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Based on a blockbuster 1973 novel by Sakyo Komatsu, it follows the horrible events that occur when it is revealed that the island nation of Japan is sinking into the ocean. Earthquakes, tidal waves and volcanic eruptions roil the country, leaving millions dead and stranded. Japan's only hope lies with one plan and one man.

I've had my share of bad natural disaster movies with over the top special effects. Made for TV movie "10.5" comes to mind, and so does "The Core" which surprisingly starred Hilary Swank. However, after watching director Shinji Higuchi's attempt at the modern remake of Japan sinking into the ocean, I've decided to add this one to the top of my personal "Movies-to-Avoid" list for the year.

To give a person a better picture of what the movie is going to be like, take the original "Godzilla" movie, remove the huge, green lizard and you get "Sinking of Japan".

Yes, this movie happens to be a remake of the original "Japan Sinks" back in 1973, which was an adaptation of Sakyo Komatsu's novel of the same name. Regretfully, after the disaster remake which was "Poseidon" , filmmakers should have learnt by now that they need fresh, new material, and should get off their lazy posteriors to obtain that. Higuchi must have been home the day "Poseidon" sunk at the box office worldwide.

Trying to bring a sense of awe to the viewers, Shinji seems to be drawing inspiration from disaster movies like "Deep Impact", "Day After Tomorrow", "Armageddon" and also from "War of the Worlds". However, the film focuses more on the love story between Reiko Abe (Ko Shibasaki), a rescue worker, and Toshio Onodera (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) , a deep sea diver, who is torn between leaving the country to escape the disaster, and staying with Reiko.

Instead of focusing on the impact of the disaster on the country, we get a half-baked storyline with slow moments in between, churning out a dragging love story. Classic moments come about when Reiko and Toshio, run to each other in slow motion with a romantic ballad in the background that seemed like a bad remake of "Pearl Harbour".

The plot is slow paced, the actors are dull, and the only thing that seems to hold up the movie is the enactment of the destruction of Japan in a series of earthquake-ridden moments and tsunami encounters. Regretfully, the destruction scenes are shown in 20 second sequences, followed by dramatic, dragged out scenes between the central characters. No doubt the CGI sequences are entertaining enough, giving you an idea of how Japan would look like should a series of massive earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions were to hit the country. Yet it's nothing new, as we've seen it all before in films like "Armageddon", "Deep Impact" and "Titanic".

The movie reminds me of another disaster movie, which was made for T.V. Called "10.5" , in which seismic activity at the San Andreas fault hits 10.5 on the Richter scale and splits part of California in two, thus creating a huge gap in downtown L.A. There were enough scientific inconsistencies in that movie, and the same thing is repeated in "Sinking of Japan". The theory given to the audience now is that the tectonic plates beneath Japan are breaking up, and being sucked into the Earth's core. A conveyor belt process occurs and the plate will eventually drag Japan into the ocean.

This movie is a modern remake of the original film, but instead of taking the opportunity to focus on the survivor elements, the director seems to follow Hollywood's typical formula - one man to save them all. The country's impending doom relies on one man in one little deep-sea diving craft to plant a nuclear device to blow up the ground, in order to stop the ground from pulling Japan into the waters.

Playing the mad geologist, Yusuke Tadokoro, is Etsushi Toyokawa, who over-dramatises his character. We see the Tadokoro losing his temper by smashing his fist into his LCD monitor before he then hugs the monitor, crying, when he finds out that the country has only one year before it sinks completely.

And in tribute to Murphy's law - whatever can go wrong, will go wrong - as Tadokoro's plan to stop the sinking goes wrong when the diving craft is knocked out of control by aftershocks and the nuclear device is lost.

The soundtrack did not suit the movie at all; where an orchestra infused number with haunting melodies would have brought a different feel to the ending, we instead get Japanese pop ballads which might have gone better in a teenage romance flick.

The final verdict : Only if you have a sadistic need to watch a country spiral towards its doom.