Japan 2009 99m Directed by: Kôtarô Terauchi. Starring: Chiyoko Asami, Manami Honjô, Guts Ishimatsu, Ryoma Ito, Kohei Kiyasu, Takashi Matsuo, Takeshi Nadagi, Amane Nikai, Sato Panch, Goki Sano, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Zenjirô. Music by: Chika Fujino.
Junior high school student Hiroshi, who will only play with younger children, meets the young, taciturn Hachiya as he rides his bike. Shortly after, a strange friendship begins to blossom between them. But then Hachiya disappears, leaving behind only the puzzling words, "I am going to fight Demeking."
|
To start, I have to at least give credit where it is due. Demeking the Sea Monster attempted to do something just a little bit different for a giant monster movie. There was to be a bit of mystery to the story here and the film was not intended to simply be a giant monster actionfest like many if not most giant monster movies. As with say, Monsters (2010), Demeking the Sea Monster was largely a science fiction drama, not a science fiction action movie. They got the tone right for this movie, but ultimately Demeking the Sea Monster falls short of being adequate entertainment for 99 minutes.
The story centers around Hachiya in 1969-1970 Japan, who comes across a letter that forewarns of a space monster that will attack Japan (ultimately all of mankind) in the future. Eventually spreading the information to a few people he trusts, the bulk of the film is really just a buildup to the monster's appearance itself. So again, if you want a giant monster movie for the action such as Godzilla, Gamera, Cloverfield, or others, this is an entirely different type of movie and you may want to skip this movie.
My disappointment lies in slow, lethargic pace of the movie. What happens over the course of the first 66 minutes (at which point the monster appears in Hachiya's dream) could really have been done in less than half that time and still had equal character and plot development. The same goes with the rest of the movie after his dream of its impending attack on Japan. After all of that the movie ends somewhat abruptly. Unfortunately, there aren't other redeeming merits such as a good score or interesting characters. I would've hoped they would've at least tried to create an interesting creature, but it looked like little more than a bipedal snail-like creature. Why not try something with more visual impact, especially when the monster appears (and only in his dream) for a few minutes? I wasn't opposed to this type of movie but its execution leaves something to be desired, drama or not.
Review by FilmExpertWannabe from the Internet Movie Database.