Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

TIFF [1999]

Directed by Shuseke Kaneko. Written by Kazunori Ito, Shusuke Kaneko.

Cast: Shinobu Nakayama, Ali Maeda, Ayako Fujitano, Gamera "Guardian Of The Universe", Iris

(Midnight Madness programme).

While all the L. A. types and their wannabes ran off to smoke Cuban cigars at trendy Bistro 990, REAL movie buffs were hooting and jeering until after 2 A.M. as a giant tortoise kicked alien butt. Despite what the press coverage said, THIS was the true closing film of the Festival.

THE STORY:

Young Ayana is still pretty steamed at the flame-breathed, jet-powered, giant turtle Gamera ever since the cataclysmic battle four years earlier between "The Guardian Of The Universe" and the winged Gyaos; a catastrophe that killed her parents. Entering a cave on a dare, she discovers a strange egg, and an even stranger tentacled creature inside. She christens it "Iris", and intends to raise it to defeat Gamera.

Meanwhile, the Gyaos are being sighted with distressing regularity across Japan. Gamera comes out of his shell (rimshot!) to do battle with one in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, where the city is, predictably, razed. Public opinion turns on Gamera for the destruction.

As Iris grows, it needs to fuse with a human counterpart to complete its metamorphosis. Soon, it will become an even greater threat to mankind, and the shamed Gamera, than the hordes of Gyaos. Tourists, stay out of the Kyoto train station and beware of falling debris!

ROBERT L 'S REVIEW

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I've got a confession to make, and please, don't flame me. While I've been a card-carrying horror/s.f. film geek my entire life, I've never been a huge fan of the "kaiju eiga" genre (that's "Japanese monster movie" to the uninitiated). I mean, some of them, like the original Gojira/Godzilla are well done and tons of chaotic fun, but after nearly 4 steady decades of men in rubber reptile outfits stepping on balsa-wood buildings, the appeal certainly starts to wear off.

If you're on my side on this subject, Gamera 3 will do little to change your mind. Essentially a remake of Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe, and Gamera 2: Assault Of The Legion (themselves remakes of the original 1965 Gamera: The Invincible!), The Revenge Of Iris knows what its audience wants and delivers it with a lot of noise, panache, and even some DELIBERATE humour.

Of course, one is expected to leave logic at the door when braving this genre, but with the introduction of the "Monster Damage Control" unit into the Gamera universe (Why do monsters keep attacking Japan?", frets a senior member) , I'd hoped fans would at last be given an explanation as to how, exactly, Tokyo comes to be rebuilt time and time again after each annual monster attack. Who pays for it? Why do they bother? Isn't monster behavior easy to predict by now, so why not rethink the architecture to allow for full-throttle reptile assault? No such luck--but mercifully, "Gamera 3" moves quickly from one epic bout to the next.

Over the decades, the production design and FX techniques have become much more sophisticated than those in past Toho productions, but as usual, the buildings and miniatures are meticulous and very convincing, but the monsters look as rubbery as ever and fake as hell. Maybe that's part of the appeal, I dunno.

"Gamera 3" is not the best Japanese monster movie I've ever seen (my vote goes to the delirious Destroy All Monsters), but it's a lot more fun than the American Godzilla remake. No matter how nonsensical the events and visuals onscreen, the viewer does get the sense that those involved with the production were really enthusiastic about the whole enterprise. As long as audiences around the world share that enthusiasm (and the packed Midnight Madness house at Toronto's Uptown Theatre sure did), these films will endure.

Remember, the original 1965 "Gamera" spawned NINE sequels...

RobertL

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