GAMERA 3: REVENGE OF IRIS (1999)
Humongous Heisei Hero In A Half Shell, Turtle Power!
1994. Chicago. An elite athlete finishes lacing up his size 15 Nike Air Maestros, drapes his jersey over his head, and tucks it into the waistband of his shorts. Number 33 chomps down on a fresh stick of Kent chewing gum and chalks up his hands. The locker room's serenity belies the raucous roar of tens of thousands clapping hands and stomping feet as the opening drone of the Fairlight CMI synthesizer preambles the rhythmic strumming of “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project. It’s game time. No intrepid reader, you didn’t click on the wrong link. Neon Splatter is still celebrating The Revenge Of Kaijuly with all pomp, circumstance, and city smashing contained therein! We didn’t go all jock on you, I’m just setting the stage by saying for the kaiju fan that really knows ball, you’ve got to spend some time talking about director Shûsuke Kaneko’s Heisei era Gamera trilogy!
For me this three film arc consisting of GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE, GAMERA 2: ATTACK OF LEGION, and GAMERA 3: REVENGE OF IRIS (we’re not including 2005’s GAMERA THE BRAVE here because, while era appropriate, it’s helmed by a different creative team) has a lot in common with Scottie Pippen’s ‘93-’94 season starting for the Chicago Bulls after Michael Jordan had retired to pursue a career in baseball. Like Pippen we get to see an all-timer operate outside of the shadow of a critical and commercial juggernaut to incredible acclaim and you love to see it! While he didn’t lead the Bulls to the NBA Finals or take home the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, Pippen was named MVP of 1994 All-Star Game and ranked eighth in the league for scoring which is ain’t bad for a small forward. Gamera is the small forward of giant turtles!
This trilogy also garnered a gamut of accolades including GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE winning the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Director, ATTACK OF LEGION winning the Nihon SF Taisho Award (Japanese Nebula Award), and REVENGE OF IRIS being screened at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival all in addition to various artistic and economic exaltations. Granted none of the movies made Monster Of Justice money, they all fared well enough financially with the real strides being made creatively. Aesthetically the series soared with darker art direction driven by Shinji Higuchi who would go on to direct tokusatsu tour deforce SHIN GODZILLA. As an audience we get to see Gamera grow as a leading man (turtle?) and not just second banana to good old Goji but let’s stop discussing this trio of films like they’re a uniform monolith because they’re actually quite thematically different.
Director Shûsuke Kaneko endeavored to redefine what audiences could expect from kaiju films as a subgenre. While their basis lies in science fiction and horror they also meld a myriad of different elements to create a genre unto itself and a uniquely Japanese art form. Through his trio of turtle tokusatsu treatises Kaneko wanted to magnify specific elements associated with kaiju to demonstrate the different storytelling possibilities inherent in the medium. With GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE Kaneko focuses on the sci-fi facet of kaiju films. ATTACK OF LEGION centered on the war and battle elements with a more action-oriented movie. REVENGE OF IRIS finds itself in a much more polarizing position, adopting a more spiritual and supernatural take on the kaiju mythos.
Fundamentally, Kaneko constructed the examination of these three separate elements of kaiju via his trilogy as an elaborate love letter to the eight Shōwa-era Godzilla movies of director Ishirô Honda, even going as far as to labor over scenes wondering how Honda might execute them. Golly, it’s hard not to get sentimental when you’re dealing with a love letter. It’s that very sense of sentimentality that Kaneko imbues into his characters particularly in REVENGE OF IRIS that really puts the focus on the human element in these megasized monster movies.
Kaneko’s conduit for humanity in the final installment of his Gamera trilogy is middle school student Ayana Hirasaka. In the first two films we see Gamera as a defender of Earth but that hasn’t come without collateral damage. Through a nightmare sequence we see Gamera's battle with Super Gyaos in Tokyo during GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE resulted in Ayana’s parents being killed thus orphaning her along with younger brother Satoru. This trauma breeds a deep seeded contempt for our supersize star sea turtle as well as a disaffection for life in general. It is through the lens of Ayana’s pain that Kaneko explores the feeling of powerlessness that fosters a thirst for vengeance.
When Ayana stumbles onto a mysterious egg in a schoolyard initiation prank gone awry, she is inexplicably drawn to it. The egg hatches, revealing a mutated Gyaos-like creature which has been established as a dangerous invasive species and the sworn enemy of Gamera. Feeling a strong sense of kinship to the being, Ayana feeds, nurtures, and names it “Iris” after the cat who also died along with her parents in Gamera’s Tokyo confrontation with Super Gyaos. Iris also seems bolstered by Ayana’s simmer rage, growing larger and evolving into a building sized biblical accurate angel looking beast to exact their now mutual revenge on Gamera escalating to a full blown kaiju kerfuffle in Kyoto!
In the final foray, Ayana psychologically and physically fuses with Iris hence finally fathoming the full field of the film’s footing. If Iris kills Gamera, an approaching horde of Hyper Gyaos would be uncontested in becoming the dominant species on the planet. This point is furthered during fisticuffs with Iris. Gamera risks life and limb and saves Ayana from the creature’s psychic clutches elucidating his willingness to sacrifice himself to save humanity. This is done in spite of her actively working against Gamera and powering up his penultimate opponent, a revelation that awakens Ayana to the amaranthine altruism of ancient Atlantis's almighty amphibious abettor. Severing the tie from Ayana to Iris gives Gamera just the edge he needed to defeat the malevolence motivated mutant Gyaos once and for all.
Amidst the burning buildings of the recently beleaguered downtown Kyoto, Gamera steels himself for impending battle with a barrage of Hyper Gyaos, and emits his trumpeting battle cry! Whether you’re a 15-story tall sea turtle putting down demon birds or 6’8” hooper putting up field goals, the important thing in life is to remain consistent and that’s where Kaneko’s Gamera trilogy truly excels. Why don’t you ever give up? Because Gamera never did. WWGD? What Would Gamera Do? Save the goddamn planet.
