Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars Hideaki Ito, Takayuki Yamada, Yu Kashii, Minji | Written by Yoichi Komori, Nobuo Mizuta & Hiroshi Saito
UK Certification 12 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 133 minutes | Directed by Nobuo Mizuta
Japanese cinema has seen a spate of big-time disaster movies in recent years, none of which have really been that appealing, but in contrast to 252: Sign of Life, a film based on the devastation of 2004's Chuetsu earthquake, they fair pretty well.
Tokyo becomes the victim of a disastrous trifecta that no weather report could accurately foresee. With the capital city first attacked by a shower of cantaloupe-sized hailstones, an enormous tidal wave follows, flooding the streets and subway system and leaving many bodies in its wake. Three lives the catastrophe did not manage to take however were those of married couple Yuji and Yumi Shinohara and their young daughter Shiori, whose birthday has fallen on the day of calamity. Yuji, a former member of an elite rescue squad and now an unsuccessful used car salesman, was out buying his little girl a gift when things went to hell. Seeking shelter in the subway from the first two events, Yuji and his family are each split up in the chaos as the third and final disaster strikes: a colossal typhoon that rips right through the battered city.
Despite yet again living through the carnage, Yuji desperately attempts to find his wife and daughter in the unstable wreckage of the subway system, teaming up with fellow survivors and using his experience as a rescuer to do all he can to let those above ground know that he and others are still breathing. This involves a special signal code reserved for those in dire need of help from the rescue services: 252.
The film appears to be charged through with the intent to portray the emergency servicemen of Tokyo in a positive light, to reflect on reality, yet most of the running time is spent building them almost as antagonists second only to Mother Nature. The chief member of the squad, which is run like a military operation, shows constant reluctance at trying to save people in situations where there is a hint of danger. The film's finale is capped off with a highly predictable redemption on the part of the group, but you cannot empathise with the characters or even begin to like them in any way because of their refusal to do their jobs properly throughout most of the movie. If the film is trying to highlight the prowess of the emergency services, it certainly has a bizarre way of showing it.
The film just about holds interest all the way through its unnecessary length, but you'll certainly be paying less attention once the hat-trick of havoc is all over and the overwrought melodrama begins, kick-starting a chain of implausible and often ridiculous events. It feels more like a made-for-TV mini series than a feature film, right down to the poor CGI, and the fact that the very last shot is a corny freeze frame of a character bearing a toothy grin does it no favours in proving otherwise.
EXTRAS None.