****^1/2 Gamera is Back to Once Again Save the Earth

The third of the Heisei trilogy of Gamera movies, and one that many people believe to be the best Kaiju movie ever made. I disagree, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a great movie. With a complex plot and terrific special effects, one can find a lot of enjoyment watching Gamera once again ready to put his body on the line to save humanity, in this case from the rather nifty kaiju known as Iris.

A mysterious influx of Gyaos starts up around the world, and Gamera of course comes back to blast them out of the sky. The unfortunate part is that he does this over a major city, and ends up doing more damage than the Gyoas did. Public opinion shifts away from his favor. Meanwhile, a certain school-age girl (who’s parents where accidentally killed by Gamera back in the first movie) finds a cute little squid creature in a cave. Now because the “guardian” of the cave doesn’t do his job (he apparently likes her), the creature feeds off of the hatred for Gamera and grows really big. Military efforts fail to stop the creature, nicknamed after the girl’s cat “Iris”, and it makes it’s way towards the girl in order to “bond” with her and gain ultimate power or something. Gamera of course tries to stop it, but as he is doing an aerial battle the military blasts Gamera out of the sky (they still can’t seem to figure out that Gamera is the “good guy”). As Iris and Gamera fight on the ground, Iris manages to injure Gamera greatly with a jab through the gut (all the way through), knocks him down, and proceeds to “merge” with the girl. Due to the rather screwy trajectory of a mystical knife or sorts, it cuts her face, wakes her up, and she changes her mind. This is of course to late because Iris picked her up and stuck her in it’s chest. Gamera, heading her cries for help, pulls her on out. Iris of course is not happy so pins Gamera to a wall through his hand and readys to shoot an energy blast at him. Blowing off his own arm to free himself, Gamera absorbs the energy through his “stump”, develops a “burning hand” of sorts, and proceeds to blow up Iris with it. Having saved the main characters for the moment, Gamera walks forward through the burning city, ready to fight again against a massive swarm of Gyoas heading strait for him. The end.

Now despite me paying well attention to the movie and doing a bit of research on it, I’m still bleeping confused on what the heck is going on. The way I figure it, if I’m confused about the plot then there is something wrong, because that rarely happens to me. Just what is Iris anyways? Why does he have those pendant connections like Gamera? What’s with all those dead Gameras at the bottom of the ocean? Why would Gamera “sever his connection with humanity”? Who were those two crazy people anyways, and what was their goal? Why is Gamera suddenly such a bad aim? Why does he use excessive force against the Gyoas? Just who is “eating up” the manna: Gamera or humanity? How come nobody does anything about the Gyaos or Iris and instead are bent on killing the monster that saved you, twice? Why must they talk in prophecies and riddles instead of just telling us what the heck is going on? Well I’m glad I got that out, but despite the screwyness of the plot it’s a pretty good movie. A lot of drama, human emotion, variety in scenes, epic struggles, and yes even a bit of character development for once. It is perhaps a little slow paced and a few downright weird and trippy scenes are thrown in, but for the most part it keeps you entertained throughout. Actually it has one of the deeper plots for a daikaiju movie, most of the time the human junk is just filler, but this time around the plot is a story in and of itself. Even so, most people watch these things for the kaiju junk, and they by no means fail in that part.

What this movie does very well is the connection between the human perspective and the monsters. Most of the time the two are separate things, but this time it feels as if you are a part of the crowd observing the destruction around you. The camera angles are done very well, with very few in a place that a person wouldn’t be able to stand. This is greatly combined with the realism of the effects. The model work is spectacular, and the touch-ups with the CGI make it look even better. They break and shatter like real buildings, and when the monster crash through them, the debris falls realistically and gives you a realistic sense of scale. This kaiju are big, and for once you can believe that they really are huge creatures battling it out in a large city. This is especially evident in the final battle between Gamera and Iris in the train station, which has some of the most realistic effects I’ve seen. Gamera fighting the Gyoas was great too, with the excessively large explosions, plenty of punishment to man and man-made objects, and some neat effects like the building crashing down from the perspective of looking at it’s reflection from another building. Now despite the gloriously terrific special effects, some of them don’t look as good, especially when the whole thing is computer generated. Of particular note is the aerial fight between Gamera and Iris, which looked rather cool and was very entertaining, but it also looked fake. Still, overall the effects are good, and they did a great job with the kaiju design as well. Gamera is looking meaner than ever with his sleek sharp look, a far cry from the rubbery looking Gamera of old. Iris is a pretty nifty kaiju as well, and although they perhaps went a little overboard with the glowing lights, he is still a wonder to behold (especially when flying). The Gyoas look better too. Overall I think they did an amazingly terrific job with the visual effects.

Basically this movie has the best visuals of any of the trilogy. The sound and music of the previous two were good, but this one I think has the best. The only fault is the plot, which despite being good in many ways, it still had it’s issues. It tends to not make any sense, and although there is a definitive darker tone to the movie, it had it’s share of goofy moments. For these reasons I give the award for best Gamera movie to “Gamera: Attack of Legion”, but I will say that this is a terrific movie as well.

Entertaining plot

Complex and entertaining plot with variety

Beyond terrific special effects

Wonderful music to add to the atmosphere

A great feeling of realism, with spectacularly beautiful scenes

Great kaiju designs, and a terrific battle between them

Downright confusing plot filled with holes and unexplained bits

A number of weird, out-of-place scenes

Annoying, open-ended finale for the movie

Certain effects that were below par for the movie

Thing I learned from this movie: playing Sim-Earth on your Dreamcast allows you to predict manna patterns

Credits