Disaster pics have been big in Japan since the days of "Godzilla," the 1954 classic whose title monster served as a rubber-suited symbol for everything from earthquakes (that stomp) and fires (that breath) to atomic bombings (that city-wrecking power).
The genre got a boost in 2006 with the release of Shinji Higuchi's "Nihon Chinbotsu" ("Japan Sinks"), a money-spinning remake of a 1973 smash about the sinking of the Japanese archipelago, and Eiichiro Hasumi's "Limit of Love: Umizaru" ("Umizaru 2: Test of Trust"), a hit sequel to a 2004 thriller about elite Japan Coast Guard divers; Hideaki Ito plays a diver who rescues his fiancee and other unfortunates as their ferry boat sinks.
The new disaster epic "252 — Seizonsha Ari" ("252 — Signal of Life") ought to be called "Umizaru 3." Once again, we have Ito, as fiery-eyed and jut-jawed as ever, this time impersonating a former member of an elite Tokyo Fire Department rescue team. And once again he has to lead a small group of survivors to safety, while his colleagues move Heaven and Earth to save him.