There's a reason that the first two films in the revived Gamera series were huge hits in their native country. Simply put, they really are fantastic action movies, some of the best ever seen in the genre. The streak would continue in the final film (at least to date) "Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris." It's just one notch away from absolute perfection.
During the battle between Gaos and Gamera back in 1995, Ayana Hirasaka (Ai Maeda) witnessed her parents get crushed inside a building set in Gamera's path. Four years later, her hatred for the beast has grown. After discovering an egg inside a cave, Ayana raises the newly born creature and swears it will take revenge on the turtle. Little does she know that she has unleashed a nearly unstoppable creature, one that could only be destroyed by Gamera.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, can match the sheer intensity, brutality, and awe factor of the monster fight in the Shibuya section of Japan in "Gamera 3." This spectacular sequence is simply off the charts for a kaiju film. It blends flawless live action with a small dose of CG, lots of miniature work, and of course suit-a-mation. It breaks all the rules, showing countless people meeting their fate as Gamera and Gaos struggle. It's a single scene that's better than an entire American blockbuster with triple the budget.
This is the type of sequence that firmly proves quality is better than quantity. Most of the film is spent with the human characters (much like "Gamera 2") and in this case that's entirely fine. Brining in multiple actors to reprise their roles links all the films together while building them all up so you actually care when the time comes. Two new stars power the film together. Ai Maeda plays the hate-filled girl who joins with the monster Iris, a wholly unconventional monster foe. Sporting numerous tentacles and oddly beautiful "wings," Iris is an imposing figure. Maeda's character is the final piece the monster needs to become fully functional.
That's the one odd piece that keeps "Gamera 3" from achieving absolute perfection. In the end, the movie goes way off the deep end into unexplored territory. It never really makes much sense. Granted, it does give the human characters some purpose in the final moments (which are also spectacular, taking place during a massive typhoon inside one of the most elaborate minature building ever constructed), but it all seems so out there, not to mention it takes away and slows down the simply superb monster brawl going on inside Kyoto Station. For all the work the crew put into making this movie as real as possible, it seems very odd to finish like this.
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