After nearly a year, I'm finally finishing the Gamera trilogy. The series itself spans 4 years, so technically, I have to say I'm ahead of schedule.We start off with a dead Gyaos somewhere near the equator. You may remember the Gyaos from Gamera: Guadian of the Universe. They were the pterodactyl type things. Giant lizard birds, sent to destroy the earth. This particular Gyaos is dead.
Next we cut to a sub scanning the ocean floor where they find a metric shit ton of Gamera skeletons. It's like a Gamera graveyard. It's crazy. The opening credits then roll over a recap of the prior two movies. It shows mostly the battle between Gamera and the Gyaos. Legion is surprisingly under represented. Next we meet Ayana whose parents were killed during the attack while trying to save their cat, Iris. Ayana jumps up as it was only a dream.
Ayana is bitter and hates Gamera. Gamera stole her precious! We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little Gameras. Wicked, tricksy, false! Her obsession draws her to a creature hatched from an egg that she names Iris. The creature begins to bond with her through a pendant similar to the comma's from the first movie.
Gamera himself is still busy battling the Gyaos and is returning to Japan. The government and citizens are kind of getting fed up with the destruction caused by these battles and want to kill Gamera himself.
As Iris grows, it tries to absorb Ayana into itself. Ayana is freed from the cocoon, however Iris then decides to feed on the life force of the other people of the village. Ayana is taken to Kyoto and Iris follows. Iris, however is intercepted by Gamera and the battle begins. Ayana learns that it was her own hatred that Iris has fed off of and the Gamera was not responsible for her parents death. Gamera, in turn, saves Ayana and kills Iris, the end.
This was a fun movie. Seriously. It was better than a lot of the Godzilla stuff from the mid-90s on. While it was very story driven, there was a good amount of death and destruction. There was even a fair amount of CGI in it which is somewhat abnormal for Japanese Kaiju movies, though it certainly worked in this one. Let's go with 8 buildings destroyed with your parents inside looking for a cat that will feed your anger and lust for Kaiju blood until you, in turn, lead to the destruction of another city in your quest for revenge out of 10.
