SYNOPSIS:
Sequel to box office hit about Coast Guards, 'Umizaru'. Two
years into his career as a Japan Coast Guard frogman, Daisuke
Senzaki (Hideaki Ito) has matured into a seasoned diver destined
to be among the corp's elite. But he is haunted by past failure
and the emotional strain that accompanies a job of saving
lives has cast doubts in Daisuke's mind that threaten to destroy
his relationship with Kanna.
Test
of Trust was shot off the coasts of Kagoshima and Miyazaki,
includes realistic sea and underwater footages. The centerpiece
of the film is a specially-built enormous passenger ferry
boat where all the adventure unfolds.
MOVIE
REVIEW
“Umizaru
2 – Test of Trust”, from its title, this sequel
to its box office hit about Coast Guards, illustrates the
trial and tribulations that are faced by its main character,
Daisuke Senzaki (Hideaki Ito), be it in his gradual career
growth to be an experienced and outstanding diver and in his
personal love life with the beautiful girl, Kanna (Ai Kato).
Apparently, suffering from the guilt and blaming himself for
his failure to save the victim in a mission, it is getting
to toil on Daisuke.
One day,
an enormous passenger ferry boat started to sink and the passengers
on board include his beloved one, Kanna. As Daisuke once again
worked together with his team to carry out the mission of
saving the passengers, the recollection of the old days began
to haunt him back. Would he be able to fulfill his mission
till the end, regardless the price he has to pay? Would he
do it even at the cost of his life but this would renege his
promise to Kanna that he would return to her safely, in last
parting words with Kanna before she was evacuated and rescued?
Daisuke was very determined to save the remaining passengers
who were still trapped. The adventure begins to unfold.
Japanese
action films are, unlike Hollywood blockbuster movies, mainly
have their focus on people rather than the actions thus providing
more dimensional characters. “Umizaru 2” impressed
the audience more on its character development, exploration
of human nature reaction when in danger, the relationship
and the interaction among the characters. We have enough dosage
of colossal, elaborate movie set-ups from Hollywood, so let’s
go deeper in thinking to appreciate, understand more of the
values we have while enjoying this heart-warming movie. “Umizaru
2” has relatively above average visual effects and shows
that Asian movies are or can be capable in such quality production.
A much faster pace would be desired.
Hideaki
Ito has starred in quite a few Japanese dramas but rarely
seen him in action pieces like “Umizaru 2”. He
is definitely one of the few young Japanese actors who is
able to portray such masculine character. “Umizaru
1” is also recommended to watch if you crave for
more of his action. Sadly to say, Ai Kato’s character
as Kanna, is perhaps part of the broadening of the movie to
incorporate a love story but her role is definitely not dispensable.
She belongs to the one of the two most important elements
– love and work in Daisuke’s life.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Just a trailer.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Not bad for the visual transfer and the Dolby Digital 5.1
is relatively strong during the action sequences.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Alicia Tee
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