Movie....'YAMATO' ??

Umi_Ryuzuki wrote:

This movie is not so much about the Yamato, or good special effects, as it is about the men that served on her. About one man's struggle to understand what he fought for, why he survived and what a vetran of a failed war could give to post war and modern Japan

Absolutely right. I did the film a disservice by not mentioning that in my previous post. It's a very powerful film emotionally.

Oh Well.It seems an English language version may be some way away.I'll take a chance & buy it anyway...

    learning Polish is hard enough without also tackling Japanese!!

      I am also having problems with a old rare kit from hasegawa of the 'Winds Of Yamaha' solo pacific yacht.Bought it on Ebay but the instructions only Japanese and some tricky bits about rigging the mast.It seems to be able to raise and lower the mainsail????

I saw a copy with subtitles.

I imagine the reason it has not made it to the United States, is that it is very similar to "Saving Private Ryan". A lot of pride, honor and duty on the part of the Japanese forces, in this case, aboard the Yamato.  Perhaps Japan has opted to keep this movie for themselves, or US distributors felt that "Americans" were not ready for a movie that portrayed Japanese soldiers of WW-II as human beings. Although, I believe Letters from Iwo Jima may be something of this breed.

 This movie is not so much about the Yamato, or good special effects, as it is about the men that served on her. About one man's struggle to understand what he fought for, why he survived and what a vetran of a failed war could give to post war and modern Japan

I haven't seen the movie either, but would like to some day. As for computer-generated airplanes, yeah, someone who actually flys needs to be a consultant on these films. Even my ex, who knew absolutely nothing about airplanes, and cared even less, leaned over to me in the middle of Bruckheimer's Pearl Harbor mishmash and said, "They don't really fly like that, do they?" If it's obvious to someone who knows nothing about airplanes ...

Another recent one where the CG guys blew it was Windtalkers, the sort-of story of the Navaho code talkers in the Pacific in WW II - if the Hellcats (my best guess) had really been delivering their close air support that close to the troops, I would not have blamed the troops if they had opened fire on their supposed aerial saviors, not to mention the planes skimming so low they would have been guaranteed to blow themselves up with their own bombs. Just my

EdGrune wrote:

There were one or two CG scenes of the Yamato which were pretty good,  but if you are thinking of getting the video to help you detail a model -- save your money and buy the Anatomy of the Ship - The Yamato instead.  My rating - two thumbs down

I actually loved it! Two thumbs UP from me. But then again, I could understand everything they were saying, which propbably goes a long way towards enjoying a movie.

I agree with EdGrune about the effects, though...the aircraft action was pretty silly at times, with Hellcats and Avengers whipping around like Cox control-line gas planes.

But the Yamato itself...for the most part, absolutely beautiful! Some shots are obviously CG, but there are plenty of stunning shots of her cruising that are simply breathtaking. I also saw it on the big screen, and I mean a really BIG screen in Osaka, and it was magnificent. Haven't seen it on video, so maybe the impact is diminished on the small screen.

If you haven't seen it and you you're interested in the Yamato, then it's certainly worth a look, even if you don't understand Japanese.

Isn't there a subtitled or dubbed version out yet?

EdGrune wrote:

I was given a copy of the Japanese language film without subtitles.  That really made it difficult to understand the storyline.   From my limited take it seems that the story is about the crew of one particular gun mount - as they sail toward certain suicide. I thought the battle effects were particularly middle-school quality.  The attacking airplanes (the same one each time) swung through the frame making turns which are next to impossible by the laws of physics.  They looked like model airplanes on strings.  The gun mount central to the story is so flimsy that whenever it "fired" the entire thing shook and flexed.  It would be a wonder if they hit anything with that gun. There were one or two CG scenes of the Yamato which were pretty good,  but if you are thinking of getting the video to help you detail a model -- save your money and buy the Anatomy of the Ship - The Yamato instead.  My rating - two thumbs down

I haven't seen the movie yet either.

But I'll bet I know how it ends.....

I was given a copy of the Japanese language film without subtitles.  That really made it difficult to understand the storyline.   From my limited take it seems that the story is about the crew of one particular gun mount - as they sail toward certain suicide.

I thought the battle effects were particularly middle-school quality.  The attacking airplanes (the same one each time) swung through the frame making turns which are next to impossible by the laws of physics.  They looked like model airplanes on strings.  The gun mount central to the story is so flimsy that whenever it "fired" the entire thing shook and flexed.  It would be a wonder if they hit anything with that gun.

There were one or two CG scenes of the Yamato which were pretty good,  but if you are thinking of getting the video to help you detail a model -- save your money and buy the Anatomy of the Ship - The Yamato instead. 

My rating - two thumbs down