Bôkoku no îjisu

When a biological weapon is smuggled aboard a high tech battleship named Aegis it appears as if a new military age is dawning in Japan - Militant Terrorist Pao Yeung Fan is determined to unleash a biological weapon on Japan. But a brave Chief Petty Officer(Hiroyuki Sanada) has other ideas. He and an undercover defense agent attempt to stop them. On the surface its an action film, but beneath it is a relevant discussion of Japan's right of self defense in a new terror-age. Complicating matters is the U.S. involvement in developing the agent(GUSOH) and it being stolen from Okinawa.

The only answer to contain it is to use a thermite strike. Needless to say the tension keeps building. With the human factors of honor, duty and self-sacrifice sprinkled throughout the proceedings. If you can stand the subtitles it's worth a look! An apt quote was "A peace is a pause between wars...Damn! Out of Cigarettes,again!" Another good quote; "if a nation cannot use force in her defense, it's unfit to be called a nation!" Perhaps the late militant Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima would agree. Hence 6.8 out of 10

Aegis is an entertaining movie. If you like action yarns like "Die Hard" or "Under Siege", this movie fills the bill. Betrayal in the upper ranks of the Japanese Navy allows a foreign agent to threaten Japan with a deadly chemical bomb. A Japanese destroyer equipped with the AEGIS system, a defensive mechanism that renders it nearly impervious to conventional air assault, is carrying the stolen weapon to Tokyo. How to stop it?? There is a lot of political undercurrent in the movie. If you've looked at some of the other comments from Japanese viewers you get some idea of what it's all about. What is Japan's role in the world? Is a nation under threat, as Japan now sees itself, able to live with a pacifist constitution? These questions are asked repeatedly in the film and events suggest what the answers could or should be.

It is interesting that the weapon threatening Tokyo is of American making, that the agent's acquisition of the weapon is due to some sort of American blundering and, as one character in the movie relates matters, it is now Japan's job to clean up the mess. Additionally, the nationality of the "foreign agent" is never identified, but his name and several clues strongly suggest, to this viewer at least, that he is of North Korean extraction. One could conjecture at length what all of this implies, but I'll leave that to the individual viewer.

I would add that, at about 2 hours 15 minutes, the movie is a little too long. Some of the hand-wringing over questions of nationhood and national defense are inserted at awkward moments for an action yarn. But judging from Japanese viewer comments these scenes had some resonance. A less passionate audience is apt to see this for the melodrama it is. As far as Hollywood "fast food" content, this film is chock full of it. Some of the action sequences are clearly cliché and borrow heavily from older American flicks like "Die Hard". In spite of these several weaknesses, this is still enjoyable entertainment.

This movie reminded me a bit of a mix between The Rock and Under Siege, except more serious and realistic, so less "Hollywood". It does start out really interesting and intriguing, however it just becomes a bit boring after the first half. There just isn't much suspense, too much uninteresting dialogue and the antagonists' motives could have been explored more. You can see that it could have been a classic action movie, it certainly wasn't for a lack of budget or production values. It's not bad, but kind of a waste. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but I wouldn't discourage them from watching it either.

Before going to the cinema, I checked a Japanese movie web site, and was surprised by that fact the average rating was very low while the number of postings were many. After seeing the movie, I understood the reason. It is a part of fun to ponder about the scenes you could not understand well in a movie. But in this movie it is meaningless. The original novel, a bestseller, is a complicated long one of 650 pages, which I have not read. It seems this movie have shrunk the whole story into 2 hours proportionally. This is why there are scenes that are too ambiguous or not linked to any other scenes. Unless you have read the original novel, I believe it is waste of time to ponder about them. If you see this movie as an entertaining action film, well it is enjoyable. But perhaps the director Sakamoto intended to convey more, which is failed.

This movie,"AEGIS" contrasts dynamic and static scene very well. In dynamic part we can see powerful Aegis ship figure, thrilling fighter F2 aircraft, and main actor, Sanada's enthusiastic movements. In static part, on the other hand, we can insight real human heart, Sengoku's (Sanada) strong will to defend his ship and crews. Miyaji's(Terao) stubborn will to revenge his own nation in order to requiem his sun's death. Kisaragi's (Katsuchi) breakthrough mission with several dangers. These characters are beautifully described with their real heart, willingness, and objectives. These static human descriptions are well harmonized with dynamic scene.

This movie questions us "Do you have something you want to protect in your life with the cost of your own life?" Further more, following questions can be derived from this movie. "What can you do if your country is facing some kind of danger" or "What is nation's ideology?"

Thus this movie makes us re-think how lucky we are in peaceful world right now. At the same time this movie seems suggesting that we should live with something fulfill, meaningful and valuable. This movie is not really appearing political objectives itself, I guess, but rather sincere human heart. I recommend this movie not only for those who love self-defense (particularly, warship, aircraft lovers) but also for those who love real human.