Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

kluseba This movie is a very entertaining mixture of "Die Hard", "Cliffhanger", "The Fugitive" and "The great silence" with a little touch of Asian culture, a very emotional background and a couple of smart little twists in the ending.Even though this movie copies from some of the mentioned originals and hasn't the usual uniqueness and creativity of the Asian cinema, this flick is high paced and entertaining as well as addicting from the beginning to the end so that it should please to any fan of action thrillers. I must admit that I prefer this professional and energetic Japanese movie to the endless follow ups of many of the more and more repetitive and faceless originals or trendy remakes. Even more conservative fans of solid suspense movies should adore this movie that takes some bits and pieces from the best examples to fusion it to an own explosive movie.The three best elements of the movie are first of all the stunning Japanese winter landscapes, the great development of the credible main characters from a mourning coward to a responsible saviour and the high paced, surprising and in the end very emotional closing scenes.If you happen to like the mentioned movies, make sure to check this one out as it is one of the best of its kind from the last decade and worth to be purchased.

NIXFLIX-DOT-COM And in Japanese. The narrative structure is the same as the Bruce Willis movie, right down to the terrorist's duplicitous motive, the presence of a girlfriend within the dam, and an unhelpful outside police force. It's an entertaining movie, with some excellent action sequences involving snow, tunnels full of water, and enough thrills to satisfy action fans.

Wizard-8 Though this was very obviously influenced by those two above movies, I didn't mind that fact - after all, it's a very entertaining formula. To it's credit, it does bring some originality to the formula - the hero is more an ordinary joe instead of some pseudo-commando, and the reason for his fighting is actually so he can redeem himself, instead of just being the standard "it's the right thing to do." As well, the movie is shot on location in some very eye-catching locations.Unfortunately, that's about all that's positive that I can say about this movie. Though this was big-budget for a Japanese movie, the polish of the movie is very inconsistant - it often looks cheaper and cheesier than many direct-to-video actioners. The action sequences aren't that plentiful and elaborate for the most part, and they are often directed in the most boring way possible - a lot of simply pointing and shooting the camera. There's no feeling of tension or excitement in or around those action sequences. And you can't help but feel the frustration of the hero slogging through the snow, since the dull tone (even the characters act bored) and the running time going on MUCH past its point of welcome. And despite the overlength, there are some awkward jumps in the narrative that make it appear that some scenes are missing, or were never filmed in the first place.

BOB AUDET Rumor has it that if they ever got around to making a Cliffhanger 2 it was going to take place at a dam. Suffice it to say, the idea obviously had some merit and the Japanese film industry has turned out a fine effort. When terrorists seize control of the largest dam in all of Japan, a controller at the dam is forced to become an unwillingly hero. It is not for the sake of his fellow workers held hostage or his dead friend's fiancee who happens to be visiting that he does this, but rather for the dam itself. The action is so-so, but this guy is also an expert mountain climber so it allows the action to move outdoors and create some interesting situations. Overall, the film was something different and I would recommend it if you like action cinema from another source.