Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
SeeQuant
Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Claire Dunne
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Nathaniel Hinckson
In the wake of the recent tsunami and series of earthquakes in Japan, this movie I had seen as a child came to mind. I remember the disaster scenes being pretty horrific (although this was the pre-CGI era). I also remembered the United Nations or some body akin to it deciding on the distribution of the Japanese population to various nations who agree to receive a number of refugees. With the earthquakes continuing and the possibility of another if not several tidal waves occurring, one hopes this movie doesn't become a reality for Japan. I've learned from reading the other reviews that there is a shorter hacked version of this movie. I'm trying to get a copy of the full length original movie. I think the one I saw was the original although couldn't swear to it. If anyone knows where it's available, whether DVD or VHS please let me know. dreaddy2@hotmail.com
r-c-s
first, I enjoyed this movie. Not that i'd watch it twice, but it was easily watchable and I find the harsh reviews quite unjustified. Of course I took this movie as a docu-drama of average craft, not a blockbuster and not the next Godzilla versus Mechagodzilla. The plot is very simple: vanity scientific expedition to ascertain why the private island of some big guy sunk in the ocean shortly reveals how the entire Japan is soon to follow the same sort. It gets the point across about urgency and the limits of "human brotherhood". Everything was quite realistic and to those who think the world would gladly accept tens of millions refugees, dream on boys (and rightfully so)...what if your neighborhood were the recipient? Cinematography is very average, SFX are poor & dated, but that adds to the "docu-drama" angle, reinforced by the many detailed scientific explanations. Acting, era&genre-wise is fair: no Oscar time, but not bunk, either.
timchuma
For some reason I thought this was "Japan Sinks" the 2006 remake, no biggie. I even kept watching it although my copy had no English subtitles, you can still follow the story well enough.Lots of explosions, people running around on fire, a great "oh my eye!" moment and scientists shouting at each other and and getting into fist fights.I don't know why they didn't shove the manly 70s hair guy into the Japan Trench as it would have stopped all the trouble in the first place. It has to have been his hair that stopped him being killed all those times. His hair was tougher than he was as he couldn't even throw a punch.Andrew Hughes steals the show as the Australian Prime Minister: "If we accept 5 million Japanese, they'll simply use our land and resources to build themselves another country."Australia is the only country in the film not to accept some of the eventual 37 million refugees, they make a point of that for some reason, no idea why...
PixelRiders
Back in 1973, I have the opportunity to see this film in a lush big screen and back them that was an impressive show. Of course, anyone that has grown up in today's computer animated hyper realistic effects will dissect the movie mercilessly. In the other hand, we have here a film that depicts an event that 35 years later will make a good docudrama in the Discovery Channel. This drama described with precision a nation loosing his homeland to a great cataclysm that literally erase Japan out of the map, dispersing the surviving population around the globe separating families and friends to eventually live at the mercy of surrogate countries. I will love to see this film made again with today's f/x technology. Japanese filmmakers have matured well enough to create one the most shocking films ever.
