And so when I heard that this movie was showing in Malaysia, I admit, I just have to watch it!
And so I contribute to the growing numbers of 11 + million viewers of Haeundae.
What is Haeundae?
Known internationally as TSUNAMI at Haeundae (with the Tsunami plastered so big that you'd think 'Tsunami' is the name of the movie instead. I hate it.), Haeundae is Korea's first attempt in disaster movie, directed by Yoon Je-Kyun (Sex Is Zero), written by Kim Hwi. In reality, Haeundae is a beach port in Busan, South Korea, where tourists etc hang out alike.
I'll try to be as objective and spoiler-free as possible. But yeah. And since I hate the international name, I will use the original name.
Spoilers ahead!! :) Don't say I didn't warn you!
Trailer:
Plot:
Haeundae starts at the end of 2004, when the real tsunami struck Indonesia and Thailand on Boxing Day.
Uhm Jung-Hwa and Park Joong-Hoon playing estranged spouses
Then brought up to the year 2009. Kim Hwi (not the scriptwriter, but the Park Joong-Hoon character) is a professor who is an expert in seismic and tsunami activities. He has a wife albeit estranged, Yoo-Jin (played by Uhm Jung-Hwa) and a daughter who doesn't know him. Hwi was adamant that a mega-tsunami was going to hit Korea but was laughed off by his associates.
Seol Kyung-Gu giving free vege to Ha Ji-Won
Choi Man-Sik (Seol Kyung-Gu) is an ex-fisherman who lost his ship and colleague to the 2004 tsunami. Since then, he didn't want to fish anymore and goes help out in his mother's business (I think so, cause I don't really know what is he doing really). Brother Hyung-Sik (Lee Min-Ki!) is a lifeguard at Haeundae beach. Man-Sik's colleague is Yeon-Hee's (Ha Ji-Won) dad. And after the incident, Man-Sik takes care of Yeon-hee. Yeon-hee took on her father's job and continues to fish. Romance starts to bud between the two and it needed Yeon-Hee to drop the bombshell instead ("My heart always beats faster when I see you...")
Reminds you of Day After Tomorrow, no?
Hwi's prediction came true. When the tsunami was striking so close, they made a calculation and said that the tsunami would reach Haeundae in 10 minutes. It was not until Japan made a tsunami alert that Haeundae followed suit...later. Too late. The sea receded so much, birds were in chaos flying and people started screaming.
I realised that there weren't any foreigners on Haeundae
The first to go was the shipping freight and then all hell broke loose, like a nice disaster movie. Everyone runs for their lives. Yoo-Jin runs to get her daughter in the hotel (she is an event coordinator of sorts for some cultural expo) but was stuck in the lift. Who else she calls? Her boyfriend was stuck in the bridge that faced the wrath of the ocean. Hwi leaves the earthquake centre and runs to get the daughter, who nearly fell out of the seventeenth floor hotel windows.
After the first wave, true to the 2004 tsunami, another came faster and higher. People either died being washed away or electrocuted when the electric lines short circuited and uh. yeah. Not satisfied with two, the third and highest wave came, up to over 20 storeys and left Haeundae in literal pieces. Like the mess we saw from the 2004 tsunami.
I don't like how this part got cut short in local cinemas
I won't say who dies and who lives. But from the trailer, you kind of know about Hyung-Sik. :(
Main characters:
Seol Kyung-Gu (Public Enemy Returns, Voice of a Murderer) plays the conflicted hero quite well. His character flows back and forth during the day of the incident to the present him, which still haunted by his past. However, I didn't find a connection with his character much, due to the inadequate writing of his character. Granted, it's a movie and so you can't really see character development. I've seen him in Voice of a Murderer and you don't see the same type of conflicted emotions. But he does aegyo (cute) well without the overboard that makes you wince instead.
Ha Ji-Won (Ba:Bo, Love So Divine) is one of my favorite actress. She is the kind that makes me want to watch her shows regardless of her writing. Her character, Yeon-Hee, is a very simple character that has been harboring a crush on Man-Sik since forever. Though she gets the abusive ahjumma treatment from his mother (pull hair and slapping), she still gets along with Man-Sik. But she is not those over-girly types that cannot fend for themselves. She's that kind that can shout expletives at you if you are not careful.
Park Joong-Hoon (Radio Star, Two Guys) is a guy who realised his priorities after he set his eyes on his daughter, years late. From a guy who is a workaholic, he became a man who wants to reconcile with his daughter, though still kept his identity a secret as his wife did, until the last minute.
Uhm Jung-Hwa (Insadong Scandal, Seducing Mr. Perfect) is a better actress than a singer, imo. Here she plays the "I-love-my-daughter-and-mr.daddy-stay-out-of-our-lives" type of woman. She loves both her career and her daughter and has some disillusion about her boyfriend being more reliable than her husband. But deep in her heart, she still goes back to her husband because who answers her phone calls?
Lee Min-Ki (Really Really Like You, Oishi Man) has to be the highlight of this show for me. His character saves this Seoul girl Hee-Mi (Kang Ye-Won) but injured her in the process. She shows up with a vengeance plan, that goes to the kind of My Sassy Girl date torture type. Hyung-Sik, being a lifesaver, in order to save others during the tsunami, gets swept under the current instead, leaving behind a distraught Hee-Mi and a repentant jerk. This movie has made me pay a lot lot more attention to Lee Min-Ki. :)
Overall, the acting were solid and it was great fun to watch good actors.
Writing:
Let me say this from straight on. It's not a very well-written movie. The main story failed to capture me but some of the side stories did.
The love story between Hyung-Sik and Hee-Mi is fun and so is Hyung-Sik's dedication to his job. That is the only time I shed tears albeit the logic fail at the final part of the scene.
But the love story between Man-Sik and Yeon-Hee is predictable though the great thing is that they are not over the top. It's simple and it's not often that the girl has to be a little more aggressive than the guy.
The reconciliation between Hwi and Yoon-Ji was not done fully, and it was a little disappointing there. I do like how they say "I'm sorry" instead of "I love you" and how Yoon-Ji goes and adjust his tie and say things like "Why are you not taking care of yourself?" But aiks. Not enough.
But I do like how Hwi reconciled with the daughter. That is also tear-inducing.
When daughter still doesn't know ahjusshi is daddy
I also liked the side story of Dong-Choon (Kim In-Kwon of My Father and Love So Divine) and his mother. Dong-Choon is the shipmate of Man-Sik when the incident involving Yeon-Hee's father and so stayed close to Yeon-Hee. I believe he has some form of crush on Yeon-Hee though he's such a bum that he gets slighted most of the time.
But I like how his mother, goes and asks around for a job interview for him, then refuses the picnic with her friends so she can buy her son a pair of new shoes for the job interview. Dong-Choon was impatient with his mother all the way and lost all chances to be good to his mother. It was a subtle way that painted the overall value of the story: Don't wait until your loved ones are gone.
Though I know that you never bring logic in when watching a disaster movie, Haeundae had a lot of logic problems. And that was a little disappointing cause the least you can do in a disaster movie is to make it seem believable.
Another thing is character writing. I believe good movies incorporate some form of character development. Though I'm not saying that Haeundae doesn't have character development, it is done in very very small scale that you're not sure until it's the end of the movie. And that some characters are just written in without much weight, like the in and out of Ock-Jo (Song Jae-Ho of Private Eye and Ba:Bo), which I think given better writing, he would have been a more convincing character and have a better story. I am frustrated that his character seemed to be there just to create some political and emotional dissension cliche. Not enough.
The same thing goes for the emotional attachment of certain characters. I didn't remember that Hyung-Sik was Man-Sik's brother until after the tsunami. And Man-Sik doesn't seem to love his son that much?
However, one good thing about Haeundae's writing is that it balances between the comedy and the tragedy. You don't feel like you're watching a melodrama nor an over-the-top hero saves the day kind of hope stories. Instead, it has that very homely tone, that as if it's just capturing the everyday lives of people staying in Haeundae. It doesn't exaggerate too much but it doesn't dwell on the emotions either.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LEE MINKI'S intense look as he struggles whether to let go
Directing & Cinematography:
Since this is the first Korean disaster movie attempt, I would say it's cool. CGI was done well, especially the part where the water receded. That has to be my most favorite part. The shots were quite well-balanced without those annoying camera shake movement they do in dramas.
The only flaw, like mentioned above, is the logic fail.
Verdict:
Haeundae has a lot of hype. Being the first disaster movie made, it's not bad, really. It learns to focus on people's life stories and relationships with each other and not just only about the tsunami. I think Korean movies tend to focus on interrelationships of characters more than Western movies. Even in thrillers like Open City started about the cops trying to fight a pickpocket ring and ends up having the relationship between mother and son being the spotlight.
But take that away, perhaps you take away the gist of the story. Because truly, it's really not about the tsunami per se. The English tagline for the movie goes something like this: "What do you do if you only have 10 minutes to save everyone?" which I think is totally inapt. Perhaps then it fails since the tagline (being like the purpose of the story) doesn't quite click with the story itself.
I love disaster movies. I watch almost all of them. I watched Day After Tomorrow and think it was not too bad though again, a lot of logic fail (like how in the world does the ship gets shipped into Manhattan with all the buildings still standing strong??). I'm planning to watch 2012. That's how much I love disaster movies.
Haeundae, for a first attempt, is done well. Not the best, but definitely has room for improvement.
And Lee Min-Ki....is the reason to watch this again!
No comments:
Post a Comment