Tidal Wave (2009) User Reviews

You won't be washed away, but prepare to get drenched!

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 16 February 2010]

I found this movie to be a good attempt at a disaster genre movie to come out of Korea.

The movie had a good story, and had enough interesting side stories to keep you compelled. It is good to have several story lines that work well to come together for a good wholesome story.

The characters in the movie were good and believable, though some of the dialogue were cheezy at times.

The effects of the movie were adequate, but of course you can see it is not a multi-million dollar Hollywood CGI fest going on. But with that in mind, they made the effects work well enough.

This movie is a good alternative to the usual comedies and horrors movie that mostly come out of Korea. It also takes up some real life issues about tsunamies.

In overall I think this movie is a good choice if you like disaster movies, and if you are tired of big Hollywood movies with superstar cast listings.

I wasn't swept away by the first hour, but the last 40 minutes or so were smashing.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 29 September 2010]

I experienced quite a range of emotions whilst watching Haeundae (AKA Tidal Wave): the first hour, which is spent introducing its various clichéd two dimensional characters, was tedious in the extreme and I found myself impatiently urging the cataclysmic forces of nature to get a move on and wreak some havoc, thus putting an end to my misery; however, when the mega-tsunami finally hit, I felt rather guilty for having been so keen to see some death and destruction, the horrific sight of the massive wave crashing down on the helpless people of Korea immediately bringing to mind the very real scenes of destruction from the tsunami disaster of Christmas 2004.

So I'm sitting there feeling morose, reflecting on the real-life horror of such a phenomenon-how terrifying it must be to be confronted by an unstoppable wall of water-when the film slips into cheesy post-tsunami mode, and I'm presented with umpteen tried-and-tested disaster movie clichés as the survivors face further danger amidst the floods. These include the obligatory 'electrical cable in the water' routine, a well executed scene with a little girl being swept out of the window of a high rise building, and an awful slapstick moment that sees the film's comedy relief dodging metal containers as they fall from an upended freight ship. I'm now feeling much better, having a blast with what I realise is cornball blockbuster material of the purest kind.

And then a second wave hits the city, killing even more people, including the little girl's parents, and it's lump-in-throat time again!

Although Haeundae doesn't qualify as an essential disaster flick in my book, the build up being overlong, the characters not all that memorable, and the formula predictable, the special effects are much better than I expected and the mayhem is spectacular enough to make this film worth a go if you get the chance.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

ＡNutshell Review: Haeundae: The Deadly Tsunami

[DICK STEEL · 5/10 · 11 October 2009]

I suppose most are now acutely aware of how increasingly devastating natural disasters have been in recent years, starting from the 2004 Asian Tsunami which swallowed thousands of unfortunate souls. Then there are the recent destruction caused by typhoons and earthquakes, the latter which we're more acquainted with given the tremors which we feel as a result of neighbouring incidents, a phenomenon not experienced until the last few years.

There are numerous accounts of heroics and tragedy following every disaster, and it's not a surprise that they have become fodder for mass entertainment. We had 252: Signal of Life as the Japanese offering to the disaster genre earlier this year, and the Koreans too have decided to match that with Haeundae: The Deadly Tsunami. With 252 it was the disaster hitting hard and fast first, followed by the shoving of human melodrama down your throat, and thankfully though Haeundae is quite the opposite, having the human drama established first without feeling forced, before the special effects extravaganza took over.

So if you belong to Camp Impatient, then you're likely to feel bored as the film sought to introduce the ensemble characters, each with their respective back-stories and selfish reasons why they go about doing what they are doing, of course with repercussions all nicely built in as well for some karmic response. There's the fisherman and the romance with the daughter of a man whom he had caused the death of, and this provided most of the emotional anchor for the film. Then there are others like the opposites attract with the coast guard and the free-spirited girl from Seoul, a seemingly scheming politician who's in some kind of en-bloc mess with the folks of the coastal village, a much maligned scientist and his estranged wife and daughter, and enough overbearing mothers.

All these provided some 60 minutes worth of dramatic run time before it's time for Nature to hit back with its tidal waves, where quick response to an actual event will save lives, which stemmed from complacency creeping in when early warning signals went uncalled for. The filmmakers here had realistically created the phenomenon of the massive tidal waves with the receding waters and such, and the effects here were nothing short of eye-popping. Fear-inducing even, though there was one quick scene which seemed lifted from Hollywood's Deep Impact upon reconciliation of 2 characters in the face of impending doom.

But of course budget dictated that the effects could only sustain the movie for a short while, and anything more than 2 wave cycles would probably either be cost-prohibitive, or just plain dragging out the misery of the characters in their preservation of lives. Some fade-to-black-at-opportune-moments also came to the rescue of the film, and cheesiness reined comical supreme needlessly as well, though no efforts were spared in others especially the one involving the little girl left in the hotel room, providing that edge-of-your-seat thrills in what would be a literal roller-coaster ride in the last half hour.

Haeundae served more as a disaster film without any preachy overtones regarding the preservation of the environment. In earnest, I thought the release of this film was more like serving up an appetizer to the bigger budgeted extravaganza come November with 2012. That, I want to see.

Cheese overload!

[Siamois · 3/10 · 14 December 2009]

Disaster movies have been fine-tuned by Hollywood into a fairly reliable and polished formula. One of the ingredient is usually a good dose of melodrama. Now, Asian cinema as well, is known to spice movies with melodramatic bits.

It therefore doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what an Asian take on disaster movies is gonna end up looking like: A melodramatic extravaganza.

The first hour of Haeundae (also known as Tidal Wave in English) consists of setting up the table by presenting the cookie-cutter characters (played by a rather weak cast which tends to overact) and their clichés relationships. The script and story is pretty standard for the genre (you've seen all of this in Twister, Armageddon, many of Emmerich's movies and so on) but the writing is just... immature. As if the script came straight from a high school play. I must still praise some of the comedy bits, which are indeed funny and make certain characters more likable. Unfortunately, the dramatic bits are as (unintentionally) funny as the comedic ones and that is a problem.

The final part of the film is where the disaster unleashes and ends up being a poor payoff. The special effects, cinematography, editing are uninspired. This film suffers from poor direction and you immediately feel like you'd rather catch an old disaster flick on cable TV. But what absolutely kills the disaster scenes are the tear-jerking attempts. It's like the director is trying to squeeze a dehydrated fruit and fill a glass with orange juice.

It still deserves a 3 because there is some heart to it and it maintains your interest with some of the quirky characters. Plus a few comedic bits are also worth it. But if you're not a fan of the genre, expect a big waste of time.

The Tsunami Effects Were Great

[Michael_Elliott · 28 January 2013]

Tidal Wave (2009)

** (out of 4)

This South Korean disaster picture deals with a wide range of people who at first are trying to deal with their personal lives but this all changes when a tsunami hits and they must fight for their lives. Apparently this film had the biggest budget for anything to come from South Korean and in fact I thought the special effects of the disaster looked pretty good but more on that in a bit. What really kills TIDAL WAVE is the first eighty-minutes, which is the time spent with the characters. It's clear that this film is just like so many American films in that we spend the majority of the running time getting to know the characters so that when the disaster does hit we care for them and want to see them survive. The problem here is that the majority of this is built around a bunch of comedy bits that simply aren't funny and in fact they really take you out of the movie. I'm really not sure what the purpose of these comedy scenes were but they should have been in a Laurel and Hardy movie and not something like this. Even the personal drama was pretty predictable as we are given the same stereotypes and same clichés that every disaster movie has followed since the 1970s. The film certainly does come alive once the tsunami hits and I thought the special effects were extremely good on the whole. Yes, there are some shots that are obviously fake but I enjoyed the imagination that went into them and we do get some pretty intense scenes. Still, after these scenes we fall back into the cliché routine with way too many scenes where someone is giving their live for someone else's and it just gets a bit repetitive after a while. TIDAL WAVE, on the whole, is a disappointment but fans of the genre will still want to check out the actual disaster bit.

Big Time Drama

[Foutainoflife · 7/10 · 4 December 2018]

I enjoyed this. However, I can't recall seeing a disaster movie with so much drama. You have to expect some drama so that you become invested in the characters but it seemed like a bit much for me. It wasn't a bad film though. If you are looking for something suspenseful this is probably not the right movie. If you want a drama film that just happens to, eventually, have a tsunami in it this is what you are looking for.

Silly and melodramatic in equal measure

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 25 September 2012]

This lacklustre disaster flick should have been so good: it features tremendously good special effects scenes of 100-metre high waves tearing through a city, laying waste to anything and everything in their path. These scenes alone are among some of the best bits I've ever watched in the whole disaster genre; destruction and mayhem on a massive scale, with carefully-crafted CGI bringing the chaos to full and authentic life.

It's a shame, then, that the surrounding movie is so poor. Tidal Wave takes an hour to get to the disaster stuff, and until that time we're treated to…Korean comedy. Now, I don't mind a bit of comedy, the quirkier the better; THE HOST had a lot of fun moments. But this comedy is something else, the comedy of ridiculous characters behaving ridiculously, almost on a sub-slapstick standard. The over-the-top acting is absolutely appalling; I avoid American comedies on principle but this is even worse than those.

Of course, disaster movies always have to build up to the disaster, and I fully understand the need to develop the characters before dropping them in the clag. But, in my mind, the film should always be about the disaster, even before it occurs: have characters making warnings that are unheeded, or build suspense and foreboding with minor events preceding it. DANTE'S PEAK is a case in point of how to achieve this. TIDAL WAVE sits in a completely different, and entirely superfluous, genre until the actual disaster occurs.

Once the chaos gets underway, things get a lot better, although there's a reliance on overwrought melodrama which will test the patience of even the most hardened viewer, I imagine. Endless scenes of characters facing death, drawn out in painful slow-motion and with maximum crying, screaming, sobbing and telling each other they love them. Such scenes are a personal pet hate of mine, and they threaten to overwhelm the film even when the going gets good. It's a real shame, as with access to those special effects TIDAL WAVE could have, and should have, been a true great.

Tidal Wave Review: Takes a bit long to arrive, but when it does, it does entertain!

[Achyut_Prashast_Singh · 6/10 · 28 March 2018]

Movie: Tidal Wave (12): Action/Drama - Korean

Positives:

• Sol Kyung-gu is impressive as always. Ha Ji-won is highly impressive as well. Rest of the cast also does a near-perfect job.
• The action/disaster scenes of the film deserve a special mention as they are very neatly executed.
• Visual effects are pretty impressive and enhance the film's entertainment to a great extent.
• The emotional scenes are impactful and have been executed with excellence.
• The story is quite good and the message of the film is appealing.

Negatives:

• The only negative is that it takes too long to arrive at the main point. Although the first half does showcase some good character development and makes us understand them even more, the comedic bits are at times overdone and could've been easily done away with. In short, it's only the editing which is a major flaw.

TIDAL WAVE is a decent disaster film which does take its own sweet time to build up, but it makes sure to reward the viewer for his/her patience, in the second half with excellent visual effects and action scenes.

Strange disaster film

[dmuel · 4/10 · 7 September 2009]

A strange, if ineffective, disaster film from Korea. Early in the film one character loses his uncle to tragic death in the Indonesian Tsunami of 2004, then the film launches into a long, uneven introduction of several characters. Some of these are romantic couples, others are kooky screwballs, while the first character drinks to smother the guilt over his dead uncle. OK, so far. But, the lives of these several characters go on for nearly an hour before we have some idea that a tsunami is about to strike Busan, a Korean city with a popular beach. Some of this introduction comes off like B grade sappy comedy, and the narrative isn't good enough to make one care, it's just enough to make the viewer impatient for the tsunami. When the tsunami hits the city with a nearly 100 foot wall of water, everyone in this movie should have died. But all survive the wall of water, for a while at least, which literally flattens some of the skyscrapers in the city. In one impossible seen, a man--along with a few automobiles--avoids being washed from a bridge even though a large ocean transport is literally hurled up against the side of it by the giant wave! After the destruction by water, the film becomes a conventional disaster film. Some of the effects are good, some are not. I think the film's initial character development was intended to gain viewer sympathies, but it's just too poorly written and too long for what eventually is just a standard disaster pic.

a Korean disaster-movie response to real chaos. here we go...

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 10 September 2009]

Koreans, apparently, have never made a big disaster movie until now. It's taken this long, until 2009, so many years after fellows in other Asian countries (like Japan or, well, Japan) have done the disaster-movie thing over and over, usually with monsters. Why is this? Perhaps Korea didn't have the budget for it - apparently, at a mere 11 million US, this is the biggest budgeted movie in Korean history, and it looks like a giant Titanic-movie as one might expect - or the intent with the subject matter. I don't know why Je-gun Yun decided now was the time, or this was the subject, but it probably has something to do with an actual giant damn tsunami taking apart coastlines all across the south-east Asian seaboard and killing hundreds of thousands and displacing so many more. It's one of those monumental disasters-of-the-decade that in its own circles (i.e. countries) is as horrible as Katrina.

So, perhaps, this is the first step towards healing: a big blockbuster that doesn't really elevate the form from previous American big-budget summer disaster-movie blockbusters, but doesn't suck like a box of Michael Bay d***s either. The film, named after a shore-line city, follows a group of characters in a series of semi (or not at all) connected plots, including one with a man who previously caused the accidental death of another while they worked on a boat during tsunami 2004 and has to reconcile with his alcoholism and a possible new love, another with a new coast-guard worker and his (unintentional) love interest, and a guy working at the weather-control center who has a very estranged relationship with his ex and his daughter who doesn't even know he's her father (since, you know, he works non-stop at a weather center tracking earthquakes and the like).

For the first hour, or maybe more, there are some big laughs and some entertainment to be had, if only on that shallow-surface level one might be familiar with in an Independence Day kind of fold-out (or for the older folks Towering Inferno). With the exception of the young coast-guard guy and the twerpy girl who is or isn't trying to court him depending on her mood, which just sucks, the plots are at least sort of engaging on a fun-dumb movie level. And even with the shots of visual effects that look terrible (and some of it is SyFy level quality), when the actual tsunami hits the city it is quite a sight and thing to experience, especially with a full audience. The problem that Yun comes with though is both the script, its uneven plot threads and hit-or-miss humor (some of it is very funny, intentionally so, including a giant explosion scene on a bridge during the tsunami climax), and in corralling some of the acting.

From what I hear, some Korean movies do swing and sway quite wildly between moods from scene to scene, and it isn't usually consistent even in the best films (exceptions I think might be Bong Joon-Ho and Chanwook Park's films). But here in Haeundae it breaks down like this: two-thirds of this is a decent crowd-pleaser, what my wife called a "mixed salad" kind of entertainment. And then in the last twenty-five minutes it turns into more or less a total weepy, so much so that you'll either fall for it completely Titanic style (and lo and behold many in the audience I saw the film with, mostly Korean-Americans or Koreans in town in NYC, were in tears), or you'll be scratching your head or simply cringing at the hysterics on display. It's never too terribly directed, but after so much of it... you wonder when it will end. It's a good start for a possible future genre Korea can take some more cracks at. It's just not something you need to rush to see. Unless you're a die-hard Roland Emmerich/Korea fan. And yes, fan of Korea, not even Korean movies.

Its all about the destruction. The rest is rather awful.

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 3 November 2009]

Painful mess of a movie concerning the people living in and around Haeundae (I believe thats the cities name) who go through various serious and comedic gyrations while officials debate the possibility of a tsunami like the one that hit on Christmas 2004 near Sumatra hitting Korea. Of course huge earthquake happens which triggers the greatly feared event.

Real mess of a movie doesn't know whether its serious or a comedy. Even by standards of Asian films which often mix moods, this is a real uneven movie.One need only watch the disaster sequences to see how terrible tragedy is inter-cut with some very silly moments. Of course it would help if we had some characters to root for but unfortunately there are only card board cut outs that are moved around.

Then again I doubt anyone would watch this film for the story, what most people want is the spectacle of the Tsunami and on that score the film is pretty good. Granted most of the effects are computer generated which results in some uneven moments (the destruction of the aquarium is pretty bottom of the barrel fake). I'm not sure its worth navigating through the talky bits of the first hour, but on DVD getting to the good stuff is going to be rather painless.

At best a rental, this is really only for people who want to see the destruction of 50 or 60 story waves crashing into a big city. All others best look elsewhere.

Best disaster movie I've ever seen

[gulthaw · 9/10 · 8 September 2011]

Usually the disaster movies take a few minutes to explain what's happening and the rest of the movie is how they face the disaster.

After seeing Haenduae I think that is the way a disaster movie should be. First, let me know the characters. Love them, hate them, laugh with them. Then, only then, show me what is happening so I can tremble when they run, cry if they die and laugh with joy if they survive.

It was the first time I saw a korean film and I enjoyed every single piece of it. Brilliant.

I don't understand the reviews saying that is bad... for me this is how all disaster movies should be.

Mostly a failure

[poikkeus · 3/10 · 18 September 2009]

Disaster movies have are part of a big tradition, and any number of them have been effective in their own ways. HAEUNDAI starts from the simple premise that an unstable range of undersea mountains may give way to a "meta-tsunami" - promising waves fifty feet high.

HAEUNDAI may have its own fanciful approach to geology, but the film divides into two sections: the first hour or so, and the rest. The first hour involves plodding, ineffectual set-up as we come to know the ensemble of characters. Consisting of drunkenness, yelling and screaming, and a hint of romance, this part of the movie would work if it were more integrated and carefully written. The remainder of the film is the disaster and its aftermath - which involves not one, but three tidal waves, each one bigger than the one before. In other words, HAEUNDAI begins by testing your patience, and delivers its disaster in a matter that's not even remotely credible.

Hollywood's THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW at least had a certain visual brilliance along with its effects and nonsensical setup. HAEUNDAI just has CGI waves and rampant melodrama. If not for the promise of disaster, I probably would have left early.

It was alright I guess..

[jameszxcvbn · 4/10 · 20 October 2009]

I watched this film with such excitement. but I'm quite disappointed of what I saw after expecting so much from the trailer.

First I'm Korean myself and was surprised to see such high CGI effect movie from a Korean director.

Although D-war had quite great CGI , haeundae was the first disaster movie from Korea.

The first part is just drama style comedy plot, which is not that great. It get's boring, and I tend to forget that I was watching a disaster movie. About hour later the movie past, first real disaster occurs. When the tsunami hit Haeundae, it was quite something, the effects were well done, and outlined the problems that would occur well. But I'm disaspointted to see only one disaster occurring. After all this wait in the movie, there's only about 10 minutes of the tsunami. Rest is just back to normal drama plot.

Surprisingly Rotten Movie

[alienworlds · 9 October 2009]

I have seen quite a few Asian films from many different countries in Asia and this one was by far the worst one I have ever seen. Seriously marred by bad acting over 75 percent of the time, the concept of a Tsunami movie was buried beneath ten feet of choppy unrelated inconsequential events. I was not sure if it really was about a Tsunami until near the end-it seemed to be mostly about nothing but a raving alcoholic imbecile with a little boy. I would not recommend this film to anyone.Compared to The Host, a recent Korean horror-Sf film, Heaundea, comes off like a terrible commercial for international travel, as in, this is one vacation you would not want to take.

Not an American disaster film

[Some_Guy_Whose_Not_You · 7/10 · 12 August 2012]

Straight to the point.

This is not an American movie. If you intend to watch this and are expecting an action packed disaster film full of pretty images from start to finish, well then you'll likely be disappointed.

This is a disaster flick, which takes it's time showing you the relationships it's various characters share. The disaster is always looming and by the time it occurs you are deeply invested in the characters.

Again thins is not an American disaster flick. If you want nonstop action go somewhere else.

I would compare this movie to James Cameron's Titanic. No it's not a love story, but like Titanic you know what's going to happen, You also spend so much time with the various characters that you actually do care about what may or may not happen to them.

I hope this helps those of you that may be undecided as to whether or not you want to see this film. .

This is an insult to Asian (Korean) Cinema

[ele0615 · 1/10 · 21 December 2010]

The film Haeundae is more than a disappointment. This was just a marketing heist that tries to cover up for a very bad movie.

The crappy CGI, the shabby script (full of clichés) and retarded acting makes this the worst Korean movie in recent memory. The director of this film, J.K. Youn, has been notorious for literally copying American comedy hits of the past and 'translating' them into Korean for quick bucks movies.

Of course I didn't expect any originality or authenticity from the director J.K. Youn, but this movie just scrapes the bottom of the barrel... I mean this insults my intelligence! As a fan of Asian cinema and Korean cinema I was actually angry after watching this movie. There are great Korean filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho (The Host) and Park Chan Wook (Oldboy). But when I see a film like this I began to wonder what kind of people make this kind stuff. I read that the production cost for this movie was more than that of The Host. Haeundae is just a waste of resources (as well as your time if you care to watch this) for copycat filmmaker with no imagination and poor visual effects.

Haeundae is not a disaster movie, it's major disaster itself!

Titanic was worse

[gyan_f · 6/10 · 27 January 2010]

When I first watched Titanic on the big screen I could only wait for the iceberg so that the film would end quickly. Bring on the iceberg!I said to myself. The iceberg arrived duly! But no! The Titanic refused to sink!

With this film (Tidal Wave)I did want the tsunami to arrive quickly. The tsunami did arrive after the cheesy romantic start off and, mercifully, the film did end quickly On the plus side, the special effects were awesome! Most Westerners would think that the acting was woody, but then they have no concept of the inscrutable faces of their Eastern brethren!

Tsunami?.... the Korean title seems to refer to the event location

[darkmax · 5/10 · 9 October 2009]

Wow... I've seen quite a few disaster movies, and this one was disastrous.

It began as a comedy and ended up a sorrowful one... Please set the mood right. The pacing of the movie was relatively even, and yes, the coming tsunami was... underwhelming.

The main actors are all pretty convincing, but the supporting ones are just that.... supporting ones. Their acting could only be called flaky, at best.

Let me get this out of my system. Japanese have one of the most advanced earthquake/tsunami early warning systems in the world. the Korean scientists made their Japanese counterparts sound like they were extremely I thought the ending was also too drawn out and long-winded. This movie would only be good when you are left with nothing better to watch.

a human and a natural disaster movie...

[ops-52535 · 6/10 · 26 October 2020]

Out of proporstions, where , if your on the hunt for tsunamiaction, you may spin fast forward to 75 minutes into the movie, which are pretty neat, but damaged by to much mediocre screams of sorrow as one after the other the cast drowns and sucumb to the frothing waters. without exhagerration i might say that this film covers all film genres except porn...

its a solid film productionwise and very korean at its nervy edge, though the cast isnt at its best, the score are as usual very nice and much of its filmography are great. its a disaster cathegory that is hard to make look real and some cheesy scenes do show greenscreen and cgi at low level, but also some funny scenes that made me laugh out loud, where a man is bombarded with shipping containers at a bridge, superb shoots.

but there are far too much romance and mediocre and boring human connections, that makes this film feel draged out of porportions and slow, so therefore just a little recommend from the grumpy old man

Disastrous

[petra-59 · 3/10 · 4 July 2010]

This wasn't so much a Disaster Movie as a disaster of a movie. It promised much and delivered little. The first 60 minutes was devoted to silly stories of silly people, for whom it was impossible to have any feelings other than boredom and irritation. Most of the characters were obviously stock characters rather than people. Perhaps we were expected to sympathise with them in their daily lives, but in effect I found I couldn't care at all. In fact I was on the side of the tsunami. If they all got wiped out, it really wouldn't have affected me at all. Not build-up to the expected tsunami. No suspense. No excitement. And then we got to the special effects. Except that there weren't any. 100 minutes just to prove that the Koreans cannot make a film. But let's be generous and award it 3 out of 10. And not watch any more Korean movies.

GRANDMA IS A LEGEND

[chrissiespilleth · 10/10 · 28 August 2020]

THAT GRANDMA SURVIVED A MEGA TSUNAMI SHE IS A BOSS I RECOMMENCEMENT THIS MOVIE I THINK IT IS PERFECT FOR ALL, IT IS A STRONG MESSAGE THAT GRANDMAS ARE LEGENDARY, AMAZING.

Takes a while to get going, but improves as it goes along

[Woodyanders · 7/10 · 22 April 2020]

A massive tsunami wave caused by an undersea earthquake hits the vacation spot of Haeundae on the south coast of Korea.

While writer/director JY Youn deserves praise for taking time to develop the mostly engaging and interesting characters, the first hour or so of this film proves to be kind of a slog to endure thanks to way too much goofy humor and a teeming surplus of sappy soap opera-style melodramatics. Fortunately, things get extremely intense and exciting after the big one hits: The special effects are pretty spectacular, the mondo destructo sequences are breathtaking in their grand scope and severity, and the various heroic sacrifices and last minute reconciliations possess a certain endearingly cornball charm. Among the stand-outs in the large cast are Ji-won Ha as the feisty Gang Yeon-heui, Kyung-gu Sol as regretful fisherman Man-shik, Min-ki Lee as likable lifeguard Hyeong-shik, Ye-won Kang as the stuck-up Hee-mee, and In-kwon Kim as the bumbling Dong-chun. A bit drawn out, but overall a solid and enjoyable disaster epic.

Insert pun about bad disaster movies here

[disturbedmoose · 5/10 · 5 May 2010]

In South Korea, 'Haeundae' has enjoyed a somewhat baffling popularity. Despite having almost no redeeming qualities, it has become one of Korea's top grossing films. Part of this popularity is due to 'Haeundae' being the first disaster movie that the country has made. They've seen New York and L.A. get pummeled plenty, but never home. Additionally, while a tidal wave is the kind of disaster Americans reserve for a movie of the week, the immediacy of the disaster makes it more effective to the home audience than something that threatens the entire planet.

For perspective, the American '2012' was released in Korea with the usual pomp and ceremony, but failed to impress because of its lack of story. It wasn't believable, so the Korean audience disconnected. A tidal wave is real, possible and precedented; which goes a long way in explaining the film's popularity in country where Science-fiction is just another crazy thing that the Japanese do.

That said, this movie is actually really, really bad. It's not painfully bad; sitting through the film is not difficult so much as pointless. The first hour of the film is spent on a lot of campy story arcs. They are all drippingly melodramatic and are ultimately just lazy. There's the woman whose father died in the last big storm the region faced. She's in love with a guy who worked with her father and, secretly, blames himself for the man's death. (This kind of layered family drama is central to most of Korea's modern-era dramatic TV series.) Then there's the slacker friend whose mother keeps trying to find him a job. Slacker guy's younger brother is a competent lifeguard who saves a vapid, conniving tourist girl from drowning and she quickly becomes infatuated with him. The film gives us the obligatory scientist who sees the disaster coming, but is unheeded. The scientist is divorced and his biological daughter doesn't know who he is, yet completely by chance runs into his ex and the significantly younger man she's dating.

If you're keeping score, that's three unresolved romances, three family conflicts, two life-changing secrets and zero natural disasters. In true movie-of-the-week form, the first half of the movie is a chess game of the filmmakers putting pieces into position for the most emotionally devastating finale they can. Unfortunately, anyone who has seen more than two disaster movies sees exactly what they're doing and it's difficult to take such blatant and artless tear-jerker set-ups seriously.

After Slacker ruins things between Daughter and Guilt-guy, Lifeguard realizes that Tourist-girl is probably psychotic, Scientist gets mad at Ex for leaving Little Girl unattended, and Slacker's Mom sets off to buy her son nice shoes for an interview; we get the tidal wave which feels less like a disaster than sweet relief from the two-dimensional melodrama we just spent an hour sitting through, wistfully guessing which of the undeveloped stock characters is going to die.

The special effects sequence is passable, but lackluster as it is over way too fast (though you sort of have to expect that from a tidal wave) and the rest of the film is people trying to get rescued from the ensuing flood and a second, aftershock wave. The emotional power of these scenes is undercut by a lot of elements; not surprising, given the weak build-up.

The actors spend most of the film either being way to earnest or looking like even they can't believe they're doing this. Uhm Jeong-hwa, who turns in powerful performances in her other films, looks glazed and contractually obligated for the entire film. The defining characteristics of each character, most of which are negative, are shoved so violently down our throats that it's impossible to care about any of them.

**Here be SPOILERS** Slacker escapes falling wreckage in a sequence that looks like it was ripped straight out of Looney Tunes. Lifeguard sacrifices himself in a move that seems less "heroic" than "I've finally escaped the crazy girl". Scientist and Ex stand on top of a building and are killed by the second wave when, by the film's own logic, they could have survived by simply running to the nearby stairwell. A pair of dress shoes float by implying that Slacker's Mom died and that it is kind of his fault, even though she was just as likely to die if she had been at home. The film closes with Daughter and Guilt-guy getting it together and Daughter immediately turning into a shrill, whining harpy. **End Spoilers**

Disaster films is that they are about two things: 1) the cheap thrill of CGI destruction and 2) the emotional impact of that destruction. 'Haeundae' delivers neither. The destruction is over too quickly and the one extended scene involving destruction (see Spoilers above) is a slap- stick routine. There is no emotional impact because there is all of one likable character and he is surrounded by such unlikable people that death looks really attractive.

The film does avoid a lot of non-sequiturs, keeping things coherent, if thin. So, the film saves itself from being painful to watch by being predictable in a vaguely comfortable kind of way. It's dull and shoots itself in the foot repeatedly, but could be enjoyable for B-movie fans and people who appreciate the over-the-top Asian style.

I love disasters movies

[zhyarTheChosen · 4/10 · 9 September 2019]

I like watching disasters movie but this one doesn't have anything else