Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

The last two movies in the Gamera series have been excellent, so we're going into Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris with the hope that this final entry can be the spectacular finale the previous two deserve. Of course, as mentioned at least twice now, director Shusuke Kaneko returns to cap off the series. The plot in this one basically ties into both previous films, looping in the semi-confusing ending of Attack of Legion and the connection Gamera had with a human girl in Guardian of the Universe, as well as other loose threads through the previous two. The Gamera suit actor from Attack of Legion, Akira Ohashi, returns to the series but this time as the villain Iris. Hirofumi Fukuzawa takes over as Gamera for this one, and it's not the last time we'll that name on this blog.

There's not a lot of background work to explain for this one, as it seems to be the finale of planned trilogy and things have gone according to plan. So now all there's left to do is watch the movie and see if it's worth the buildup.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In a village, the corpse of what appears to be a Gyaos is found. Shortly thereafter, on the ocean floor, a team of scientists find multiple skulls which appear to belong to Gamera.

- We meet Ayane, a girl who's parents were killed 3 years ago during one of Gamera's battles. In a cave, she finds a mysterious egg and a tablet inscribed with the image of Suzaku, the flaming Guardian Bird of the South. This is relevant because Gamera may be representative of Genbu, the Guardian Turtle of the North.

- Gamera and a pair of Gyaos' do battle, and the mysterious egg Ayane found seems to hatch while Ayane watches the news of Gamera's latest victory. She returns to the cave to find a magatama (curved jewel) which begins to glow in her hand. She hears something creeping behind her and finds the baby Iris, a small monster which she seems to take to as a pet. 

- Claiming she can understand Iris, Ayane also declares that she and Iris both hate Gamera and that Iris will take revenge for her. As it continues to grow, they eventually merge into one being.

- Separately, researchers begin to theorize that Mana has been fluctuating on the Earth and causing all of the recent monsters to appear. Gamera is one example, but seems capable of absorbing it and using it as his own power source. This explains the last minute powerup from the previous film.

- Ayane is eventually found and separated from Iris, and has clear physical damage from her time inside. While she's in the hospital, Iris goes on a rampage and slaughters a village as it seems to continue growing in size and power. The military attacks it, and are predictably slaughtered.

- After being attacked, Iris goes on offense and chases military planes through the sky. Fortunately, just as they run out of missiles to defend themselves, Gamera appears to confront Iris again. STUPIDLY, the military commander decides that Gamera should be targeted and destroyed first.

- The military's counterstrike is somewhat successful, knocking Gamera out of the sky. Of course this just means Iris is unopposed, and it lands in Kyoto. It is possibly searching for Ayane, as she runs away to join Iris as though they were calling to each other.

- Iris swiftly defeats Gamera, punching a hole in the turtle who now lays dying, and reabsorbing Ayane.

- Inside Iris, Ayane experiences its memories of slaughtering the village and realizes that she has driven Iris to be so aggressive due to her hatred of Gamera. Before she goes too deep into despair, Gamera forcefully rips her out of Iris because the big turtle monster isn't ready to quit yet.

- Gamera and Iris do battle again, culminating in a baller sequence where Gamera turns his arm into a flaming fist and punches a hole in Iris so hard it explodes (more on this below).

- Gamera saves Ayane, having already pulled her from Iris' body. She asks why he would do this after she's caused all of this trouble, but he simply roars semi-protectively.

- As this happens, a swarm of Gyaos approach Gamera's location. The military diverts their attention the Gyaos swarm as well, as Gamera stands in a sea of fire in Kyoto as the Gyaos swarm approaches, and his human companion explains that Gamera will always fight, even if he must do it alone.

Kaiju Notes 

- The battle between Gamera and Gyaos in the beginning features of the best kaiju movie effects and affects we've seen thus far. Besides Gamera's rocket legs (which make no sense) being cooler than ever, there's also several scenes of the toll these battles take. A group of humans are swept up in Gamera's flames, an office building explodes with people inside, and the body of Gyaos crushes the people underneath. It's all accidental, but is up there with Godzilla vs. Hedorah in demonstrating the human cost of giant monster battles. 

- Baby Iris reminds me a bit of Larval Mothra, in that it is both ugly and cute while being just the right amount of gooey. One could see why a human might want to care for this creature, but I am certainly not one of them. It just looks sticky for unknown reasons.

- (Adult) Iris' design somehow splits the difference between "predictable" and inspired. When it is in flight it is definitely at it's most striking appearance, but only because it's massive tentacles fly behind it. On the ground it retains the tentacles, making the creature seem even larger than it already is because its range of effect is so vast. Its actual body is akin to an armored bird, but the large lights in its chest give it some unique character. Overall, it's a good design but not a necessarily great one. it's a very 90s design aesthetic.

- When it comes to combat, Iris has the clear upper hand in regard to tools. Besides its massive tentacles, has a massive talon with which it can absord the power of its enemies. 

- The ending sequence in the battle between Gamera and Iris is a bit confusing, but allow me to explain: Iris has Gamera's right hand pinned to a wall as it absorbs his powers and begins to shoot fireballs (an ability it did not have before). Gamera, about to take fireballs to the face, decides to remove his own hand by firebreathing it off of his body. As Iris launches fireballs, Gamera uses his new stump to "catch" them and uses his new fire fist to literally punch Iris until it explodes. It's fucking great.

First things first: this movie has some truly stunning special effect work. While Attack on Legion was a great evolution of the special effects of the series, Revenge of Iris is some truly amazing work. Even Gamera's rocket legs are somehow awesome and incredibly stupid at the same time, and I love them every time I see them.

Let's talk about some individual aspects of the movie before we talk about the overall themes and the like. First thing, the corpses Iris leaves behind are genuinely upsetting, appearing like hideous (inanimate) zombies. Watching a young woman get attacked by Iris and turned into one of these elicited an audible "jesus christ" from me, because it was authentically upsetting. The battle between Gamera and Iris in the sky is epic in all the right ways. Even before Gamera arrives, seeing Iris in the sky versus fighter jets is very cool but when the giant turtle makes it to the scene it takes several levels in badass. Gamera spinning with his rocket legs and ramming into Iris somehow makes beyblade look incredibly awesome because he looks like a beyblade but this is still incredibly awesome.

Revenge of Iris isn't the most thematically rich kaiju movie we've seen, but it definitely has something on its mind. Revenge appears to be the primary theme, or more specifically the futility or "cycle of violence" it creates. Besides Ayane essentially creating Iris as we know it with her resentment and hatred of Gamera, Iris itself is said to be a creation of a civilization that seeks the destruction of humanity, as well as a tool of the Gyaos species to kill Gamera so that humanity can be killed. Basically, everyone but Gamera is out for revenge of some kind, and Gamera has to pay the consequences for all of it.

Now let's talk about the trilogy as a whole. Quite honestly, the 90's series of Gamera movies is fantastic. It's the most cohesive series we've seen thus far, even in the context of every Showa era Godzilla movie being in the same continuity, I don't recall any point where any 3 kaiju movies thus far worked so consistently well together. Better still, while a great trilogy as a whole, each film also works on its own and doesn't need any of the others to work. Even in the 2nd sequel, Revenge of Iris, prior knowledge of Gamera or the movies preceding it doesn't really matter in making it understandable. Each movie is definitely in the top 80% of the films we've covered so far, and then as a trilogy it's an impressive feat. If you're only going to watch a few kaiju movies for some reason, this is probably the best trilogy to start at. Check it out.

Next: Rebirth of Mothra!