Tidal Wave

Tidal Wave

2009 "There is No Escape from Nature's Wrath."
Tidal Wave
Tidal Wave

Tidal Wave

5.5 | 2h0m | en | Drama

On Haeundae Beach, a guilt-ridden fisherman takes care of a woman whose father accidentally got killed. A scientist reunites with his ex-wife and a daughter who doesn't even remember his face. And a poor rescue worker falls in love with a rich city girl. When they all find out a gigantic tsunami will hit the beach, they realize they only have 10 minutes to escape.

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5.5 | 2h0m | en | Drama , Action , Thriller | More Info
Released: July. 22,2009 | Released Producted By: Polygon Entertainment , CJ Entertainment Country: South Korea Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

On Haeundae Beach, a guilt-ridden fisherman takes care of a woman whose father accidentally got killed. A scientist reunites with his ex-wife and a daughter who doesn't even remember his face. And a poor rescue worker falls in love with a rich city girl. When they all find out a gigantic tsunami will hit the beach, they realize they only have 10 minutes to escape.

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Cast

Sol Kyung-gu , Ha Ji-won , Park Joong-hoon

Director

Nanci Noblett

Producted By

Polygon Entertainment , CJ Entertainment

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Reviews

hongkong666 What a weird movie. First thing to notice is, that the visual of the film looks pretty ok. Some decent camera work was definetely one of the stronger sides of Tidal Wave aka Haeundae. Being a Korean disaster movie I already had some worries due to experiences in the past with movies coming from Asia. And I didn't have to wait long. Immediately those horrible nonsense dialogues came up, causing that you won't like any of the characters at all. Basically everybody without a high degree of any sort falls into this category and all the interactions and relations don't matter anymore. You just want the wave erase 95% of the cast right from the spot and show us epic slow motion shots of how entires cities get washed away. Romantic aspects, and there were quite a few which were forced upon us all fall flat and appear unrealistic. The funny thing is, they are not! Living in Asia myself I can tell first hand that romantic issues are handled a lot more different, very indirect and seemingly naive. It may be authentic to a certain point, but it is definetely painful to watch. Another aspect of the 101 of Asian film making (of course there are exceptions to the rule) is at least one goofy character who always has to be the clown, no matter how serious the topic of the movie may be. As if there is a Comedy quota that has to be reached by any means. And yes, Tidal Wave deals with all of these flaws excessively. And this makes most of these films nearly unwatchable. The only good aspects of this movie are indeed the disaster elements themself, even though they rely on extreme usage of CGI as far as the eye can see. Some of these shots were really epic and fun to watch. But what does this help if you have suffer through this gruesome acting? Sad to say, but this movie would have been beeter if they wouldn't have even bothered in building up characters or relations of any kind and instead simply go nuts on epic destruction. 10 to 15 good minutes won't erase over one hour of uselessness.
kluseba If you expect a catastrophe movie with a lot of Hollywood action and many special effects in the key of "2012", stay away from this Korean flick. If you are looking for a slice of life and would like to take a look on different story lines and diversified characters and how they live before, during and shortly after the disaster, you must check this movie out. It focuses on philosophical, emotional and simply human topics such as forgiveness, responsibility, pride, egoism, friendship, love and sacrifice.The characters are introduced slowly and the movie might not be what one expects first but rather a portrait of Korean society with some dramatic touches as well as some humorous passages. This slow paced rhythm though helps to get connected to the characters and will keep you on the edges of your seat when the tidal wave finally hits the surprisingly modern and beautiful city of Busan in South Korea. The acting is great and convincing and the filming modern and accurate.Only the special effects are less convincing but not as bad as many critics would cite. I also regret that the movie didn't show that much of what happened to the different characters after the disaster. In fact, one could have easily made an entire television series with all the engaging side stories. It would have been better than any currently running American soap. The disaster itself is only a detail within the movie because this film is about something bigger than action, adventure or devastation. It shows us a slice of life in South Korea and makes us understand some parts of this interesting society and culture.
BA_Harrison I experienced quite a range of emotions whilst watching Haeundae (AKA Tidal Wave): the first hour, which is spent introducing its various clichéd two dimensional characters, was tedious in the extreme and I found myself impatiently urging the cataclysmic forces of nature to get a move on and wreak some havoc, thus putting an end to my misery; however, when the mega-tsunami finally hit, I felt rather guilty for having been so keen to see some death and destruction, the horrific sight of the massive wave crashing down on the helpless people of Korea immediately bringing to mind the very real scenes of destruction from the tsunami disaster of Christmas 2004.So I'm sitting there feeling morose, reflecting on the real-life horror of such a phenomenon—how terrifying it must be to be confronted by an unstoppable wall of water—when the film slips into cheesy post-tsunami mode, and I'm presented with umpteen tried-and-tested disaster movie clichés as the survivors face further danger amidst the floods. These include the obligatory 'electrical cable in the water' routine, a well executed scene with a little girl being swept out of the window of a high rise building, and an awful slapstick moment that sees the film's comedy relief dodging metal containers as they fall from an upended freight ship. I'm now feeling much better, having a blast with what I realise is cornball blockbuster material of the purest kind.And then a second wave hits the city, killing even more people, including the little girl's parents, and it's lump-in-throat time again!Although Haeundae doesn't qualify as an essential disaster flick in my book, the build up being overlong, the characters not all that memorable, and the formula predictable, the special effects are much better than I expected and the mayhem is spectacular enough to make this film worth a go if you get the chance.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.
Siamois Disaster movies have been fine-tuned by Hollywood into a fairly reliable and polished formula. One of the ingredient is usually a good dose of melodrama. Now, Asian cinema as well, is known to spice movies with melodramatic bits. It therefore doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what an Asian take on disaster movies is gonna end up looking like: A melodramatic extravaganza.The first hour of Haeundae (also known as Tidal Wave in English) consists of setting up the table by presenting the cookie-cutter characters (played by a rather weak cast which tends to overact) and their clichés relationships. The script and story is pretty standard for the genre (you've seen all of this in Twister, Armageddon, many of Emmerich's movies and so on) but the writing is just... immature. As if the script came straight from a high school play. I must still praise some of the comedy bits, which are indeed funny and make certain characters more likable. Unfortunately, the dramatic bits are as (unintentionally) funny as the comedic ones and that is a problem. The final part of the film is where the disaster unleashes and ends up being a poor payoff. The special effects, cinematography, editing are uninspired. This film suffers from poor direction and you immediately feel like you'd rather catch an old disaster flick on cable TV. But what absolutely kills the disaster scenes are the tear-jerking attempts. It's like the director is trying to squeeze a dehydrated fruit and fill a glass with orange juice. It still deserves a 3 because there is some heart to it and it maintains your interest with some of the quirky characters. Plus a few comedic bits are also worth it. But if you're not a fan of the genre, expect a big waste of time.