The Great Flood

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://movieswetextedabout.com/the-great-flood-movie-review-kim-da-mi-shines-in-a-convoluted-disaster-flick/ "The Great Flood ends up being a bittersweet experience, promising an immersion into the human soul in the face of the abyss, but floating only on the surface of several ideas without truly diving into any of them. It benefits immensely from the talent of Kim Da-mi, but it's pulled down by a script that can't decide if it wants to be an action blockbuster or a philosophical essay. An ambitious project that forgot to solidify its emotional foundations before opening the floodgates of scientific complexity." Rating: C

"The Great Flood" could have been the most remarkable disaster movie I've ever seen and indeed, on a certain level, it still is. This film successfully marries up the comfortable, if messy, normality of everyday suburban life, with a, by degree, increasingly terrifying disaster. It starts slowly, with heavy rain but then we see water building to oceanic levels, outside tall South Korean apartment blocks, topped off by horrifying giant waves, that quite literally, shatter the illusion of a safe and predictable future. Viewed from this perspective this film is simply stunning. Topped off by superb, sensibly understated but nonetheless emotionally girpping performances, from the talented cast. As another reviewer aptly points out, the departure from this script, is where this film comes up short. Indeed, an "essay on morality" and maybe humanism, is the perfect description of what this film tries to achieve in its second half, but never quite gets there. Its biggest problem is it does not set the stage for this sudden transition in its story, in a concise or convincing, manner. You might also argue it could have achieved the same emotional outcome, by simply furthering, the initial premise it so compellingly established. In summary, "The Great Flood" is a film of two parts. The first part is amazing, the second half muddies the waters, dissipating a message, about what it means to be truly human, it was already well on its way, to making.