The Sinking of Japan [DVD]

It may only have made it to DVD in the West to cash in on 2012, but the 2006 version of Sinking of Japan turns out not to be the cheesefest the title and DVD cover promise but a not at all bad attempt at a thinking person's disaster movie - this is more Deep Impact than Armageddon. It doesn't always succeed, but it makes a serious attempt. Of course, the Japanese film industry have been destroying their major cities for decades, and even adapted the novel in 1973 with an Americanised version with added Lorne Greene making its way into US theatres as Tidal Wave.

Certainly the pretitle sequence of an air-sea rescue man coming to the rescue of a woman and child during a volcanic eruption holds the promise of plenty of dumb heroics, but it's merely a prelude to the film's central premise: that due to subduction of tectonic plates Japan will sink into the sea, and much faster than the government has planned for. Rather than going for a Roland Emmerich-style orgy of destruction, the film instead focuses more on the spiritual as well as practical questions that arise. Beyond issues of calculating the number of dead and trying to negotiate the relocation of the entire population on a reluctant world while the Yen falls and the worldwide emigrant influx in the wake of the country's staggered evacuation causes racial tensions, the film gives increasing weight to the idea of dying with (rather than for) your country - after all, what kind of life is left if your whole life and identity is tied up in a place? Within a generation will there even be any real Japanese left if there is no Japan? The result is some genuine emotional weight despite an ill-advised romantic ballad montage (not the film's sole silly moment: a scene where an irate scientist literally pushes ministers around the cabinet room is amusingly over the top). Ultimately it once again comes down to one man to save the day, with the ever-popular kaiju movie irony of a nuclear explosion being the only hope to save Japan from destruction, though it does seem more than a minor contrivance that with the fate of an entire nation at stake they only have one submarine and one igniter that can do the job.

Still, elsewhere it avoids most of the genre clichés. The effects are generally impressive but for the most part used to show the national picture rather than to put the main characters into harm's way and watch them frantically try to get out alive, and it takes the time to think through the emotional consequences of its situation. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a lot better than expected.

No extras, but a decent subtitled 2.35:1 widescreen transfer.

I'm so pleased this remake of a 1973 movie which was known as TIDAL WAVE in a badly edited version is finally coming out in the UK. Obviously to cash in on the forthcoming release of "2012", but I would say this movie, which pre-dates "2012" by 3 years and contains elements that Roland Emmerich could have easily borrowed, is superior in many ways. Okay, we have goofy disaster movie science where crustal instability,extreme quakes and volcanic activity cause the islands of Japan to sink into the ocean, and how will we save the country . . . but the effects are the thing here. Earthquakes rip through cities and cause massive fissures in the land mass, giant tsunamis drown Tokyo, Mount Fuji erupts and we follow a cross section of survivors ranging from the scientist out to save the world to his family searching for higher ground to find safety on. Also the evacuation of Japan is covered - how would the rest of the world cope with an influx of refugees? Overall, like the Korean movie HAEUNDAE(aka TIDAL WAVE) which was out in 2009, this is a cut above American movies of this genre and comes highly recommended. I also hope "252 Signal Of Life" gets a UK release soon!

very happy with this item shame about all the writing you have to do on everything you buy now er days it not easy to have a simple life