Starring: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kou Shibasaki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Mao Daichi
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Studio: Fantom Entertainment
Rating: 12+
Genre: Action
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please visit our Info Page and look for shipping information. >>>This DVD is encoded for Region 3 (Southeast Asia & East Asia --- including Korea & Hong Kong). This DVD will NOT be viewable on regular DVD players made in other regions unless they are code-(region-)free DVD players. To learn more about the DVD Region Code, please visit our Help Page and read Info on DVD Region Code. |
About This DVD
The new disaster epic "Nippon Chinbotsu" (The Sinking of Japan) exploits one of
those simple but brilliant ideas that has hacks everywhere slapping their
foreheads with envy. The kernel -- Japan is mortally threatened by a powerful
force seemingly beyond human control -- is that of dozens of monster and
disaster pics, but in his eponymous 1973 novel, Sakyo Komatsu took it one step
further: He imagined Japan, not stomped by giant lizards, but literally sinking
as a collision of two tectonic plates causes the one supporting the archipelago
to buckle under. The result is not only new oceanfront property, but a hellbroth
of earthquakes and volcanos that kill millions and force the evacuation of the
entire country.
"Nippon Chinbotsu," which plugged into ancient and well-founded fears about the
fragility of the natural order here ("as solid as the ground you walk on" is not
a Japanese saying), became a monster bestseller. Not long after the novel's
publication in March, 1973, Toho cranked out a "Nippon Chinbotsu" movie,
spending a then-stupendous Y500 million. Released in time for the New Year's
season, it grossed Y4 billion on 6.5 million admissions, the sort of numbers
that put even Godzilla -- another Toho property -- in the shade. (Like the first
Godzilla movie it was later released in the US in a butchered version, called
"Tidal Wave," with a famous Hollywood face -- Lorne Green as the US president --
inserted into the story.)
Much has changed in the three decades since, but not, Toho hopes, audience
fascination with the subject matter. Thus a new big-budget remake, delivering
the sort of CG effects impossible in 1973 (but all too familiar from Hollywood).
Given the current uproar over global warming, a more topical take might be "The
Flooding of Japan," but Toho is not one to mess with a proven formula, so the
pseudo science of the original mostly stays.
One addition is a more assertive central female character -- a rescue worker
played by Kou Shibasaki. Also the interminable meeting scenes of the original
have been mercifully trimmed. Instead, director Shinji Higuchi ("Lorelei")
explains much of the scientific mumbo-jumbo using captioned images and a
presentation by a briefly glimpsed US expert that even a grade schooler.
Audio Format: | DD 5.1, DD 2.0, DTS 5.1 |
Video Format: | Widescreen 2.35:1 (Anamorphic) |
Languages: | Japanese |
Subtitles: | Japanese, Korean |
Country Made: | Japan |
Region Code: | 3 |
Year Made: | 2006 |
Running Time: | 133 |
Special Features: |
Initial Press Only Limited Edition comes with Photo Booklet - Making of - Making of VFX - Special Effects - Interviews - Deleted Scenes - Premiere Scenes - Music Video - Sinking Analysis - Trailer |
Availability: Usually ships in 5~10 business days.
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