After managing to redefine the Giant Monster genre twice with his first two Gamera movies, director Shusuke Kaneko was put in a fairly unique situation when it came to making his final trilogy installment. His last entry came at the same time as Toho's Godzilla Vs. Destroyah, which was, at the time, planned to be the last Japanese Godzilla, meaning Gamera was Japan's only Daikaiju(that's giant monster to the non-geeks) due for the screen, but also the fact that Toho licensed the name out to Sony, leading to 1998's American made debacle, Godzilla. The first two Gamera movies had been a success, but this was the opportunity to finally take the character away from the 'friend of all children' goofy movies made in the 60s and 70s, and set in stone that the character, and Kaneko's interpretation of it, would be taken seriously.

I have fond memories of the time leading up to Gamera 3's release. I just discovered G-Fan magazine, which is basically a magazine about Godzilla and such movies, and all the hype was for Gamera 3. It looked awesome, it was using CGI and had a cast that seemed to include more gorgeous women than the entire Godzilla series put together. I didn't actually get around to seeing it until 2004 when ADV brought it out on DVD in the USA(irony being they later brought it out in the UK), where it had been subtitled Revenge of Iris, which I thought was a bit odd, because in all the magazine articles I had read, the movie was referred to as Awakening of Iris or The Incomplete Struggle, which I guess ADV decided didn't sound 'cool' enough for Western audiences.(the same thing happened with the second movie, which went from The Advent to The Attack of Legion)

It should be noted that at various points in my review, I may refer to things from the first two movies in the trilogy, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and Gamera 2: The Advent of Legion, so it's probably recommended you read those first.
The movie opens following the lovely ornithologist Dr.Nagamine(Shinobu Nakayama - Gamera: Guardian of the Universe) at the Equator, where the body of a mutated form of the Gyaos, the flying monsters from the first movie, has been found. They were all believed to be dead, but Nagamine has been working on tracking them down accross the world, where sightings are becoming dangerously frequent.
Meanwhile, off the coast of Japan, a deep-sea research team discovers what can only be described as a 'Gamera Graveyard', where numerous remains of creatures that resemble Gamera are laying. It's also at this point that upon examination of the Gamera Jewels found upon him in the first movie, that it is realised that they are all broken and crumbling away, like what happened to Asagi's in the second picture.

Also taking place at this point in a rural Southern village, a girl named Ayana(Ai Maeda - Battle Royale) lives with her Aunt and Uncle, due to her parents being killed in the Gamera vs. Gyaos struggle in Tokyo in 1995. She has grown to resent Gamera, blaming him solely for their deaths, and she stumbles upon an egg of what is locally believed to be a demon in a hidden shrine, her hatred awakens the creature within, which hatches and forms an instant bond with her, as she believes it is a natural enemy of Gamera due to another local legend, and that the pair can help each other exact revenge on him.

Back in the Tokyo, Dr.Nagamine is called to a meeting of Government types to try and sort out exactly what is happening in Japan, and why it seems to be the source of all giant monster attacks. At this meeting is a woman named Asakura, who is described as 'the Government's pet fortune teller', who, along with her sidekick are determined to bring around the end of the world to fulfill some prophecy, and are looking for the means to do it in the Gyaos. Of course, nobody at the government knows this, but their meeting is interrupted as two large Gyaos attack the city and Gamera shows up to destroy them. However, Gamera seems to have lost some of his link to humanity, now looks a lot more fearsome, and thousands are killed by his stray fireballs bringing down the Gyaos, so he is declared public enemy number one by the Japanese government.

This spurns on Ayana's hatred even more, and she begins to merge physically with the new creature, which she has dubbed Iris, until her would-be boyfriend, whose family are supposed to stop the creature, frees her and takes her to hospital, where she is kidnapped by Asakura, who has her own aims for the girl and the creature, which is now the size of Gamera, and is sucking the life out of the Japanese population, trying to find Ayana to finish the fusion.

To aid her in her quest to stop the Gyaos, Nagamine enlists the aid of two old friends, Asagi Kusanagi(Ayajo Fujitani), the girl who had a connection to Gamera upon his initial appearance, and Osaka(Yukijiro Hotaru). Upon examination of the trail of chaos left by Iris, whom the military to be a Gyaos, Nagamine finds it's egg, which reveals that it is somehow connected to them, a mutation of sorts, and upon learning of the story about Ayana, who is bonded to it by a strange amulet not too dissimilar to the one Asagi used to have that linked her to Gamera, she is keen to meet her and try to help.

However, with the Iris growing, the flocks of Gyaos wrecking the skies and Asakura having taken Ayana to Kyoto, everything appears to be set to come to a head in Kyoto, where everyone, be they monster or human, is headed for the final showdown to determine the fate of the Earth.

Did you get lost there? it wouldn't surprise me really, because, and I'd never thought I would say this about a Kaiju movie and mean it as a compliment, Gamera 3 has a fairly complex story that it is possible to get lost in. When you say that about a giant monster movie, it tends to mean the story is flawed and convuluted, but that isn't really the case here, it's just that there are a lot of elements going on, lots of plots set up in the first movie being finished and lots of explaining done, so keeping track of it all can become tough. However, unlike most films, especially monster movies, the plot of Gamera 3 actually makes you want to follow it, because it's incredibly well done.

Like the two prior entries in the series, the movie places a lot of emphasis on the human participants. Prior to Kaneko's first Gamera picture, it's hard to even come up with memorable characters from Kaiju movies, yet in Gamera 3, almost every character is actually given some depth, and it's possible to actually care about what happens to them. The fact that they managed to retrieve most of the original cast from the first movie helps a lot as well, although I did find the absence of Yonemori a minor niggle, but Asagi, Nagamine and Osako more than compensate. Each character is it's own, with only Nagamine, a scientist, being able to attempt to be pidgeon-holed into any Kaiju eiga stereotype.
As for the new characters, Ayana is clearly the standout, and is handled brilliantly. Despite the fact that her hatred of Gamera could be seen as being to blame for the entire mess with Iris, the movie is too clever to turn her into a villain. She's believable.
If there is on character complaint, it's that nobody introduced in the second picture made the film. I'm maybe being pedantic here, because I don't really see where they would have fit in, but surely Midori and Obitsu could have made an appearance.
But the character element that is possibly the most exceptional is the ones given to the Kaiju themselves. Gamera is, in the beggining, only concered with the slaughter of the Gyaos, in one of the most awe inspiring scenes I've ever seen in a movie, he basically levels Tokyo trying to take them down, the only sign of his prior self being when he stops the sonic blast of a Gyaos that is about to hit a young boy(a nice homage to the old movies). However, as the movie progresses, and Asagi, his link with humanity, becomes more involved, we see more of the old Gamera, who not only saves Ayana, but in an awesome scene, despite being mutilated by his battle with the Iris, gets ready to square off against hordes of Gyaos, his message to the human cast is never to give up.
Iris on the other hand is so much slicker than the usual enemy monster. It draws in Ayana, acting very friendly towards her, basically manipulating her so the pair can combine and she can make it stronger, much as the link to Asagi made Gamera stronger, when the time comes that she disagrees with it's actions, it grabs her to forcibly fuse the two.

One thing that really stood out about the movie was the amount of death in it. Traditionally, despite the fact that hundreds of buildings in cities get levelled, death isn't a recurring feature in kaiju eiga. In this movie, we see the plight of people as the monsters wreak havoc in Tokyo. While the prior two Gamera pictures also dealt with how the monster's battles took their toll on humans, it's never been this graphic, as we see people get trapped under debris as Gamera and Gyaos square off, not to mention the lifeforce drained corpses of Iris' victims.
Many people have stated that the timing of the movie(1999) was crucial to this, and it really does give off a real atmosphere of looming armaggedon.

Another thing the movie pulls out that isn't usually even looked for in giant monster movies is a good explanation for something. It would be easy to ponder why Gamera doesn't just pull out the super finisher he landed on Legion right away on the Iris, but the film actually goes a way into explaining why he cannot, and also why his attitude is different at the start of the movie, and with the same plot element explain why Japan is at the center of all the monster carnage.

Despite the fact it actually has an excellent plot, Gamera 3 doesn't rest on this, and provides the viewer with some of the most extreme and magnificent action sequences put to film. Ever. I already mentioned Gamera's duel with the Gyaos in Tokyo and his squaring off against the flock of them, but his confrontation with Iris in skybound dogfight is quite possibly one of the greatest duels in cinema history, topped only by his means of killing it at the climax of the picture.
While the movie does actually have comparatively little kaiju action compared to the 90s Godzilla movies, the fact is that Kaneko has went for quality over quantity, and pulled it off in the most extreme fashion.

While I've often stated my distaste for criticising the acting of dubbed actors, the fact is, the cast of Gamera 3 has class, and it oozes through dubbing. Maeda is actually wonderful as Ayana, part of the reason she is such a believable character is her portrayal of her. Her eyes do such a wonderful job of conveying emotion that no amount of bad dubbing could undo. Nakayama is still gorgeous(and plays a Sega Dreamcast: fanboy dream), and she still carries a wonderful sense of reality with her character, who never really knows what is going on, but has to come to conclusions while giant monsters are stomping around her. The final of the 3 female leads, Fujitani, defies belief. One has to wonder how a girl who can act well, and is gorgeous, managed to spawn from Steven Seagal. She's clearly her mother's daughter.

The score, which brings back the masterful theme of Gamera, is still by Ko Otani, and it somehow manages to be even more powerful than the previous two movies music. His score is excellent, it fits the movie in a way that I don't believe could be topped, the score for the scenes of baby Iris with Ayana, which is rather playful, yet menacing, is superb. Gamera's theme, when played as he stands defiant in burning Kyoto, is awesome.

But easily the aspect of the movie that I really enjoy, even if it isn't the best, is the special effects. Long has the Kaiju eiga been the butt of so many rubber monster suit and cardboard city jokes, and while some of Gamera 3's effects arent perfect(I'm not keen on the Iris tentacles when it was portrayed by suitmation, I felt they should be slimy), on the whole, it looks amazing. As I said, Gamera now looks meaner, his 'shell' is now more spiny armour plating than shell, his teetch jut out menacingly and his eyes are fierce. He looks big, angry, and hard as nails. Iris is incredibly unique, with no eyes, only a glowing orb in the center of it's head, and no real legs, just two spiky protrusions and lots of tentacles, Iris is truly one of the most applaudable kaiju designs ever.
But what makes them oh so much better is that they have been realised so brilliantly. Be it via impeccable rubber suits, for the claw to tentacle scrapping, or well done CGI for the mid air action, Gamera 3 blows every other Kaiju eiga out of the water. Even those made after it.
The absolutely spectacular miniature of Kyoto station almost earned the movie a star on it's own, and quite probably laughs at the Lord of the Rings 'bigatures'. The flight of a 'big rubber turtle' quite positively mocks the cumbersome flight of the people in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Even the Gyaos, which looked pretty bad in the first movie, now look sleek and evil, rendered wonderfully in CGI. Gamera 3 looks great.

I find it really hard to fault Gamera 3. Sure it has it's minor issues, but the simple fact that a director was willing to take a much mocked genre like that of the Kaiju eiga, and over three movies completely transform it into a trilogy worthy of sitting next to the likes of Star Wars and Indiana Jones on my shelf is testament enough to not only Kaneko's movie, but his trilogy in general. I suppose that is the one downside to Gamera 3, to really take it in, you have to first watch the first two movies, which, while excellent movies, don't have anywhere near the same dark and adult nature of this entry.

While I know that a lot of people will probably think I'm on something, because no Japanese monster movie could be this good, such people really don't deserve to watch good movies, and should go back to pretending to like whatever Empire magazine tells them to. Gamera 3 is the movie Roland Emmerich's Godzilla wakes up in a sweat at night wishing it was. It's a mature, interesting and bloody well made giant monster movie featuring a gorgeous and talented cast and featuring excellent special effects. I absolutely loved the first two Gamera pictures from Kaneko and his team, and the fact is that in comparison to this, they pale. I would recommend Gamera 3 to anyone. If you are a fan of the Kaiju genre, it's a must see, but even if you don't, I would encourage you to take in the entire trilogy, and if by the end of Gamera 3 you aren't at least slightly converted, I doubt you ever will be.
It's often said that even when a Kaiju movie is a very good kaiju movie, it usually doesn't make it a very good movie. This proves that it doesn't always have to be like that.

There really is no score that does this movie justice other than full marks. I doubt I will ever tire of it, and it's only the fact that people are close minded about the genre that has stopped it from gaining the recognition it deserves.

Year: 1999
Titles: Gamera 3: Iris Kakusei
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris
Gamera 3: The Awakening of Iris
Gamera 3: The Incomplete Struggle

Other Gamera Related Reviews
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Gamera 2: The Advent of Legion
Gammera the Invincible
War of the Monsters

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older