Umizaru

Commonly touted as the Japanese Coast Guard version of Top Guns, this is an excellent movie that provides an in depth look into the training life of Japanese Coast Guard divers. They are an elite group of people and only 1% of the Japanese Coast Guards can make it to this training each year.

There are generous amounts of underwater shots for a Japanese movie and you can tell the production team has taken pains in making the movie memorable. Apparently, it was a summer hit when released in Japan in 2004.

This movie is the pilot to the drama which was released in Japan in 2005 and they've just released the sequel to this movie in May 2006. Very interesting concept that the producers have chosen and it had created lots of hype for the recently released sequel resulting in box office records as well.

I think the only reason this has got an anywhere decent score is because it isn't American. If something this by-the-numbers, and cheap looking came out of Hollywood it would be rightly slated, but for some reason, being Japanese excuses this? This film offers NOTHING original, it's an obvious linear plot that only someone very young, or someone who doesn't watch many films couldn't preguess everything that happens.

It's about a guy training to join the Japanese coast guard, he gets teamed up with the well-meaning screw up and thus gets the bad end of the stick in every competition. He rallies his friend to not give-up blah blah, and so it continues. The opening scene is an unbelievably obvious attempt to set up a finale that will tug the heart strings, but is just sentimental embarrassment.

The first time I saw this, it was on Japanese TV and I couldn't understand the dialogue, but the story is SOOO obvious it didn't matter in the slightest. The sequel and the TV spin-off are typical cash-in projects, and I don't imagine there'll ever be plans to release this internationally even though it was a massive hit in Japan. It's almost one of those so-bad-it's-good gems, but the reviews seriously calling it a good film are way off.

I assumed this film was Japanese remake of "Men of Honor" but this really wasn't like that and very refreshing youth movie about a man wishing to be a diver in a department of Japan coast guard. The story and visual expression is a bit typical Japanese and might be hard to understand some part of it for American viewers, but the main plot should be understandable. Through the group of young men living straight toward their dreams, you will recall how your youth hood is like and get inspired by their attitudes toward their bonds built in a group work of training. This may be also encouraging for the youth pursuing dreams to come true. Once you see it, you might feel like trusting in somebody again.

And by Journey I mean the band. Yes this movie about Coast Guard divers plays Journey's hit "Open Arms" 3 times! If that weren't enough amazement, the score for this film is literally the same song for EVERY scene. I could hum along about 30 minutes into the film every time the score kicked in. Those were my observations. It was so funny and annoying that it kind of took away from the seriousness of the film and made me enjoy it less. It's not a bad film, and I would even say that it is worth seeing but I wouldn't go to any lengths to seek it out (as it is not available in the US yet). As I have read, it has been turned into a TV show in Japan and that makes sense because the whole 120 minutes seemed like a pilot for TV show.

Another pleasant surprise from the Japanese cinema. What I like the most about Japanese movies is its unpredictable line of events, and in this movie, once again, you can never guess what will happen next. I was always expecting a scene like Baywatch - which would make me turn off the TV - but it never happened :) The movie itself was shot in a simple but efficient way, no amazing and special tricks here, although the picture had nice detail and quality. The soundtrack could be better though, you can hardly notice it. The actors perform OK and pass on a great feeling of "team building" and the intensity between each "buddy", however they did seem a bit too young for the jobs.

The plot evolves in a very steady way showing a different perspective of the typical military training. This movie moved me with its funny moments (typical Japanese), a few intense sad moments and, for people afraid to drown and of being breathless, the movie will have a few moments of anguish and uneasiness too! All in all, I'd say you can watch it with anyone any time.