Watching The Great Flood is a jarring experience that feels like two completely different films stitched together. If you go in expecting a standard survival thriller about a natural disaster, you will likely find yourself frustrated within the first thirty minutes. The movie begins with a script that feels incredibly forced, leaning heavily into contemporary anxieties regarding the climate crisis and the rise of artificial intelligence. However, these themes often come across as flat and lack any real emotional depth, making the narrative feel more like a checklist of modern societal concerns than a cohesive story.
This first half is characterized by a “movie-inside-a-movie” structure that adds to the confusion. It is loud, cluttered, and frequently unintelligible, creating a sense of “noise” that makes the plot hard to grasp. The imagery feels somewhat common, almost as if it’s following a specific global agenda, and the sheer mixture of elements feels like it has no real sense of direction. It is a very “fantasized” version of reality that feels shallow and disjointed, leaving the spectator wondering exactly what the film is trying to achieve.
A Technical Shift: Why the Second Half Changes Everything
Just as you might be tempted to give up, the film undergoes a massive shift. The second half begins to justify the chaos of the beginning, revealing that everything actually has a reason for being. This is where the movie truly shines as a piece of technical filmmaking. The director employs a remarkably original filming style, using fascinating camera angles and AI-generated frames that shift the spectator’s point of view in ways that feel entirely fresh. It moves away from the “disaster” tropes and leans into a mind-bending, reality-warping style that rewards those who enjoy being technically challenged by cinema.
The heart of the movie is undoubtedly Kim Da-mi. Her performance is powerful enough to ground a plot that often feels too abstract or “fantasized.” She provides the emotional weight needed to keep the audience invested even when the script is at its most confusing. By the end, you realize that while it started as a catastrophe film, it is actually something far more experimental and psychological.
Final Verdict: An Ambitious but Polarizing 5/10
Ultimately, The Great Flood is a rare and weird experiment in Korean cinema. It is a polarizing watch because it requires the viewer to sit through a messy, forced beginning to reach the innovative technical payoff in the end. While the cinematography and Kim Da-mi’s acting are top-tier, the cluttered script and the “noisy” first half prevent it from being a masterpiece. It earns a 5/10—it’s an ambitious simulation that is worth seeing for the visuals alone, even if the storytelling doesn’t always land.
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