Doomsday: The Sinking of Japan

As spectacle, it's hard to fault Nihon chinbotsu. The Japanese people have benefited from their intimate relationship with the sea, and the concept of the film implies that an entire world and way of life at risk - thanks to its volcanic heritage. From the standpoint of reality it's rather silly to have a drama wherein the entirety of Japan vanishes under the waves; why just Japan?

So, presume instead that we have movie reality, fueled by spectacle (and popcorn), and some may find this quite affecting. Compared to adventures with Japanese radioactive monsters, this comes off as more mature and better paced. The emotional element is underplayed, and it really works. (It loses a bit with the overblown theme song at the climax, however.)

Is Nihon chinbotsu credible? Probably not, but the thrilling eruptions, and the relaxed pacing make for a more pleasing entertainment that one night expect.

Earlier this year (March 2011), Japan was hit by one of the biggest and most deadly earthquakes in living memory; this eerily prophetic film from 2006 portrays a similar event in its opening scenes, but takes things several stages further as it progresses, eventually depicting what might happen if the entire country were to be gradually dragged under the ocean as the result of shifting tectonic plates.

A big budget remake of the 1973 disaster movie Tidal Wave (based on the novel 'Japan Sinks' by Sakyo Komatsu), Sinking Of Japan unsurprisingly features catastrophic mayhem on a grand scale, all impressively rendered in state-of-the-art CGI. The devastation on display is quite simply jaw-dropping, with entire cities shaken to the ground, massive ships flipped around on turbulent seas like toys in a tub, and volcanoes spewing tons of lava and ash.

Sadly, the spectacular destruction of an entire civilisation only makes up a small percentage of the movie's massive 135 minute running time; the rest of the film consists of less than scintillating drama as a selection of characters go through predictable emotional turmoil as they face a very uncertain future (or no future at all!). All of this is pretty uninspired stuff, and matters don't get much better even as a few brave scientists devise a desperate plan to prevent their nation from completely disappearing off the face of the Earth.

It's the best movie I've watched this year! Excellent detail and storyline (for a remake).

It presents to you a "what if" situation wherein the island of Japan could totally be wiped out of this earth. A thought-provoking, life and death situation and not to mention all life on earth (well in this particular Japan). It also presents a great and genius solution to this massive tragedy.

Horror, action, suspense, sci fi, documentary, love story and all the human interest story you can get you'll find everything here! But I also warn you that it is a real tearjerker! The casts, actors and all are all excellent, better than any Hollywood movie!

The thing is...this could really happen to anywhere on earth! Now let me ask you this after you've seen it..."what would you do if you are faced in this life and death situation"?

This movie remines me on both Deep Impact and The Day After tomorrow with different plotlines that are happening and a disaster that are connected with each other. I found the movie to be just alright because the movie does try to have a lot of character development into it and the emotional parts throughout it. But I felt the movie is way too long with the movie mostly focus on explanation and drama that you see in any other disaster movies out there. It also kind of confusing to follow with the amount of stuff that happen in it and some of them isn't that interesting to watch. But the disaster scenes are pretty effective with the amount of danger that the characters are in and the destruction it cause to the countries. The CGI isn't that great, but I seen worst in other movies out there.

Doomsday: The Sinking of Japan is a passable movie that has some effective disaster scenes, but isn't that enjoyable to watch.

I actually caught an ad for JAPAN SINKS in a Japanese magazine last year, and wondered what the heck it was until I saw the trailer for the film. It was then I remembered that I had seen the English translation of Sakyo Komatsu's novel some years back. I got it, and it was quite good, as well as chillingly realistic. It's enough to make the reader dread hearing any news about earthquakes in Japan.

Now, I've read the book, and seen this 2006 movie version (the first movie came out in 1973). And you know what? I thought the movie was quite good, even if there are major changes from novel to film (but that's understandable). The story is simple--a major tectonic shift will cause Japan to sink within a year. Massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis rock the country as frantic efforts are made to evacuate as many people as possible. One scientist has a plan that could stop the sinking of the country and save what's left of the landmass, but can it be implemented in time? I saw JAPAN SINKS at Otakon 2007, and while there were a couple of problems I had with it--it does run a bit too long, and a couple of the character moments were a little too sappy--I was nonetheless blown away. The sheer concept of an entire nation sinking into the sea was made terrifyingly real, and the effects were some of the best I've ever seen, rivaling anything that Hollywood has done. The film also plays no favorites with the main characters, with some not making it to the closing credits.

Frankly, I've been surprised by some of the negative comments made about this film. Difference of opinions, I guess. Personally, I enjoyed it. And I've read the original book.