A Strong, Gripping Start
Step into The Great Flood and from the very first moment, you’re struck by a tidal wave of chaos.The water just swallows up skyscrapers whole – it’s a rapid descent into disaster. Seoul gets turned into an underwater graveyard in a matter of minutes. Then suddenly you’re thrust into the shoes of An-na, an AI researcher who’s frantically clutching onto her little boy Ja-in in the middle of a rapidly flooding apartment building and that’s the moment when the whole thing just clicks. For the first 30 mins? It’s absolutely gripping. Director Kim Byung-wo who previously showed us his knack for ratcheting up tension in “The Terror Live“, opens this disaster movie with a sense of urgency that’s right on the edge of making you forget to breathe. This time, the man’s working with a bigger budget, an even wider canvas and much higher stakes – and at first, you can really tell.
The water just keeps rising through apartment corridors, it’s like nothing can stop it. Neighbours desperate to keep themselves and their families safe – but it’s all for naught. Panic sets in as it dawns on people that they are just going to be swept away. Now An-na, who as an AI researcher is supposed to be a real key player in humanity’s survival, is just trying to save her own kid. But the contradictions in her character really grate on you. She gets separated from Ja-in during this one vicious wave, and then security officer Hee-jo (the guy from Squid Game – Park Hae-soo gives an absolute top-notch performance) yanks her out of the water – and in that moment, it’s like the whole movie just shifts. He and An-na go from being complete strangers to being the emotional heart of the movie. But here’s what kills me – why is he going to such lengths to find her? What does he know that she doesn’t? These questions just kept burning away in the back of my mind to the point where i just couldn’t help but keep going.
Visual Effects & Production Design
The flood scenes are the area where the film’s production really does shine. The VFX people at Gimpville created water that feels like it’s really pouring down, its relentless and terrifying. Buildings collapse and the sheer weight of the water feels real, it doesn’t feel like it’s been Hollywood-ised. When people are fighting to stay afloat and somehow trying to get some air into their lungs, the way they move in the water feels realistic. And that sells it – that sells the danger in this movie. In short, that’s an area where the film’s budget really pays off. Worth mentioning too is the production design – watching a once-familiar cityscape become a death trap underwater in a matter of minutes is in a word: devastating to the point where you actually want to watch it.
The Big Twist
Then comes the twist that’s supposed to explain everything. But here’s the thing – the film either nails it or completely falls apart, depending on your tolerance for the chaos that follows.
The whole flood? Not real. It’s all just a simulation. An-na isn’t a human being – she’s a digital construct created from the memories of a real woman who died in a real flood that wiped out the Earth. Ja-in isn’t her son – he’s a genetically engineered test subject designed to find out whether or not emotions can be programmed into synthetic humans. Hee-jo isn’t trying to save An-na out of kindness – he’s just doing his job. The reason is that humanity – faced with a choice between extinction from asteroid impacts and trying to rebuild itself through artificial beings – has decided to put its faith in robots. But the thing is, robots lack something crucial – the genuine emotional bonds that make humans care for each other.
The Darwin Center & Repeating Simulations
The scientists at the Darwin Center (who An-na worked for before they uploaded her memories) have been running her through the same “doomsday scenario” thousands of times to see how she reacts. Each time, the details change – the number on her shirt, the little variations in the environment. The film wants you to pick up on these glitches – clues that tell you reality isn’t what you thought it was.
This is all pretty mind puzzling stuff: Can artificial beings develop real emotions? Can love exist if it’s programmed? What makes human feelings feel real if it’s just a matter of the right neurons firing at the right time? Does it even matter if An-na’s drive to save Ja-in is coming from a computer program versus some genetic predisposition?
Where the Film Starts to Falter
But here’s the problem – the film doesn’t have the time to really explore all these ideas.
By the time they spring the simulation twist on us, we’re already getting pretty fed up. Show has been rushing us along to this point, and we don’t get a chance to sit with the mystery and appreciate the clues the film has dropped. When the film tells us the truth, it feels like a cheat.
Performances
Kim Da-mi & Park Hae-soo try as hard as they can to ground this increasingly out there material in something we can actually relate to. It’s Da-mi in particular who nails the desperation of a mother – even though An-na’s not technically a mom by birth, that’s how she feels, and that’s what makes her searching for Ja-in so believable. When she’s panicking or feeling betrayed – both of which come after she discovers what Hee-jo really is – these are moments that feel rooted in real human emotion. And it’s easy to see why – these are top-notch actors trying to make a script that’s basically impossible to pull off, somehow work.
Script Overload & Thematic Weight
But the problem lies with the script which demands that Da-mi and Hae-soo carry an increasingly heavy load of themes, all the while trying to keep the story from sinking so far that viewers just can’t be bothered anymore.
Repetition & Diminishing Returns
In the second half, we see the same old scenario play out – over and over again – with only tiny variations each time, which, I suppose, thematically reinforces the idea about loops and testing the simulation, but from a dramatic standpoint it gets really, really dull to watch. You see An-na making different choices in different versions – helping people out one time, and ignoring them the next. Or, she tries a different escape route in this go-round, rather than that one. These scenes should be building towards something that wipes you clear out, but instead they start to feel like filler. The horror of being stuck in some never-ending loop should only get worse and worse each time around – but instead it just sort of…fades away.
Declining Visual Effects
The visual effects, which blew us away in the beginning, start to get really spotty. Some of the water scenes still pack a wallop, while others look ridiculously fake and sorta break the illusion – especially if you’re someone who’s easily distracted by CGI.
Given that we’re kinda already in a simulation, and the fact that these later scenes are so much lower quality, it actually kinda makes thematic sense. But knowing that this is what’s going on in your head, doesn’t exactly make the crummy CGI any more enjoyable to watch.
Telugu Dubbing
Telugu dubbing is perfectly okay – and the action scenes stay clear as a bell. Not a problem with watching it in your local language either, the dubbing is good enough.
Final Verdict
Watch the first thirty minutes if you want a real rush of disaster-thriller. You’ll be on the edge of your seat and excited to know what happens next. Just remember that ‘what happens next’ is a slow but sure slide downwards into nothing but repetition, endless talking heads, and shallow philosophical waffle that this film just can’t back up. Kim Da-mi and Park Hae-soo give it their all. And that first flood sequence – you know the one I’m talking about? – is genuinely jaw-dropping. But when all you’ve got is a few good actors and a few exciting bits plonked into a massive, bloated runtime… well, it just doesn’t add up to a good film.
If you’re a fan of Korean sci-fi and you’re willing to give it a go despite a film that starts out strong and then just falters, go ahead and take a look.
