Following an earthquake it is revealed that Japan is literally sinking into the ocean. What is initially predicted to take forty years is revealed, by a lone scientist, to actually take less than a year. Suffice to say, Japan finds itself facing its biggest potential disaster since the last time Godzilla caused untold destruction…
Review
Anyone after a dose of disaster cinema whose appetite wasn’t filled by Roland Emmerich’s 2012 or Korea’s recent Haeundae (a.k.a. Tidal Wave) could do a lot worse than take a look at Sinking of Japan. Based on a novel (and a subsequent 1973 film based on that book) this recent remake makes the most of it’s incredible special effects and hits every single one of the ‘disaster movie’ beats that we’ve come to expect.
Echoing just about every other natural disaster film ever made, Sinking of Japan features a fairly ludicrous plot – that Japan itself will disappear into the ocean within a year – that nonetheless translates to a fairly chilling prospect. Of course, there’s a scientist who forsees these terrible events – and, of course, he’s totally ignored. Then – unsurprisingly – it all starts to go pear-shaped and it is down to our previously ignored scientist to come up with one hell of a crazy plan that just-might-work in order to save the day. And does he save it? Well, I won’t reveal anything here, but by the time we get to the end of the film its less a case of ‘saving Japan’ than saving ‘what’s left’ of Japan. Throughout Sinking of Japan the situation gets steadily worse – which is really a big excuse to show us its amazing CGI money shots and wipe out dozens of people at a time.
With some of the most convincing and large scale destruction seen in a disaster film – gone are the days of tiny models being blown up and flooded – Sinking of Japan must have a body count verging on the thousands. People are blown up, burnt, drowned and squashed left right and centre in shiny CGI glory as Sinking of Japan lives up to its promises of wholesale destruction. So this is well and good as long as the rest of the story matches, right?
Well, that’s where there are a few problems…
Following the usual pattern for these flicks, Sinking of Japan gives us a flashy opening scene (and a sign of things to come) before heading into the lives of our three main leads. There’s the usual job and relationship issues, forged friendships, misunderstood scientific ideas and no other shortage of attempts to lure us in and feel for both the people and the danger of the situation. It’s the area of the film which fails though, as twenty minutes in you’re waiting for the first bout of destruction and care very little about any of the characters. Luckily the action is intercut throughout the two hour plus running time, so there’s no lengthy wait for the action if you fail to be lulled into the dramatic elements of the plot. For some reason Sinking of Japan never connects dramatically – and even the impressive scenes of destruction can appear so big that they feel distanced – and there’s no humour or subplots to alleviate the standardised plot. There’s bonus points for the scenes where politicians are seen discussing the repercussions of the situation – which include a very well written and acted moment where consideration is given to just allowing the country to disappear into the ocean and sending its people with it – but it’s largely pedestrian.
Sinking of Japan is worth seeking out if you’re happy going with something that’s visually strong but with very little substance. It’s no worse that your average disaster flick in terms of plot – and the acting is decent enough – but as the CGI is so impressive it misses out on the hokey 
effects associated with these types of films and leaves you expecting something more strongly written. The epic special effects are certainly worth checking out, so it’s just a shame that there’s no connection to the people involved and so it ultimately feels too distant.
Region 2 DVD Review
Released by MVM in the UK, Sinking of Japan gets a decent presentation with a nice sharp picture making the most of all of those special effects, a choice of a stereo soundtrack or a 5.1 mix. There’s no complaints about the subtitles – which are excellent – but for anyone hoping for a bit of ‘behind the scenes’ information to see if they really did destroy half of Japan for the sake of some visually impressive cinema, sadly the screener copy I received contained no special features at all – not even a trailer – so you’re buying this for the film only…
