The Great Flood

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://movieswetextedabout.com/the-great-flood-movie-review-kim-da-mi-shines-in-a-convoluted-disaster-flick/

"The Great Flood ends up being a bittersweet experience, promising an immersion into the human soul in the face of the abyss, but floating only on the surface of several ideas without truly diving into any of them.

It benefits immensely from the talent of Kim Da-mi, but it's pulled down by a script that can't decide if it wants to be an action blockbuster or a philosophical essay.

An ambitious project that forgot to solidify its emotional foundations before opening the floodgates of scientific complexity."

Rating: C

"The Great Flood" could have been the most remarkable disaster movie I've ever seen and indeed, on a certain level, it still is.

This film successfully marries up the comfortable, if messy, normality of everyday suburban life, with a, by degree, increasingly terrifying disaster. It starts slowly, with heavy rain but then we see water building to oceanic levels, outside tall South Korean apartment blocks, topped off by horrifying giant waves, that quite literally, shatter the illusion of a safe and predictable future.

Viewed from this perspective this film is simply stunning. Topped off by superb, sensibly understated but nonetheless emotionally girpping performances, from the talented cast.

As another reviewer aptly points out, the departure from this script, is where this film comes up short. Indeed, an "essay on morality" and maybe humanism, is the perfect description of what this film tries to achieve in its second half, but never quite gets there.

Its biggest problem is it does not set the stage for this sudden transition in its story, in a concise or convincing, manner. You might also argue it could have achieved the same emotional outcome, by simply furthering, the initial premise it so compellingly established.

In summary, "The Great Flood" is a film of two parts. The first part is amazing, the second half muddies the waters, dissipating a message, about what it means to be truly human, it was already well on its way, to making.

Review: The Great Flood (2025)

Score: 6/10

The Great Flood is an ambitious and visually arresting disaster epic that aims to marry biblical-scale spectacle with intimate human drama. It is a film of awe-inspiring moments and powerful imagery, yet one that ultimately feels adrift in its own narrative depths, struggling to stay afloat under the weight of its grand intentions.

What Works (The Spectacle):

• Breathtaking Visual Scale: The film’s undeniable strength is its jaw-dropping visual effects. The rendering of the cataclysm—from the first ominous cracks in the earth to the terrifying, world-engulfing walls of water—is genuinely monumental and immersive. The destruction has a terrifying, tactile weight that is often missing from CGI-heavy spectacles.
• A Strong, Grounded Core: The film is anchored by a compelling family unit at its heart. Their desperate struggle to survive, to make impossible moral choices, and to hold onto hope provides the essential emotional tether that makes the global disaster feel personal. The performances here are earnest and convincing.
• Effective, Unflinching Tone: This is not a heroic, last-minute-rescue disaster film. It carries a palpable and grim sense of dread, emphasising the sheer, unstoppable power of nature and the fragility of human civilisation. The scale of loss is not sugar-coated, which gives the film a sobering, sometimes harrowing power.

What Holds It Back (The Narrative Currents):

• A Sea of Clichés: For all its visual innovation, the plot navigates a well-charted course of disaster movie tropes. The archetypes—the stubborn scientist ignored by authorities, the fractured family reconciling under pressure, the opportunistic villain—are all present and accounted for, offering few surprises in the human story.
• Character Depth in Shallow Waters: While the central family is well-drawn, the vast ensemble of characters surrounding them often feel like pawns being moved toward the next set-piece. Their backstories and motivations are thin, making it hard to invest in their individual fates beyond the immediate spectacle of their peril.
• Pacing & Theological Whiplash: The film awkwardly straddles the line between a secular climate-change parable and a mythic, almost divine reckoning. It introduces profound philosophical and theological questions about punishment, chance, and survival, but rarely engages with them in a meaningful way, often dropping them to return to the next chase or collapse sequence.

Verdict:

The Great Flood is a formidable technical achievement and a sombre, often harrowing watch. It delivers exactly what its title promises: a breathtaking, terrifying vision of apocalyptic deluge. However, its human story fails to match the depth of its digital oceans, leaving you more impressed by the waves than moved by the people trying to survive them. It is a spectacular, hollow epic—perfect for a big-screen immersion into sheer audiovisual power, but likely to recede from memory once the waters calm.

Watch if: You are a disaster movie completist, crave state-of-the-art visual effects and sound design, or want a serious, grim-toned spectacle. Personally, I prefer a strong/engaging story over visual effects [you rarely seem to get both, these days]. Skip if: You seek nuanced characters, original plotting, or a film with substantive philosophical depth to match its visual scale.