Tatsuya Nakadai does fine work as an elderly survivor of the Yamato, wracked with guilt over the people he couldn't save, and while some other technical aspects are serviceable (decent battle scenes) the film is overall a slog and not particularly good.
It drags at almost two and a half hours, and it's hard to get invested in the core war storyline, told in flashback. Also: the soundtrack consists of about five minutes of music with a piece of music that is CONSTANTLY repeated (a piece that sounds suspiciously similar to one of Hans Zimmer's themes from The Rock).
Also: it feels a bit too pro-war for my tastes. I think war films can humanise the individuals while condemning the war, but this doesn't really seem to criticise the violence and bloodshed... yes, people are shown to be negatively impacted by the war, but no one seems to question whether it is/was the right thing to do, and that lack of criticism or even just questioning feels a bit wrong.
It drags at almost two and a half hours, and it's hard to get invested in the core war storyline, told in flashback. Also: the soundtrack consists of about five minutes of music with a piece of music that is CONSTANTLY repeated (a piece that sounds suspiciously similar to one of Hans Zimmer's themes from The Rock).
Also: it feels a bit too pro-war for my tastes. I think war films can humanise the individuals while condemning the war, but this doesn't really seem to criticise the violence and bloodshed... yes, people are shown to be negatively impacted by the war, but no one seems to question whether it is/was the right thing to do, and that lack of criticism or even just questioning feels a bit wrong.