Yorick I guess I'm a minority of one but I don't get the praise. Overkill + Repetition + Incoherence = What, exactly? A good movie buried somewhere. The filmmakers seemed to take the approach that if they have one gang of gangsters running around incoherently then 3 (I think) gangs of gangsters running around incoherently is 3 times better. If we have one interminable car chase in the city then 20 interminable car chases in the city is 20 times better. If we have one bloody poorly lit incoherent knife-and-ax fight, then 20 bloody poorly lit incoherent knife-and-ax fights is 20 times better. (By the way, don't they have guns in Asia?) I will say, however, the ending is cool.

Shreshtha Mani Choudhary The Yellow Sea directed by Hong-jin Na is a thriller full of blood thirsty and vicious villeins ,and done in a way only our Koreans friends know how to.The films starts with the main character (Jung-woo Ha) who is a taxi driver struggling to return the money he took to send his wife to work in Korea.Now his wife hasn't contacted him in months.He has no money to pay his debt as his wife's not sending him any money.He is gambling ,picking fights and enduring treats.Then he is introduced to a man (Yun-seok Kim) who can solve all his problems in return for a simple job.The film is filled with trademark Korean type crude fights involving hacking, chopping, slashing and blood splattered on walls and floor.The movie looked in its element while dealing with violence but losses its edge when treading on other fields.Acting is great throughout but sadly its not enough to keep you hooked.The director's previous feature The Chaser kept you immersed in its tension but don't expect the same here.Similar shaky use of camera in The Bourne Ultimatum bothered some but not me.It did bothered me this time around.The overall background score and sound mixing seems choppy too.The Yellow Sea is not a bad film but its not a good one either.It surely has its moments but promises something it never delivers.It might have been the absence of a moral thread to connect and bind the whole film together.At the end its a film that could have been so good but it's undone by its overlong affair with apathy.Disappointing.

Leofwine_draca An absolutely spectacular Korean thriller that a) does everything perfectly and b) engages and involves the viewer like few other films. South Korea is currently one of the hottest places in the world for film-makers; it was only last year that I saw the excellent MAN FROM NOWHERE for the first time, a movie that soon became a favourite. THE YELLOW SEA follows suit. Although it's a two-and-a-half-hour movie, it grips you from the outset and never lets you go.If only Western cinema would take as many risks and gambles as this film does. It's not an easy watch; pretty much the entire cast is populated by criminals and murderers, and even the protagonist is a man who thinks nothing of taking on a contract killing job. Yet he becomes a character you root for, purely because he's less evil than the others out to get him; he appears to be a man of his word, at least as far as we can tell, and that counts for something in a dog-eat-dog world.The film reunites the director and two stars of the excellent serial killer flick THE CHASER but THE YELLOW SEA is a different beast entirely: a wronged man-style thriller if you will. It packs a great deal of thoroughly exciting chase and action sequences into the running time; inspired by THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, each of these employs the shaky-cam to excellent effect, where you never miss out on the action. This is also an exceptionally violent film packed with knife and hatchet fights and brutal slayings that sit alongside more Hollywoodised foot and car chases.The actors are excellent in their parts; so believable that you never question them for a second. Ha Jung-woo is particularly good because he never does anything to make you sympathise with him for a moment, and yet you end up doing so anyway; he's just a small-time guy who gets out of his depth and has to use his ingenuity to survive. His journey is one of the most gritty and realistic I've ever seen in film; it doesn't get any more engrossing than this. Kim Yun-seok, in contrast, playing people-smuggler Myun, is larger than life and his character's ability to survive against overwhelming odds is similarly profound. Beautifully shot and expertly scripted, The Yellow Sea is an example of cinema as it should be; if only more films were like this!

daffy201004 If you enjoy The Chaser or The man from nowhere, You will absolutely love this film. In fact, if you love thrillers...this is for you. The villain, is probably one of the worst villains ever, is also very funny. The main character who has questionable orals is still very likable and found myself rooting for him. The basic plot in one sentence is pretty much an assassination of a professor gone wrong. The main character find himself being chased by the police, the villain, and someone else (which I won't reveal or else it will be a spoiler.) The action scenes are so brutal but realistic. The scenes are fast and real tense. There twists are so good and fitting for this thriller. The action will keep you on the edge of your seat but your mind will be asking a few questions which will be all answered if you pay attention close enough. All the actors were excellent. The guy who played the villain was the "good" guy in the The Chaser. He played his character so well, I didn't even recognize him. His speech, mannerisms, and expressions had me believe his character. I also loved the ending which could be debated.