Film: Sinking Of Japan
Release date: 8th March 2010
Release date: 8th March 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 135 mins
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Starring: Kou Shibasaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Mao Daichi, Etsushi Toyokawa
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Studio: MVM
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
With “2012 meets Tidal Wave” emblazoned across the DVD’s cover, this never promised much, but the sinking of a whole country would surely offer some thrills.
Japan, a country made up of many active volcanoes (so definitely primed for this sort of disaster flick), has suddenly realised that their whole country will sink within 50-80 years - but if that geological implausibility isn’t enough to stretch viewers’ rational, scientist Dr. Yusuke Tadokoro (Etsushi Toyokawa) has even worse news. Having spotted some unusual activity in the earth’s crust, he’s realised that this catastrophe will occur within just one year – 338 days to be precise.
Without getting too technical, and not wanting to quote from questionable terms and descriptions within the film, tectonic shifting is seeing layers of the earth’s crust melting away, causing molten rock to rise up and Japan to head in the opposite direction, but despite his findings being laughed off, the country is soon under assault from an increasing number of earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
With no hope – even the president can’t fly without being wiped out by a surprise volcanic eruption – the country decides to evacuate, but with neighbouring countries turning their backs on them (of course, America also does the dirty in selling off their yen), they soon give up on their people and accept an inexorable fate.
However, Dr. Tadokoro wasn’t just going to deliver this bad news and then mope around (although, he does for the majority of the film), he also has an explosive plan (which he’s tried and tested with scrap paper!) to reverse the process and save the country, and many millions of lives…
On paper, it’s all very American, cigar-smoking gung-ho (and there are plenty of key steals, with the selfless act of bravery before the end – and even nods to the likes of Planet Of The Apes), and had they followed up on that promise, we could have suspended belief and enjoyed 120 minutes of brainless destruction. Unfortunately, taking itself far too seriously, and spending most of its time with talking heads (diplomats and scientists) furrow browed and scratching their heads, the film’s sluggish pace, lengthy running time, and the script’s self-pity only highlight its failings.
It’s a given that any disaster flick has to stretch the truth somewhat, but there has to be that element of realism. Although the film does its best with the technical screen shots, bringing all manner of scientific information to our attention, it’s in no way plausible (you don’t need to be a scientist to know this) that activity of the earth’s crust would suddenly shift at such a dramatic pace. And any kind of disaster on this sort of scale would affect more than simply one country – we never see how this catastrophe is and would affect anyone outside Japan (another key Hollywood failing), and, in fact, we never really see how it affects their own country (despite major events, and the aired reports, the population seems to go about their business as usual until a massive tidal wave pops up, for example; we see few people perish, so the affects of which are never explored; and despite the number of volcanic explosions throughout, it takes around 330 days before any ash begins to fall).
You can understand why so little time is given over to the spectacles, or to their neighbouring countries, given the embarrassingly dated special effects - to illustrate an earthquake, for example, the camera will shake, and a volcanic eruption may offer a random ball of fire. You have to question why when operating on such a clear low-budget, they would want to tackle a story which demands impressive, and big scale CGI in today’s age.
As if to mask the budgetary constraints, the film opts for a number of time-consuming, dour, corny subplots – one of the main characters, Toshio Onodera (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), visits his mother to reminisce about the family’s history, and she gives him wonderful advice that “some things mean more than life,” whilst a young girl’s mother wakes from a coma simply to tell her to “stay alive.” A convenient and ill-placed love story between Toshio and Kô Shibasaki (who we discover in more elongated scenes became a rescue worker after being trapped alone and scared following the death of her parents to an earthquake as a child) also rears its head, but the lack of chemistry, poor acting, and atrocious melodramatic music ensures you never feel for these characters, so the ultimate act of heroism doesn’t payoff.
There are also more serious and uncomfortable undertones to the movie. Firstly, the film has a lot of negative things to say about its own country, and the lack of honesty and humanity shown to their people (a minister wants to desert the ‘weak’ straight off). Secondly, it’s rife with paranoia, raising awareness of their feelings for outsiders (as soon as evacuation is mentioned, the PM talks of America abandoning them) and how they believe they are perceived – giving the sense of detachment from the rest of the world.
Tentatively following an already tired American formula, minus the financial clout or tongue-in-cheek, and with serious psychological issues, has produced an uneasy, but more surprisingly dull piece of Japanese cinema. DH
Japan, a country made up of many active volcanoes (so definitely primed for this sort of disaster flick), has suddenly realised that their whole country will sink within 50-80 years - but if that geological implausibility isn’t enough to stretch viewers’ rational, scientist Dr. Yusuke Tadokoro (Etsushi Toyokawa) has even worse news. Having spotted some unusual activity in the earth’s crust, he’s realised that this catastrophe will occur within just one year – 338 days to be precise.
Without getting too technical, and not wanting to quote from questionable terms and descriptions within the film, tectonic shifting is seeing layers of the earth’s crust melting away, causing molten rock to rise up and Japan to head in the opposite direction, but despite his findings being laughed off, the country is soon under assault from an increasing number of earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
With no hope – even the president can’t fly without being wiped out by a surprise volcanic eruption – the country decides to evacuate, but with neighbouring countries turning their backs on them (of course, America also does the dirty in selling off their yen), they soon give up on their people and accept an inexorable fate.
However, Dr. Tadokoro wasn’t just going to deliver this bad news and then mope around (although, he does for the majority of the film), he also has an explosive plan (which he’s tried and tested with scrap paper!) to reverse the process and save the country, and many millions of lives…
On paper, it’s all very American, cigar-smoking gung-ho (and there are plenty of key steals, with the selfless act of bravery before the end – and even nods to the likes of Planet Of The Apes), and had they followed up on that promise, we could have suspended belief and enjoyed 120 minutes of brainless destruction. Unfortunately, taking itself far too seriously, and spending most of its time with talking heads (diplomats and scientists) furrow browed and scratching their heads, the film’s sluggish pace, lengthy running time, and the script’s self-pity only highlight its failings.
It’s a given that any disaster flick has to stretch the truth somewhat, but there has to be that element of realism. Although the film does its best with the technical screen shots, bringing all manner of scientific information to our attention, it’s in no way plausible (you don’t need to be a scientist to know this) that activity of the earth’s crust would suddenly shift at such a dramatic pace. And any kind of disaster on this sort of scale would affect more than simply one country – we never see how this catastrophe is and would affect anyone outside Japan (another key Hollywood failing), and, in fact, we never really see how it affects their own country (despite major events, and the aired reports, the population seems to go about their business as usual until a massive tidal wave pops up, for example; we see few people perish, so the affects of which are never explored; and despite the number of volcanic explosions throughout, it takes around 330 days before any ash begins to fall).
You can understand why so little time is given over to the spectacles, or to their neighbouring countries, given the embarrassingly dated special effects - to illustrate an earthquake, for example, the camera will shake, and a volcanic eruption may offer a random ball of fire. You have to question why when operating on such a clear low-budget, they would want to tackle a story which demands impressive, and big scale CGI in today’s age.
As if to mask the budgetary constraints, the film opts for a number of time-consuming, dour, corny subplots – one of the main characters, Toshio Onodera (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), visits his mother to reminisce about the family’s history, and she gives him wonderful advice that “some things mean more than life,” whilst a young girl’s mother wakes from a coma simply to tell her to “stay alive.” A convenient and ill-placed love story between Toshio and Kô Shibasaki (who we discover in more elongated scenes became a rescue worker after being trapped alone and scared following the death of her parents to an earthquake as a child) also rears its head, but the lack of chemistry, poor acting, and atrocious melodramatic music ensures you never feel for these characters, so the ultimate act of heroism doesn’t payoff.
There are also more serious and uncomfortable undertones to the movie. Firstly, the film has a lot of negative things to say about its own country, and the lack of honesty and humanity shown to their people (a minister wants to desert the ‘weak’ straight off). Secondly, it’s rife with paranoia, raising awareness of their feelings for outsiders (as soon as evacuation is mentioned, the PM talks of America abandoning them) and how they believe they are perceived – giving the sense of detachment from the rest of the world.
Tentatively following an already tired American formula, minus the financial clout or tongue-in-cheek, and with serious psychological issues, has produced an uneasy, but more surprisingly dull piece of Japanese cinema. DH
harsh but fair lol
ReplyDeleteadmittedly the special effects arent up to hollywood standard but its still a fun watch
ReplyDelete