Tsunami at Haeundae ~ review

When it comes to Korean movies, I always looking forward for their horror offering. But this time, it's a disaster movie. As bad as I want to watch their horror movies, I felt like I should not miss this one too. Maybe it will turn out good. Maybe....

Tsunami at Haeundae has a simple premise; people living their lives at the gorgeous and famous beach in Korea, earthquake deep in the ocean sea occurred, mega tsunami came, and how the people survive the ordeal, or for some how they died. There's also a typical character who knows about the arrival of the tsunami and try to warned the authority but being ignored instead. Everything seems cliche. But cliche isn't exactly a bad thing.

The plot was somewhat separated into two. The 1st half of the movie focus on the introduction and development of the characters. Audience will get to know the central characters that will be involved in the tragedy, their relationships, and their personal struggles. The 2nd half of the movie will involve 2 big tsunamis, a lot of screaming and crying, and a lot of dying. I have to admit though there are some parts that I did not understand in the plot like the relationship between two male characters. It's either the plot did not explain enough or the translation sucks.

The development of the characters in the 1st half did help a lot in giving the audiences the chance to relate to them. We get to see their personal problems, and how they overcome their differences when the disaster strike. It's not all action and no drama. In fact, it was quite balance between the two. The emotions and actions felt real. Who says a disaster movie should all be about major over-the-top destruction? But of course there are some scenes that did not look logic. No need for me to explain in detail there because in my opinion these things are common in this type of movie.

So what about the acting? The actors did a good job in portraying their characters. However, I only recognized two of the actors; Ha Ji-won (from the horror movie Phone) and Uhm Jung-hwa (from various TV series). Hopefully this movie will provide more exposure to the other actors as well.

Overall, I give this movie 3 and a half stars. As many of you may have heard, Tsunami at Haeundae is billed as the 1st disaster film of South Korea. For a first-timer, I'd say they did a pretty good job. Congratulations!


Image source: star-ecentral