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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

An Exercise In Nonsense

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

As a long-time fan of disaster movies, I have to check out everything I can get my hands on, from the big budget Hollywood blockbusters to the cheapest kind of B-movies you find showing on the SyFy Channel. In the past decade, the Asian markets have been trying their hand at homegrown disasters, with the likes of the Chinese AFTERSHOCK and the Korean TIDAL WAVE proving that the East knows how to handle mayhem and chaos on a big scale just as well as us in the West. THE SINKING OF JAPAN, as the title would suggest, is a Nipponese take on a truly catastrophic disaster.The film explores the impact of the country literally sinking into the ocean due to its precarious position on the edge of a tectonic plate, the so-called ring of fire that sees a distinctly high prevalence of natural disasters even at the best of times. Of course, a handful of scientists have a plan to stop it happening, but they have to fight with stubborn officials and national panic at the same time. Despite its Eastern flavour, THE SINKING OF JAPAN is a very familiar sort of film for those brought up on Hollywood equivalents.Sadly, it's also way too long, which seems to be a common concern with disaster flicks these days. I prefer my disaster movies to focus on the individual, showing them battling against nature's fury in a bid for survival; this is one of those films about dedicated scientists with a little bit of disaster thrown in for good measure. The disaster scenes themselves are very well achieved, and dotted throughout the movie, but they're also brief and almost glossed over in places.Instead, we're in for plentiful emoting, lots of long and drawn-out dialogues and arguments, and even a cheesy romance complete with a love song playing over the visual imagery. It's pretty cheesy, downright laughable in places, and not really very entertaining. I want to watch a disaster film; give me the disaster, you know?

Due to rather dubious plate tectonics, Japan starts to slip under the sea. Initial predictions say it'll take about 40 years before the country is submerged, but a rogue scientist adds in some even more dubious science and determines it will actually take less than 1 year! The government think he's a crackpot, but evidence soon starts bearing his theory out.This big budget disaster movie follows the formula set by any number of Hollywood films of the late 90's (I assume, having seen none of them), with the scale of disaster and tragedy bringing out the nobility of the human (well, Japanese) spirit in acts of heroism and sacrifice, and proving the power of love or something like that. i.e. it's as naive in its psychology as it's geology... we all know that half the populace would be out raping and looting the minute they thought the police had their back turned, and the other half would just panic and be useless.The film does have some very nice special effects, but is not as slick or expensive looking as an equivalent Hollywood production would be. It is at least as nationalistic, humourless and lacking in self-awareness as that Hollywood film would be though, and probably has even worse acting. It does have the hot evil chick from Battle Royale as one of the leads... but she's not even slightly evil, and is therefore much less hot.The film is much too long at 132 minutes, and gets worse and worse as it progresses towards a conclusion that had me in danger of puking. I certainly didn't care in the slightest whether Japan sank or not by the half way point, and well before the end I was trying to think of ways to expedite the process should I ever find myself in that situation for real.But, it does have nice special effects, and Kou Shibasaki is still pretty hot, so I magnanimously give it... 3/10.

Epic disaster movie, but totally different from Hollywood-Stuff (may be a budget thing, too). It's more about personal drama and the Big Picture than all-out Smashing Mayhem and people running around, screaming and dying. The actual Sinking of Japan takes place in a few short destruction-sequences throughout the movie and they are superbly executed (for Japanese standards), in between it's all about Love, Hope, and Sorrow in lofty dialog. Kou Shibasaki and her good looks remain the best thing about this movie. One perfect Farewell-Scene is being spoiled by stupid R'nB-Music, the ending had me crying with affection, though, I suck.

This review contains MILD SPOILERS, but not enough to spoil the story...Watched Nihon Chinbotsu (Sinking of Japan or Japan Sinks, depending on where you live) recently, a remake of the 1970's movie of the same name, which itself was based on Sakyo Komatsu's best-selling novel. This movie is a gem of Japanese film-making. It appears that Japan is sinking due to a subduction of a tectonic plate to the west. The Americans predict that it would happen in the period of 40 years, but according to Dr.Tadokoro (a seemingly 'mad' scientist), it will happen in less than a year. The Japanese government isn't that convinced but sets up a Disaster evacuation plan as well as form a new D1 team to handle the crisis. While on a trip to China to negotiate evacuation plans, the Japanese Prime Minister was killed, and sends the cabinet into a state of panic. The D1 team is left to handle most matters, and led by the newly elected Minister of Crisis Management, Saoro Takamori (Dr.Tadokoro's ex-wife). She turns instead to Dr.Tadokoro for advice, and he has plans to blow astronomically HUGE holes under Japan to avert the process of sinking.Japan would soon have to negotiate with various countries and persuade them to adopt Japanese refugees. Soon, it seems that a lot of countries are reluctant to accept any more due to the sudden influx of Japanese in their country and the chaos that follows (if this ever happens, touch-wood, I hope Ito Misaki will be safe... she can always stay at my place... hee hee). The scenes of evacuations are really well done, showing the havoc, suffering and desperation civilians have to face in such disastrous times. And the many faces of human beings surface, arrogance, selfishness, bribery, bravery, cowardry...This is a really well-made film. the storytelling is solid, with an engaging storyline and wonderful acting. Dr.Tadokoro (played by Toyokawa Etsushi) was done really well, portraying a divorced and often mad scientist who kicks and bashes up stuff. His frustration and concerns were very visible and that's a really good thing. Reiko (played by gorgeous Shibasaki Kou) was also played rather well, and has the most memorable line in the entire movie (go watch it to find out) and I fancy that she has a nice acting voice. She plays the love interest of Toshio Onodera (played by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of SMAP). Oh, I almost forgot... she has really, really long hair~ And there's also a subtle but background love story, which is well written and if there's something the Japanese do really well, it's love stories...One thing that makes this movie interesting is the technical explanations of the events that occur, and if you're interested in geography, you'll have a really good time (I know I did... hehe). I can see that they went to great lengths to make this movie's theory believable, and the first few graphical displays and explanation were done rather well (although you'll have to excuse the Japanese's famous "Engrish".OK, now about the effects (it's all about the effects, isn't it?). After watching the movie with pure awe, I must say that this movie has special effects that are on par (or even better) with some Hollywood productions. The volcanic eruptions... the massive earthquakes... destruction... tsunamis... explosions... all done splendidly. The opening scene is so cool, the 1st earthquake catches you by surprise, mountains fall, the destruction due to volcanic eruptions makes you cringe... to actually watch Mount Fuji heat up is a marvel... then you see Shibuya fall to the ground... it's so sad!!! However, what I felt was one of the best scenes was the giant tsunami scene, which sees rescue operations fail and people left with nowhere to run and no hope to hold on to... the ending scene also deserves a mention... wonderful stuff. If you like effects, you'll love this movie.Oh ya... every good movie has a great song behind it. The seriously addictive "Keep Holding U" sung by the super-cute and adorable SunMin is a duet with Kubota, and it's simply lovely. I feel it suits the movie really well and it shows that no matter what disasters hit us, our love and strength would keep us holding on. The disaster scenes are handled with orchestra music and at times silence (a Japanese specialty) and really gives a sense of chaos to the destruction on screen. Oh, and did I mention it's a really, really, really WIDE screen? Okla, been going on and on about this movie. Yeah, I LOVED it, and hoping to watch again... It does have plot holes, but it's all excusable because it was just a wonderful popcorn movie. Not perfect, but really well-made. I'd give it a 9 out of 10. I'm glad to say that the most expensive movie in Japanese history is also one of their best. If you haven't watched it, you really should today... it is a MUST WATCH!