. Gamera, well, Gamera will always be a giant turtle with tusks that can shoot flames. The fights were immediate, brutal, and up close. The scenes of the humans trapped in a giant building as the two went mano y tentacles was spectacular. The perspective and size of the monsters with the tiny humans below gave real suspense to the scenes. No cardboard buildings destroyed in this film, there was a lot of detail in the buildings crushed during the giants' fights. There were problems with a few scenes during the fights but overall the CGI and miniature work were excellent especially for a pre-2000 movie.

Gamera 3 gave us more compelling humans and stories while not sacrificing what people came to see: visually stunning monster spectacles across the cities and skies. Unlike earlier Gamera movies this one was dark and aimed more at adults. Even with the darker mood, G3 was a fun fast paced ride




7/21/22

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Iconic monster movie, hijacked by teen horror film.

Gamera vs Teen Mass Murderer. Just like watching angsty high school mean kids bully a giant turtle, because who cares if someone else dies during revenge. And besides, no one died really on the path to stupidity, did they. it was all the monster's fault, my feelings needed those deaths for validation.

That lack of empathy, and humanity in teen horror movies - Is the power that drives the violence in them forward, and so does it here. Whether, you use a monster, or make yourself into one. All those people died horribly, because the world owes a teenager something. But, this wasn't suppose to be a teen slasher film.

I can compare it to watching an arc in an anime, that you know doesn't belong. Then you find out it was written by producers, because the manga is on going, and they've run out of issues. So, they made something up. Gamera is suppose to be fun, and with humanity. This, had neither.

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The Greatest Kaiju Movie of All Time

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris is not only the greatest kaiju movie I will ever see, but if it wasn't for Another Me, I would say it is my favorite movie of all time. In my eyes, this is a gold standard of Kaiju movies and movies in general. Like Another Me, I drew many comparisons to other media and how this did everything those other things did but much better.

The main comparison that came to mind was between this movie and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (I could also bring up Civil War but those comparisons would be very much stretching it and I don't want to give the MCU more spotlight than it ever deserved). Both tackle similar themes about questing the actions of the hero and the person or people striking back at the hero.

The difference is light and day when it came to the execution. Unlike BVS, Revenge of Iris's challenging of the hero is completely earned. In BVS, it was an obvious knee jerk reaction to the people's distaste for Man of Steel. In Revenge of Iris, this was set up from the start, all be it very subtly. The government and military are very mixed on Gamera in both of the previous movies and we are shown how Gamera can negatively affect the economy around him.

This time though we are thrown a curve ball to the mostly positive narrative about Gamera when we see a flash back to a scene from the first movie. In this scene, we see Ayana Hirasaka watch in horror as we see the destruction of her house and the death of her parents. The camera pans up to Gamera who is spikier and very creepy looking.

While he didn't have this look in the first movie, it makes way more sense when you realize that this is how Ayana sees Gamera. We also see that all the Pendents have shattered, reflecting Gamera's connection to humanity cut completely, which was shown in Gamera 2 when Asagi broke her connection with Gamera so he can fight Legion. 23 minutes into the movie, we then see Gamera fighting a pair of Gyaos and we are shown how Gamera's fight affect the humans around him.

All of this was something that built up to from the previous movies and it feels completely earned.

Speaking of Ayana Hirasaka, she is what batman in BVS should have been. Ayana isn't written as some psychotic strawman for the audience who didn't like the destruction in Man of Steel. She is written very realistically and we are able to completely understand why she hates Gamera.

She hates how people are praising Gamera as this savior when she saw Gamera cause the death of her family and the bullying that she and her step brother receive only make it worse. Her change of heart about Gamera is very well done and is how the infamous martha scene from BVS should have been handled. It also helps that Ai Maeda's performace is extremely nuanced and complex. She gives off the appropriate cold anger that the character has without resorting to screaming and shouting her way through the movie.

Iris is the not only the greatest non Godzilla kaiju, but it is also the Greatest villain of all time. Iris is a creature who feeds off of Ayana's hate for Gamera so it can kill Gamera. That being said, Iris does actually care about Ayana as it connects with her losing her family to Gamera and is very loyal to her. It also kills the bullies that were picking at Ayana and her brother. However, it also kills innocent people as well and does so intentionally. It's clear that Iris started off as an innocent creature but got completely corrupted by Ayana's hate for Gamera and became evil because of it.

Iris and Ayana symbolize the devastating effects of revenge. Both were initially kind and loving beings that become hate filled after the loss of their families. Both don't care what it takes or who gets hurt in their path of revenge either. As long they manage to take down Gamera, that is all that matters.

Gamera in this movie is very morally dubious. Unlike Superman in BVS, we actually see why Gamera could be considered a threat against humanity. Thanks to the destruction of the Pendents, Gamera has no real attachment to humanity anymore. Now that the Gyaos have reappeared, his sole goal is to eliminate the Gyaos. He never considers the destruction and loss of lives as long as the Gyaos are killed. In a way, He is similar to Ayana and Iris but not completely.

With Ayana and Iris, both are doing this out of blind hatred, Gamera is doing this because he is made by the atlantians to do this. He is meant to protect the earth, not humanity. While this was a concern in the first two movies, it is really focused on with this movie. He is also extremely violent with how he takes out his enemies, more so than usual. The scene with Gamera staring at the Gyaos he just took down as it is screaming in agony with his eye hanging out of his socket and his whole body completely destroyed and broken, is way scarier than almost anything in any horror movie ever.

Mito Asakura and Shinya Kurata are the other antagonists of the movie. Unlike Iris and Ayana who are fueled by hatred toward Gamera. Mito is trying to kill Gamera because she believes he is an evil spirit while Shinya is doing it because he loves destruction and chaos. They may not appear too much, but they are certainly memorable and are important to the story. Also, Tôru Tezuka's performance as Shinya Kurata is what Jesse Eisenberg's performance as Lex Luthor should have been. Crazy and psychotic but only when needed and was also realistically socially awkward.

I also like all the returning characters as well. Especially Osako who is always a joy to watch. Not much more to say here as I wanted to focus on the characters above.

The effects and designs of the kaiju. Gamera is very spiky and vicious looking here which fits the tone of this movie. Iris however steals the show. Not only is the mixture of CGI and practical effects perfect and seamless, but the design for it is gorgeous. Iris has a very angelic and angular. It almost looks like the good guy here and I can totally see someone believing such. This is very much intentional and it is the perfect disguise for its more violent personality. The Gyaos also look really cool as well, now with more sleek angles and a grey color scheme. The miniatures are also wonderful here but that is expected from this trilogy.

The Cinematography somehow outdoes what is in the first two movies. This is true in the action scenes ( the very small amount in this movie), especially in the fight with Gamera and the two Gyaos. It perfectly fits the tone that scene and makes you feel the horror of the situation. This trilogy and Revenge of Iris especially showed me the power of amazing cinematography. The Music makes it work so well and is awesome on it's own.

Before I go to final thoughts, I must address the ending. It ends off at a part that might lead some to feels cheated but I think that was intentional. One of the main themes is hope and the ending is reflective of that. You are supposed to come to your on conclusions about what happens next. I will not go into it further as I want to make this review to convince people to watch this movie. Just thought I warn all of you prior to seeing the movie.

In the end, I demand you to see the Kaneko trilogy and give special attention to this movie especially. The fact that the main movie going audience sucks off MCU and DCEU releasing the same bland meaningless movies every year while making fun of and degrading the kaiju genre is beyond insulting.

I am not saying to wipe all goofy kaiju movies away (we do need to laugh and feel happy after all), but I and many other kaiju fans would love to see the public treat these movies with respect. I hope this trilogy changes that perception some day if the mainstream ever decides to give it a chance.

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