Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)

Movie Info

Gamera’s “Come at me, Bro” pose

Gamera is untethered from Asagi Kusanagi (Ayako Fujitani) and humanity could pay as it ruthlessly hunts the newly mutated Gyaos.  As Gamera wields a destructive path, the military questions which monster it should target.  Meanwhile, a young girl named Ayana Hirasaka (Ai Maeda) whose parents were killed by Gamera is seeking revenge, and when she discovers the egg of a monster she names Iris, she could have the opportunity…but Iris could be a bigger threat than Gamera.

Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, Gamera 3:  Revenge of Iris (ガメラ3 邪神〈イリス〉覚醒 or Gamera Surī: Irisu Kakusei aka Gamera 3:  Awakening of Iris) is a Japanese kaiju movie.  Following Gamera 2:  Attack of the Legion in 1996, the film is the last film in the Heisei trilogy and the eleventh film in the Gamera series.

I love my murderous kaiju best friend

Plots of kaiju movies are always tricky.  Largely, people just want to see big monsters fight and the plots are pretty slim.  In the Gamera trilogy, the filmmakers try to make a bigger overarching plot while keeping each film self-contained…it somewhat works, but it also struggles in that sense.

Like the movies before, the biggest problem with Gamera is keeping the people interesting.  Gamera in the first two films was tethered to Asagi who was bonded to the creature.  Gamera is free, but Ayana has a new bond and the bond feels a little more natural since Ayana “raised” Iris from birth.  It leads to a nice comparison with Asagi and it does a better job tying in the people to the story.

The movie does have a bit of an issue in that it seems a bit directionless in the beginning.  Gamera is fighting new Gyaos and that whole plot kind of gets sidelined by Iris.  It is smart to have more than one kaiju since it logically seems like Gamera wouldn’t just sit around until a threat arose, but the Gyaos also seem a bit shoehorned into the story since it is really about Gamera vs. Iris.

Iris is coming for you!

Of the Gamera films, this film probably is the peak of the visuals.  The film still utilizes suits and costumes for the kaiju but blends them with CGI special effects.  It isn’t the most convincing blend, but it is a nice transition film between old and new.  Since it doesn’t go too heavily into the CGI, it holds up slightly better than some other early CGI attempts (but the CGI is sometimes kind of rough).

Gamera never will escape the shadow of Godzilla, but the film trilogy of the Heisei period is a nice attempt to at least distinguish itself from the other films.  Gamera is goofy by definition (he’s a giant fighting turtle), but the movie tries the best to just ignore that.  Gamera was rebooted again in 2006 with Gamera the Brave.

Preceded By:

Gamera 2:  Attack of the Legion (1996)