Movies - Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys

	Movies - Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys

Gamera 3: Awakening of Iris (Aka: Revenge of Iris or Incomplete Struggle) (ガメラ3 邪神覚醒) is a 1999 daikaiju eiga the last (and often said to be the best) of the Heisei Gamera Trilogy. It was directed by Shusuke Kaneko, the original musical score was by Kow Otani, with special effects by Shinji Higuchi.

Synopsis

Three years have passed since the Legion insect invasion, and the world is once again plagued by Gyaos attacks. The bat-like monsters, thought to have been wiped out by Gamera, are now reappearing in increasing numbers. Gamera himself has also made his presence known, attacking the flying beasts wherever they manifest across the globe. Mayumi Nagamine, noted ornithologist, returns to aid the Japanese government in addressing this threat.

Tragedy strikes, however, as the monsters take their conflict to the populated Shibuya district of Tokyo. A pair of Gyaos glide across the city skyline, relentlessly pursued by Gamera. The enraged turtle manages to clip one of the creatures with a fireball, sending its flaming body into a collision with a crowded subway. Gamera bursts into the station in order to finish off his foe, incincerating the dying Gyaos along with several city blocks. The great turtle then pursues the second Gyaos, recklessly spewing fire and killing hundreds of people before striking his intended target and disappearing into the night. Over 20,000 human lives are lost in the battle, and the Japanese government orders Gamera's immediate destruction.

Meanwhile, a young girl named Ayana copes with the loss of her parents, casualties of Gamera's endless war against the Gyaos. A maelstrom of hatred and despair, Ayana finds friendship in the oddest of places: a stone egg sealed within her village temple. The egg hatches into a bizarre but affectionate creature, whom the girl names "Iris" after her lost cat. The young Iris becomes the focus of Ayana's quest for revenge, as she seeks to raise her own monster and take vengeance against Gamera.

Revenge comes at a price, however, as Iris attempts to absorb Ayana in the process of its growth. The girl's suitor manages to free her from the creature's cacoon, but Iris' taste for humanity is far from quenched. It escapes and consumes the entire populace of the village, draining the bodies of all fluids with its tendrils. Iris then expands to a height greater than Gamera's, and becomes a spike-covered mockery of its infant form.

Forming a shadowy membrane between its tentacles, Iris glides toward the city of Kyoto, but is intercepted in mid-flight by Gamera. The monsters engage in a high-speed battle in the night sky, the giant turtle using his saucer-like locomotion to batter Iris. The Japanese army intervenes, however, knocking Gamera out of the sky with a tactical missile strike. Iris then proceeds unimpeded to Kyoto, where Ayana has been taken by Miss Nagamine and Asagi, the girl once psychically linked with Gamera. A pair of doom-sayers also arrive, believing Iris to be a benevolent creature and Gamera a demon.

Ayana lends her will to Iris, as Gamera dives on Kyoto in a hail of fire. Iris easily bats away the fireballs with its spear-headed tentacles, and the city erupts in flame. The two monsters engage in melee, but Iris easily gains the upper hand, impaling its foe and leaving Gamera for dead. Iris then makes its way to the train station, crushing the religious fanatics and opening its chest cavity to finally absorb Ayana.

From within Iris' body, Ayana experiences the monster's memories of devouring her village, and realizes that her hatred and bitterness over being an orphan motivated the creature she raised. She also receives a vision of her parents' death, and realizes that Gyaos was their true killer. Just as she has her epiphany, however, Gamera smashes into the station and plunges his hand into Iris' stomach. The turtle manages to wrench the girl free, robbing Iris of its human merge, but the tentacled monster counters this by staking Gamera's hand to the wall with a lance-like arm. Miss Nagamine and Asagi, trapped with the train station's wreckage, watch helplessly as Iris begins to syphon Gamera's life energy. Sensing the danger, the great turtle grits his teeth and severs his own arm! Iris, having absorbed enough of Gamera's essence to mimic his fire breath, sends a wave of flame against the crippled beast...

By some unknown instinct, Gamera points the stump of his arm toward the incoming fire, and drives his burning limb into Iris' wounded chest! The tentacled monster shrieks in agony and explodes, blowing the roof off the crumbling train station. The comatose Ayana still clutched in his fist, Gamera sets the girl down where Nagamine and Asagi are hiding. The women are unable to revive her, but Gamera lets out a roar and Ayana opens her eyes. The monster leaves the girl wondering why he would save her life after all she had done, and the three survivors watch as Gamera marches into the fire-streaked night. As the Guardian of the Universe roars in defiance, a flock of Gyaos thousand strong descend upon Japan...

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay