hyped garbage

An action-packed slog

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Viewed on DVD. Rarely do Japanese film comedies survive cultural translation. Here is an exception, since the satire is so broad brushed you can't miss at least some of the humor. From ridiculous accents spouted by non-Japanese actors to whale meat dishes to (now superfluous) world leaders and international organizations, there is tongue-in (and out-of) cheek humor directed in all directions including Japanese black humor, stereotypes, and parodies. Cheesy "special effects" add to the fun. Directing, acting (especially Hitomi Takashima), cinematography, and film score are fine. The film seems stretched out though; its satirical impact could have benefited from more judicious pruning. Subtitles are a bit long and often tardy (what actors are saying is translated after (not while) the dialog is delivered). The more you know (or think you know) about modern Japanese culture, the greater should be your amusement! WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

I loved this movie. OBVIOUSLY it's a comedy, a great comedy. In the same vein as Monty Python or South Park, it's a movie that's meant to be offensive to pretty much everyone. Yes, it mocks the ignorance of Americans and how they are overly dependent on our military power. It also mocks China and Korea. But mostly it mocks Japan itself and the systemic xenophobia that still pervades the country to some extent. It's a highly random movie that combines the randomness and political commentary of shows like South Park, but adds the additional unique wackiness of Japanese movies. Also, it looks just as low budget as the Gojira movies of the 60s. Whether intentionally cheap-looking for stylistic reasons or due to low budget(I think this is the case), it adds a lot of laughs, especially when the Statute of Liberty sinks. To people who find this offensive, I can only say that you obviously don't understand satire or sarcasm. Maybe you should spend some more time studying Japanese culture or speaking to Japanese people and get a grasp of their humor. My advice, stop being offended at every little thing, relax, and enjoy a great camp movie. If you can't do that, maybe this movie isn't for you.

"The World Sinks Except Japan" is set in the near future. It begins with the United States being destroyed by Earthquakes and floods--and millions of refugees pour into Europe, Australia and Asia. Then, one-by-one, the rest of the nations of the world suffer the same fate...except for Japan. As a result, the country is inundated with immigrants--and the Japanese soon get sick of all these poor freeloaders.After having seen "The World Sinks Except Japan", I think it was a comedy--a parody of sorts. However, I am not really sure. Does it make fun of the old xenophobic Japan of the WWII era or is it really just a nasty xenophobic flick? I am not sure...and that alone make this a movie that isn't super-satisfying. However, whether it's a joke or not, you really can't help but notice that it's incredibly poorly made. Now part of this could be part of some joke (that I didn't at all understand) but seeing incredibly broad overacting, 'American' actors who can barely speak English at all (you'd think they'd hire more real Americans or actors who could at least approximate the language) and some tacky references (such as making Chinese and Korean leaders lapdogs of the Japanese in the movie--pretty tacky when you think about history and the 1930s) all made me just think the film was bad...and a bit dull to boot.

This movie is based on a short novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui that parodied a much more authoritative novel done by Sakyo Komatsu which depicted the sinking of Japan into the mantle.Yasutaka Tsutsui is famous for writing novels lampooning real life situations such as Nihon Apachi Zoku (Apaches in Japan). He's also capable of writing much more serious sci-fi such as the famous "Girl who leaped through time" (Toki o kakeru shojo). This movie is based on a short novel that was only about 10 pages long which was a parody of the more famous "Nihon Chinbotsu" (Japan Sinks) by Sakyo Komatsu. It was meant to be a tongue in cheek satire, and even in the original novel, the title "Nihon Igai Zenbu Chinbotsu" , words Nihon and Chinbotsu was printed in a large font and "Igai Zenbu" was printed in a tiny font making sure that people understood the authors intent. When this novel first came out, Frank Sinatra was still alive, and at the opening scene he's the one who's singing in a cabaret in Tokyo. The novel itself wasn't meant to be high quality, and it had no artistic value. They've expanded on the story and made it into a movie. The original novel wasn't any masterpiece, and the movie couldn't save it from its trashy origin. I'm not sure how Tsutsui himself views this movie as I'm sure he wrote the thing in few hours or at most few days just to muse himself.Best skip this one and not take it too seriously even if you have the opportunity to see it.