Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)

In a small Japanese village, a young woman discovers the means for her revenge, while Gyaos birds are sighted around the world and humankind debates Gamera's allegiance.

Director:

Shûsuke Kaneko

Writers:

Kazunori Itô, Shûsuke Kaneko

Stars:

Shinobu Nakayama, Ai Maeda, Yukijirô Hotaru

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shinobu Nakayama	...	Mayumi Nagamine
Ai Maeda	...	Ayana Hirasaka
Yukijirô Hotaru	...	Inspector Tsutomu Osako
Ayako Fujitani	...	Asagi Kusanagi
Senri Yamazaki	...	Mito Asakura
Tôru Tezuka	...	Shin'ya Kurata
Yuu Koyama	...	Tatsunari Moribe
Nozomi Andô	...	Miyuki Moribe - Tatsunari's Younger Siser
Kei Horie	...	Shigeki Hinohara - Ayana's Cousin
Norito Yashima	...	Sakurai
Hirotarô Honda	...	Mr. Saito
Aki Maeda	...	Young Ayana
Hiroyuki Watanabe	...	Regimental Commander
Yukie Nakama	...	Female Camper
Kunihiko Mitamura	...	Ayana's Father

Storyline

This final installment of the recent Gamera trilogy begins with schoolgirl Ayana discovering a large egg in a cave that, according to legend, houses demons. The egg hatches into a small monster, which Ayana decides to raise and quickly develops as psychic bond with. As Ayana's monster, named Iris, grows to adulthood, the flying turtle Gamera begins to take an interest in this new potential threat. Who will be the victor in the final battle, and how much of Japan will be left standing at the end?

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Plot Keywords:

gamera | japan | revenge | japanese | kaiju | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Family | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 March 1999 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daiei Studios,Hakuhodo,Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan) K.K.

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Towards the end of the film when the swarm of Gyaos approaches Gamera they can be heard emitting the classic screech that Gyaos uses in the earlier Gamera films of the original series.

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Goofs

When the women are giving Ayana CPR, they are pushing down on her abdomen rather than her chest.

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Quotes

Mayumi Nagamine: Every creature, however unappealing, fights to the last to survive. Humanity as well.

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Connections

Follows Gamera daikaijû kuchu kessen (1995)

User Reviews

the best of the Gamera trilogy and one of the more unique and brilliant monster movies ever created by human hands

With the releases of "Gamera: Attack of Legion" and its predecessor "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe", Shusuke Kaneko had proved to cinema-goers to he not only knew how to make a good monster movie, but he knew how to make an artistic and enthralling monster movie. For the third film, he was given a larger budget and a longer production schedule. And the final result is not only the best of the three Gamera films, but, in my honest opinion, one of the two or three greatest monster movies ever made.

In the third installment of the trilogy, the Gyaos—the ferocious bat-like monsters that Gamera fought before—have resurfaced in vast numbers. And as Gamera combats both the Gyaos and evades the military, a young girl (Ai Maeda) who lost her parents four years prior when Gamera crushed their home in Tokyo, stumbles upon an infant monster whom she names Iris and begins to bond with, hoping one day that the little creature will become strong enough to exact her revenge on Gamera.

"Gamera: Revenge of Iris" contains everything that you could ever want in a movie. It has great characters, a strong plot, a solid story, breath-taking special effects, and a powerful foreboding sense of disaster. Quite uncommon for any monster movie, let alone a Japanese one, the tone of this movie is mysterious and cynical and dark, as it is essentially about mankind pushing itself to its own extinction through its vanity and lack of concern about the environment, which is what stirred the Gyaos and Iris. Compare this movie to the first entry of the trilogy and the tone is vastly different. Of better still, compare this film to the Gamera movies of the 60s and 70s…and there is no resemblance.

The film is famous amongst kaiju (Japanese monster movie) fans for the quality of the visual effects and yes, they are spectacular, just a step below what Industrial Light and Magic produces. The monsters are usually portrayed using the traditional suitmation process, but there also some full or partial computer-generate shots and the composition of these two elements in seamless. The pyrotechnics are outstanding, but a terrific effect is Gamera's eyes, which are able to display the illusion of intelligence and emotion quite effectively. And that is the real strength behind the visual effects. Unlike a great many Hollywood productions, they are used with imagination and artistic tactics as opposed to just being thrown senselessly and without purpose at the audience over and over again. The effects are used to stagger the imagination, but also to give the monsters personality. Gamera is darker in nature in this film that he has ever been, as he is seen oftentimes crushing and burning people to death while fighting other giant creatures. But what's greater is the personality of the antagonist monster, Iris, who starts out looking cute and sympathetic, but develops into one of the most evil and fearsome cinema villains I've seen in a long time.

Next to the effects being used imaginatively, their greatest strength is the fact is that they are used appropriately, where special effects should always be—a strength to the story. And the story in "Gamera: Revenge of Iris" is nothing short of fantastic. It's a fresh, original plot, one we are very unfamiliar with especially in a movie of this genre. And the characters—the human characters—are three-dimensional and developed into human beings as opposed to just filling up time and simply explaining the plot to the audience. The movie brings together cast members from the previous two movies and introduces new ones and, with a few exceptions, are all very well-played and developed. I admit I was not all that fascinated by the presence of the characters played by Tooru Teduka and Senzi Yamazaki. But that's okay, since there was lots of presence and personality coming from Ayako Fujitani, Shinobu Nayakam, Yukijiro Hotaru, Yuu Koyama, and especially from Ai Maeda as the girl with a hatred for Gamera. Notice how again Kaneko emphasizes the presence of women in his monster movies when they are typically reserved for love interests and screaming their lungs out at the sight the monsters. By contrast, the men are rather squeamish and weak and fearful, best personified by Yukijiro Hotaru who once again returns as the nervous and pessimistic Inspector Osako.

In regards to the music score, Ko Otani has outdone himself. His previous two scores were nothing short of terrific, but this time he has composed a soundtrack so versatile and ear-warming that there's not a single weak cue to be found. Everything, from the mysterious motif of the opening, to Gamera's upgraded theme, to the bombastic notes of the ending is a fabulous contribution to this fabulous film.

All three entries of Shusuke Kaneko's Gamera trilogy achieved my highest rating and they are all worth it because they not only updated the image of a monster that was once in Godzilla's shadow, but brought an artistic look to themselves and replenished the fascination for this rather unique and overlooked genre. And the very best of them all is "Gamera: Revenge of Iris", which is a thoroughly enthralling and welcomed cinematic experience from start to finish. Not because it has the most elaborate effects—that's a service—but because it encompasses it all and surpasses its eye candy content with a sound and fresh story. Out of all the monster movies this amateur critic has seen—and that's probably more than a hundred—this is one of the best.