THE SINKING OF JAPAN (2006)
Directed by Shinji Higuchi
Starring: Kou Shibasaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi
Genre: Disaster/Drama
Running Time: 103mins

Rating:

The Sinking of Japan (Nihon Chinbotsu) is a modern day remake of the 80's Japanese disaster movie of the same name. The story revolves around the notion of Japan quite literally facing total destruction as a result of a chain of events from earthquakes to volcanic eruptions (brought about by the damage caused to the environment) forcing the entire country's foundations to crumble and sink below sea-level. Naturally, the only way to stem the tide of destruction is to send a deep sea diving team to drop a nuclear charge to separate the country's fault-lines thus preventing total annihilation.

The Sinking of Japan marks the directorial debut of Shinji Higuchi (the man behind the FX of the popular Gamera series of films, Seijun Suzuki's Pistol Opera and martial arts drama The Princess Blade). Starring Kou Shibasaki (One Missed Call, Battle Royale) as Reiko, a member of a Fire Rescue team and Tsuyoshi Kusanaga (of boy band SMAP fame) as Toshio, a marine scientist, the film which became a big success at the box office in Japan (reaching the no. 1 spot for a number of weeks) is unfortunately a largely vaccuous affair, and one which fails to either engage the mind nor the adrenaline junky inside of us.

While the CG FX are superbly realised, offering some genuinely memorable apocalyptic images, the scenes of destruction are played both intermittently and much too short. Featuring very little suspense Higuchi makes the mistake of barely involving his principal cast in tension ratcheting scenes and instead showing shot after shot of hoards of CG extras in the background of each frame getting slammed into the ground or hit by rubble. It may serve its purpose as an initial shock showing the magnitude of the situation, however, by not involving the characters we're supposed to care for there's little to catch your breath at. It's all just so distanced.

Unfocused, the tone of the film is sporadic; messily spreading itself far too thin The Sinking of Japan clings on to present social issues such as immigration and environmental fears but paints them in such broad strokes that it never truly says anything of importance. Anything that filters through is nothing more than a superficial meandering on the subject - an abbreviated bullet-point that is inessential to a film whose primary concern it seems is to pummel extras with rocks.

It was an admirable idea to produce a film to contend against the influx of Hollywood blockbusters, however, Japanese mainstream cinema doesn't exactly do subtlety well. Cloying sentimentality and the marketing teams that must surround an event picture like this dictate the inclusion of an unconvincing romance sub-plot in that hideous soft bubblegum style that takes on every cliche in the book. Fused with some serious mis-steps in the soundtrack department we are forced to endure a particularly poor title track that just grates. Painfully.

I had big expectations for The Sinking of Japan following trailers of the film which had it hyped to be a non-stop action packed disaster flick, but instead I was subjected to protracted bouts of kid-politics, route one characterisation and . I had hoped that it would provide a fascinating survivor style apocalyptic tale that would make up for the huge disappointment that was Dragonhead, but in retrospect, it somehow made me feel that maybe Dragonhead wasn't so bad after all.