Gamera 3: Iris kakusei (1999)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Shusuke Kaneko

Writers:

Kazunori Itô (writer)
Shusuke Kaneko (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

This final installment of the recent Gamera trilogy begins with schoolgirl Ayana discovering a large egg in a cave that...

Plot Keywords:

Gamera | Japan | Revenge | Sequel | Babe Scientist

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Shinobu Nakayama	...	Mayumi Nagamine
Ai Maeda	...	Ayana
Yukijirô Hotaru	...	Inspector Osako
Ayako Fujitani	...	Asagi Kusanagi
Senri Yamazaki	...	Mito Asakura
Tooru Teduka	...	Shin'ya Kurata
Yuu Koyama	...	Tatsunari Moribe
Nozomi Andô	...	Miyuki Moribe
Kei Horie	...	Shigeki Hinohara
Norito Yashima	...	Sakurai
Hirotaro Honda	...	Mr. Saito
Aki Maeda	...	Young Ayana
Hiroyuki Watanabe	...	Regimental Commander
Yukie Nakama	...	Female Camper
Kunihiko Mitamura	...	Ayana's Father

Also Known As:

Gamera 1999: The Absolute Guardian of the Universe (UK) (closing credits title)
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (Canada: English title)
Gamera 3: The Awakening of Iris
Gamera: Revenge of Iris (UK) (DVD title)

Runtime:

Canada:108 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:12

Company:

Daiei Studios

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Spin off from Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

only one word can describe Shusuke Kaneko: BRILLIANT!!!!

Wow, this movie is simply a wonder. Not only is it one of the best kaiju movies ever created, it's even one of the best monster movies ever made. Even better than a lot of the big-budget American productions can put together. I knew that this movie would be great because it had the director of the incredible successful Godzilla movie GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Shusukue Kaneko is just a marvelous director. He's like the Steven Spielberg of Japan, only he deals with low-budget productions and still makes masterpieces out of them. And when he took the job as director for the Gamera trilogy, Daiei (the company that originally made Gamera back in 1965) knew they didn't make a mistake. Like he would eventually do with GMK, Shusuke Kaneko took their limited budget and made a masterpiece of a motion picture out of it. He just made this film incredible and boy has he changed Gamera. Back in 1965, Gamera was pretty lame. All that Gamera was, was another one of those Godzilla want-to-bes. But now Shusuke Kaneko has made that old failure into a legacy. He changed Gamera to differ him from being similar to Godzilla and be his own monster, changed plots, and sure made Gamera a whole lot meaner. But what Shusuke Kaneko can do that a lot of directors can't do (even big-budget American directors) is make the human and monster environments really seem like they're really there. It really looks like the humans are actually in the scene with the monsters. And not to mention that the actors aren't bad either. And he also makes the monsters look like they are actually real creatures and not just men in rubber suits. Aside from Gamera, we have the Gyaos, who are looking even better than ever. And the newest to the Gamera legacy: the great Iris. I have to say that Iris is a pretty unique-looking monster, you don't see a movie featuring something like him everyday. He almost looks more like a god than an animal. Another one of geniuses of Shusuke Kaneko is how he directs the monster battles. They are just so thrilling. Monsters now react when they are struck by their opponent and not just stumble back like they did in some of the Heisei Godzilla films. And they seldolmly fight with their special weapons (beams, fire rays, etc...) Like real creatures would, they use their teeth and claws. And this is a trait that Shusuke Kaneko also used in GMK. And boy, he knows how to make good action. My favorite part is where Gamera defeats Iris. And what's more, he also had a pretty good composer to work with him. When Gamera's landing to continue his battle with Iris, the music just works perfectly. I also like Shusuke Kaneko's trait of using flames to blend the faces of the combatants in and out. Overall Gamera: Revenge of Iris is a masterpiece and definitely not something that any ordinary director can make. Let's hope that we see Shusuke Keneko direct another kaiju film, because he definitely has the talent to do it.