'The Great Flood' review: Swimming lessons with Kim Da-mi

Netflix

It sure is comforting to know that horrifying natural disasters are so unrealistic in the real world and we'll only encounter them in motion pictures. At any rate, we shall wait for our forthcoming demise at the hands of mother nature and check out The Great Flood (대홍수 in Korean), which introduces us to a different mother. The end of the world is here and a massive flood is annihilating the planet. In a bleak apartment building in Seoul, South Korea, we follow Gu An-na (Kim Da-mi), the aforementioned mom. She and her young son Ja-in (Kwon Eun-sung) wake up one morning just to find the water rising and their neighbours hurrying to get to higher ground. Soon enough, the floodwater transforms into an unrelenting foe and the duo tries to survive with help from Son Hee-jo (Park Hae-soo), a mysterious operative sent to retrieve An-na because she is perhaps more important than she seems on the surface.

The Great Flood itself is fortunately not a complete disaster, thanks to the committed Kim Da-mi in the lead role and solid craftsmanship, but it does eventually crumble under the heavy weight of convolution and incoherence. Writer-director Kim Byung-woo sets out to create a big blockbuster spectacle in the sci-fi realm before shifting the focus to headier ideas about a possible second chance for humanity and what it may take to get there. Most of the first 35 minutes is spent in a pure survival thriller mode, and that is also the most effective and affecting section. Kim Da-mi and Kwon together make their mother-son dynamic very believable—we can largely forgive spending time with a super annoying kid when it's performed so convincingly—and the tension is palpable. Kim Da-mi in particular gives a performance with no vanity, and instead with plenty of sincerity, emotion and even physicality, carrying the story on her shoulders.

Physicality in general plays a key role here as the thrills come from a wonderful combination of SFX*, production design* and stunt work*. Those first 35 minutes and a couple sequences later on are truly superb, but they also turn into a distant memory because Kim Byung-woo's script is so uneven, and even his direction leaves a lot to be desired in the second half. Some warning signs are there immediately as the writing adds unnecessary, ham-fisted remarks about the Gus' past in order to make water and drowning more traumatic, and this is often paired with other sorts of awkward exposition. When will these movies realise that a world-ending catastrophe is enough when it comes to creating fear, friction and stakes?

Towards the middle, the dialogue and scenes become rather repetitive, making a thriller something it should never be: downright dull. I, for one, started to check out for entire scenes and I'm sure that won't be an uncommon experience. Just as an example, only my own research just now reminded me that An-na is even an esteemed researcher. I had completely forgotten why Hee-jo was looking for her. He is also a blank page as far as characterisation goes.

Once we reach the final third and the film embraces hard sci-fi, you're simply waiting to be done with it. At that point, it's hard to grasp what Kim Byung-woo and his collaborators are trying to say or explore here. It forgets the human part that made the beginning gripping, and the notions of survival, legacy, parenthood and dexterity are swept aside. Worst of all, they're replaced by some of the year's worst VFX*, terribly written and edited* flashbacks, and a musical score* that is throwing undercooked spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks (spoiler: almost none of it does). Therefore, the spectacle of it all becomes an eye- and earsore as well. The execution does not match the ambition. Jeez, what a letdown.

Smileys: SFX, Kim Da-mi

Frowneys: Screenplay, VFX, characterisation

Kids be making waves.

2.5/5

[*Editor's note: Apologies for any missing or insufficient credits. Netflix did not provide proper information regarding the film before the publication of this review and the credits were in Korean.]

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