Talkback: Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)

[KJ Corp]

I need to see this in the original Japanese dub. I've only seen it in English and don't think it deserves the praise it gets. The battles were o.k. and the story was pretty good but I still find it overrated as fuck...

[Kaiser]

I;m just going to add my voice to the chorus and say that I find it to be overrated as well. I greatly prefer both the first and second films to this one. The battles in Shinjuku and Kyoto are amazing but I've never found the Irys plot all that interesting and the movie takes a while to get going. I've never been a fan of the ambiguous ending either; I understand what they were trying to accomplish thematically, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

[Tohosaurus]

Out of curiosity, I've noticed the main site lists the budget for Iris at $7M with earnings of $5.5M, which would categorize this as quite a flop. However, there's a Variety article from back in 1999 that claims an earning of $15M, which would really be quite decent, Heisei Godzilla-level earnings. Anyone know?

http://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/ga ... 200457978/

[gzilla46]

Is Iris a boy or a girl? Just of curiosity? I see some sights say it's a she, yet some people call it a him. Which is it?

[Tohosaurus]

Is Iris a boy or a girl? Just of curiosity? I see some sights say it's a she, yet some people call it a him. Which is it?

Got a whole thread on that!

http://tohokingdom.com/forum/viewtopic. ... hilit=iris

[MiddleFin]

I love this movie for everything it is.One of the best kaiju films ever imo.

[Mechagigan]

Other than some pointless side-plots and odd characterizations, one of the only problems I had with this film was Iris itself. Whereas the previous two Heisei Gamera antagonists looked natural and lifelike, Iris looked very plastic and far too Japanese, for lack of better terms. The animal-esque tentacles, head, and muscles paired with the metallic chest, upright posture, and numerous neon lights made it look like a confused (design-wise) character, and seeing it's baby form, this version of it makes very little sense (even for Gamera!).

[MiddleFin]

Other than some pointless side-plots and odd characterizations, one of the only problems I had with this film was Iris itself. Whereas the previous two Heisei Gamera antagonists looked natural and lifelike, Iris looked very plastic and far too Japanese, for lack of better terms. The animal-esque tentacles, head, and muscles paired with the metallic chest, upright posture, and numerous neon lights made it look like a confused (design-wise) character, and seeing it's baby form, this version of it makes very little sense (even for Gamera!).

I too agree to a point and see what you are saying and I thought he was a little to "anime" for my taste at first but he/she has grown on me over the years. Also Iris kind of does fit the Gamera style IMO. Pretty much all of Gamera's foes from Barugon up are very odd looking and different. More odd than most of Godzilla's foes IMO if that seems normal. Nowhere as odd and spacey as ultramans though.

[ILL GREEN]

I thought Iris design was cool but she was like a big stiff just standing there as her tentacles were the only moving parts. And I'm glad Gamera demolished her like he did.

[Mechagigan]

Other than some pointless side-plots and odd characterizations, one of the only problems I had with this film was Iris itself. Whereas the previous two Heisei Gamera antagonists looked natural and lifelike, Iris looked very plastic and far too Japanese, for lack of better terms. The animal-esque tentacles, head, and muscles paired with the metallic chest, upright posture, and numerous neon lights made it look like a confused (design-wise) character, and seeing it's baby form, this version of it makes very little sense (even for Gamera!).

I too agree to a point and see what you are saying and I thought he was a little to "anime" for my taste at first but he/she has grown on me over the years. Also Iris kind of does fit the Gamera style IMO. Pretty much all of Gamera's foes from Barugon up are very odd looking and different. More odd than most of Godzilla's foes IMO if that seems normal. Nowhere as odd and spacey as ultramans though.

You know, that's exactly right; with that in mind, I suppose I should say that Iris seemed more like a loosely Showa style Gamera monster than a modern Heisei Gamera monster, which caused it to seem like a sore thumb to me.

[GojiraXDAN]

I consider Gamera 3 on par with the original Godzilla it's just that good. And The Gamera trilogy in general is just one of the finest works of all Kaiju films. Heck these 3 films mop the floor with the 90's Godzilla films on pretty much every level. I even find the English Dubbing to be great. but yes a fantastic end to the trilogy for sure, even though i would have liked to seen Gamera go up against all those Gyaos and perhaps go down fighting them.

[JAGzilla]

I just got done with this one for the first time. Eh... I don't know, I wasn't impressed. It was my least favorite of the trilogy. Aside from Ayana, most of the characters felt kind of pointless. Irys himself was underwhelming, too. The first half or so of the movie did a good job with buildup, but Irys ultimately didn't end up feeling like much of a threat. I'd have liked to see him do more actual fighting in the final battle.

On the plus side, the battle in Tokyo was amazing. How often do we get to see kaiju fighting in the middle of a city that's actually packed with civilians? It did a very good job of making Gamera feel like a solution that's worse than the problem he's trying to solve.

[three]

what a movie. i checked it out yesterday and it was not half bad at all. solidifies my love of Gyaos that they will always evolve to fight and win.

some of the dubbed accents killed me, though. we'll list the bad first: that scene where the "Gamera graveyard" is found in particular was really, really bad. the voices were all kinds of weird.
next was the tendency of the movie to kinda...drag. you spend a good deal of time with no action and people who are totally clueless but who SHOULD have an idea of what's going on. the whole "she's your girlfriend" angle between the kids didn't get interesting until the end. the little boy ended up irrelevant as well, despite the fact that it seemed like (at least for a good portion of the movie) he would be relevant somehow to the plot.

now the good: Irys' design was pretty awesome. the connection to the girl was also really cool, especially as a counter to Gamera's ability to connect to a human and feed off of the bond. loved that bit that an enemy can do it, too and become powerful.

the city destruction scenes rival some of the best i've seen in any kaiju movie. Gamera/Gyaos/Irys really tore it up.

not one of the mains in this movie were dull, boring, or bad. the characters were rounded and developed: one of the few times i felt that way about all of them.

the return of the Gyaos scientist lady is always a plus in my book ^_^

Gamera went full blown badass at the end of the movie, too. catching fire on a stubble? yea, he kicked all kinds of ass there. overall, NOT a better movie than guardian of the universe, but what a way to round out the trilogy. now to find me a good showing of Gamera 2.

[Kaiser]

Saw this film for the first time in a while this weekend. I'd have to say, it's my least favorite entry in the Heisei Gamera Trilogy. While the presentation and sfx. are phenomenal, I'd have to say I found it lacking in the story department. The first half does a great job at building suspense and setting things up for Irys to battle Gamera, but then the movie just sort of loses it's way after Ayana is taken to Kyoto. Lots of things are never fully explained and while Asakura and Kurata are interesting and memorable characters, they don't contribute much of anything to the plot and their motivations are never really explained. There's a lot of mysticism and backstory that I felt wasn't elaborated upon enough to make it confusing just why things where happening. What exactly was Asakura doing with Ayana? Where'd all the Gyaos come from? What was Kurata's significance and why does he make his games? Why does Gamera disregard human lives in Shibuya but go out of his way to save Ayana? And, yes, I still don't like the ending. It feels like such a tease.

I still much prefer Guardian of the Universe and Attack of Legion for being complete, cohesive and satisfying films. That's not to say this is a bad film, it's still one of the best kaiju films ever made, but I find it incredibly overrated.

[EmperorGhidorah]

I wish we got a gamera 4 in which gamera exploded and his essence reanimated that graveyard of gameras. These gameras fight the gyaos and they have even more endurance because they're basically zombies. It would be like 300 with the gameras fighting like the Spartans and the gyaos like the Persians.

[daveblackeye15]

I kind of wish there was just slightly more action and Gamera in the movie. The movie clearly has more substance but I do wish it had a little more action like the first two movies. Especially since Gamera has an amazingly evil design and we should have seen it more.

But I do love that it kind of deconstructs a bunch of things about Gamera. He can't shoot fire balls willy nilly, that takes mana away from the Earth, and the mana beam is now letting more Gyaos be born. Damned if he does or does not.

[mschenk]

One of my favorite kaiju movies. I love that it's a REAL trilogy with the same characters returning for all three films and an overarching story. This trilogy in turn led me to check out GMK, which is my second favorite Godzilla movie after the original.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

The film is a tad overrated and the story is oft times confusing. Still its my 2nd favorite of the trilogy. The Battle of Shibuya may be the most badass action sequence ever put to film (in a kaiju film anyway).

[Godzilla21]

The film is a tad overrated

I wouldn't say so, not anymore at least. Advent of Legion is the one that gets the most praise.

Really? Who says that Legion gets the most praise?

I find Gamera 3 to be overrated too Tyrant Lizard King.

[1tisoygoji]

As much as I love the trilogy, I find the all of the movies overrated.
Are they great kaiju movies? Hell yeah.
Are they THE BEST kaiju movies? No.