Movie:Tsunami At Haeundae

Tsunami At Haeundae

Starring: Sul Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won, Pak Joong-hoon, Uhm Jung-hwa

Director: JK Youn

Genre: Drama

In 10 minutes a super-tsunami will hit that very spot you're standing on. What will you do? Where would you go? Can you save the one you love?

Release Date: 17-Sep-2009

Language: Korean

Distributor: RAM Entertainment

Synopsis:

Popular vacation spot, Haeundae draws over one million visitors to its beaches every year. This year, every single visitor's and resident's lives will change forever as a super-tsunami heads straight for them at over 500-miles per hour.

My Comment/Review:

Starring: Sul Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won, Pak Joong-hoon, Uhm Jung-hwa

There has been only two movies that has left me in tears – Old Yeller (a Disney classic I caught on TV several years back) and the 1998 doomsday movie, Deep Impact, which left the entire cinema in tears, not having even a drop running down your cheek meant you were heartless.

Now I can add Korean film Tsunami At Haeundae to my list.

RUN: Run all you like but some of you are going down

This is a disaster movie so expect the massive body count. But as with many disaster filcks, there's also the human story. This one begins with Man-sik promising a fellow fisherman, as a giant wave approaches their fishing vessel, that he would look out for his daughter, Yeon-hee.

Fast forward four years on and Man-sik and Yeon-hee remain friends with the former still keeping an eye over his trust. The audience is afforded a glimpse into the ordinary lives of the people of Haeundae before all Hell breaks loose.

In the few seconds when the tsunami hits, you get a sense of what it must have felt like for those caught up in the real tsunami that ripped through this region in 2004.

HOLD ON: So are you going to survive this?

Director JK Youn has done an excellent job of drawing his audiences into the lives of the movie's characters because when the imminent disaster strikes, you feel for these people and that's when your eyes will start to well up.

Tsunami At Haeundae is Korea's very first disaster movie and its most expensive at a whopping US$11 million. While you wait for director Roland Emmerich's blockbuster doomsday movie to hit our shores later this year, don't overlook this Korean movie. And don't forget that box of tissues.

Making The Grade: