Earthquake 7.9 (1980)

aka Megaforce 7.9

From the Grindhouse set. A Japanese geologist is confident that a major earthquake is going to strike Tokyo, only various bureaucracies won’t listen until its too late. The disaster strikes just as our geologist hero is grappling with a major ‘shakeup’ in his own personal life, and must chose between his semi-estranged wife and the co-worker who loves him. A lot is made of Japanese concepts of family loyalty and ‘the right way to do things’ against which an individual with vision is nearly as powerless as he is against nature itself. The earthquake in my opinion seems far in excess of the 7.9 richter rating in the amount of damage it does. The movie actually compares fairly well to the disaster films of the time from which it takes its inspiration. In fact towards the end of the film, when the storyline splits in two, you have homages to Irwin Allen classics The Poseidon Adventure (the group trapped in the flooding subway tunnel), and The Towering Inferno (reporter attempts to save love interest from her burning and collapsing building). The very last few shots of the film may even be taken from the end of San Francisco (1936), only without the payoff of seeing the whole of the city in ruin. This grew on me. Grade: C