What a beautiful movie!

Let's be realistic.

Expected more

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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.

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.

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.