Gamera--A Super Monster For the Nineties--Page 3

Gamera 3: Revenge of Irys

With two fantastic movies completed we were very pleased to hear that a third movie was in the works. As news started trickling out of Japan we heard the Gamera was going to be darker hero this time around. His appearance was definitely darker, larger claws, a more menacing head, and a spiked shell. We also heard news of the return of the Gyaos and a new Kaiju named ‘Irys’. The most impressive news was the fact that extensive CGI was going to be used in almost every effect shot. They weren’t going to replace the suit-mation but instead enhance the overall effects. Yet just before it’s Japanese release rumors were flying that the scripts for the effects and the live actors didn’t match and there were other behind-the-screen problems. We could only wait and see.

The word on the street from Japan after the initial release was very good. But when it hit the Toronto International Film Festival I knew I had to see it on the big screen. It was showing as the last Midnight Madness movie of the festival--in fact it was the last movie of the whole festival. I and goshou hopped into my van and made the 4 hour treck into Toronto that Saturday around noon. After screwing around it Toronto for hours, the time finally came. The theater was filled and I was actually a little worried that some people were planning on trying to ‘become the entertainment’ by yelling funny lines and heckling like a big screen amateur version of ‘MST3K’. In fact it was almost fully expected and almost ordained. And yet, about ten/twenty minutes into the movie the audience had grown silent. This was a giant monster movie that was not playing around.

The movie was absolutely amazing, stunning, remarkable, marvelous, spectacular, sensational, breath taking, unbelievable, fantastic; I could go on but I think you get the point. The story featured the return of the Gyaos; it seems that the environment was ripe for the hatching season again--mainly due to the fact that Gamera had drawn too much power from the Earth to defeat Legion. This time, Gyaos were appearing all over the world. At the same time a young girl who hates Gamera (because in his fight against Gyaos in Tokyo killed her parents and cat), discovers an egg that hatches into a new kaiju she names Irys after her old cat. As Irys grows it absorbs her hatred for Gamera and all the other people who have ‘ruined’ her life; eventually it absorbs her as well. Gamera is out hunting down the Gyaos but it’s not a pretty site as Gamera has grown distant from humanity in 4 years; in one encounter he manages to kill three Gyaos but leave a city in flames and causing over 10,000 causalities. And Irys continues to grow, eating people until it has grown large enough--and takes off for ‘Revenge’ against Gamera. Gamera and Irys meet in a climatic showdown in Kobe as a hurricane rages above. In the end Gamera was able to defeat Irys but he was seriously wounded; and as the movie begins to close there are thousands (that right thousands!) of Gyaos descended on their hated adversary. (ED: When the movie ends, you are left with the final words on the screen burned into your retinas “Gamera: The Absolute Guardian of the Universe”. Indeed!)

The special effects in this movie were completely revolutionary. It wasn’t that it was new or never tried effects, it was do to the effects being done so well and fitting excellently into the movie. The director wanted to show the true effect of daikaiju having a battle in a metropolitan area, including the massive causalities these fights would cause. The first battle with the three Gyaos was spectacularly done; Gamera’s mere landing killed many poor individuals that happened to be near his descent. Many people were caught and killed by the backwash of Gamera’s fireballs. Even an entire street went up in flames causing people and cars to be tossed into the air. The CGI effects elevated each effect scene to new level of detail and realism and in effect enhanced the story and plot.

The movie was much darker than previous entries. Gamera might have been protecting the planet from Gyaos but in someways he killed just as many people his opponents did. In the end of the movie Gamera and Irys fought while a hurricane raged above. This was an interesting comparison, the daikaiju in this movie were like a hurricane, earthquake, or other natural disaster, the destruction and death left behind is immense. Gamera might have been a guardian, but he was the guardian of the Earth not humanity. So in his fights with Gyaos any humans caught in the middle were in trouble. This made his presence much darker than before. You could see how someone could harbor a hatred for Gamera.

But Gamera was far from being evil or uncaring; in an interesting scene Gamera apparently reaches his hand out and saves a child from rays of death (ED: or did he?!?!). As Gamera flies away and the kid is telling his mom that “Gamera saved me!” we see an entire city in flames and the a news cast speaking of the thousands of causalities in the city. This is an interesting contrast brought up in the script. The girl who raises Irys blames Gamera for the death of her parents. That hatred is transferred to Irys and before Irys final growth he absorbs her. During the fight with Gamera she realizes that Irys killed as well and is no different than Gamera, she realizes she has been absorbed by her own hate, literally. She cries out for help, for someone, anyone to help her. But it’s to late, or so we think, then a giant hand reaches out and grabs her. I turns out to be Gamera rescuing her from inside Irys. While the scene was totally unacceptable from my point of view (she had made her bed and now had to lie in it) it still made good sense; Gamera was willing to give her a second chance, something she was willing to do for Gamera after coming to terms.

Again, like in the previous films, the kaiju all fit logically into the scheme of the movie. Irys seems to share traits of both Gamera and the Gyaos, it is possible that Irys was an aborted guardian by the Atlantians. Which leaves the door open for other possible genetically engineered kaiju hidden around the world. The Gyaos were hatching all over the world this time not just Japan, which makes the their threat that much more terrifying. Also in the beginning of the movie a Gamera ‘graveyard’ under the ocean was discovered which opens many questions: Were these failed Gamera prototypes? Did other Gamera’s awaken and die in the past? Could other Gamera’s rise up to take the current ones place?

G3 was the last Gamera in the trilogy and although the possibility was left open for sequels at this time only rumors of Daiei planning a Gamera 4. If they do make another movie I hope they allow the current writers, directors, and effect crews work on the project.

-Dave Z