The Yellow Sea

Hong-jin Na clearly didn't have slightest idea what kind of movie he wanted to direct. Starts as a serious and realistic thriller, but after the first killing it changes into a cheesy and poorly written action junk. Gu-Nam transforms from lost, powerless person to some kind of superhero who outruns police cars and bullets in his arm or hatchet in his back doesn't change his physical condition even the slightest bit. Well at least it's really violent so I wasn't completely bored.

The first half is great.

A tedious and poorly plotted montage of people hitting each other with knives and axes.

Knives. Everywhere.

Overall Enjoyment: 25/40, Plot/Themes: 10/20, Cinematography/Direction: 15/20, Acting/Writing: 10/20 Not quite as good as his previous work The Chaser. The yellow sea has a very complicated narrative that isn't very clear at times. It requires you to pay attention and remember many different names, which is difficult since it's in korean. The payoff is fantastic action sequences, and hands down some of the best chase sequences I've ever seen in a movie.

It is a special movie, it has a heavy, contrived story but it gets to tell it without being boring while injecting Asian-style high-octane action without overdoing it (well maybe a tad bit overdoing it, but still at an excusable level). At one point, it can be read as a big allegory of "borders" not only between countries, counties but classes, minorities as we watch this poor guy trying to live while being completely invisible. Really strong stuff.

Slow drama turns into relentless, hard-hitting action.

Like they say, this movie is a grower. Brutal, fatalistic action; grim as hell crime syndicate, one way ticket to oblivion - top notch Korean action movie. There is some plot holes and the reality factor is missing at some key parts. That drags this movie down, specially when it aims to be realistic in nature and spirit.

The opening sequences mislead the viewer into believing that the filmmakers are aiming for something more than the overlong, bloody and generic action movie that this turns out to be, with increasing amounts of unconvincing nonsense papered over with an equally unconvincing use of handheld camera.

It has some very decent action sequences. But it's unnecessary long and overly complicated.

81.500

maybe the sea is yellow cuz fish piss or sumptin

94

although the movie had a slow rhythm on its first quarter but it was a beginning for the rest of the movie. the director had the art to manage the action sequences and create suspense. the actors acted naturally. for me, the difference between this movie and "Mission Impossible 4" was the logic of the events. of course the plot had some weaknesses.

the chaser'dan sonra merakla bekledigim bir filmdi. sinematografisi basta gerceklik duygusunu yansitabilirken, zayif dramasi ve amerikanvari aksiyonu (araba sahneleri) ve uzun suresi izlenilebilirligini dusurdu.bittiginde hicbir sey anlamadim. basrolde balta-bicak ve oldboyumsu kotu adamiyla (filme hareket katan tek karakter) vasatalti bir gerilim-aksiyon.

Complicated stuff, I lost the plot half way. Kept watching because of the action scenes.

another good addition to Korean cinema.

Three key escape scenes that not only are unbelievable, but unimaginative--the filmmakers make almost no attempt to create a satisfying escape. Maybe they thought good old fashioned stunts, foot races and car crashes would be sufficient (and there's something nice about this old school approach--read: no cgi). And I might have overlooked these issues if I cared more about the characters and the plot wasn't so convoluted. (psi:70)