Review of The Yellow Sea (2010) by Jesse O — 28 Aug 2012

This was an excellent thriller. One that isn't without its problems. It mostly runs too long and the first 40 minutes or so of the movie are quite slow. The story, if you weren't paying enough attention, could get confusing.

But I think it makes up for it with its ultra-violent portrayal of a man who, because of the debt and the fact that he's impoverished, is drawn into this struggle between several groups (Chinese mafia, cops, and the South Korean mob), and they're all after him for one reason or another.

I'm not about to get into story specifics because it involves a lot of characters and a lot of story elements. And, as mentioned, the movie is incredibly violent. Surprisingly so in fact. But it doesn't feel gratuitous and it helps to sort of further the story along.

The violence is actually kind of unsettling because it doesn't feel phony and over-the-top. I think the movie also does a good job at presenting how hard it is for some of these impoverished people to survive and what they need to do to make their lives better or easier.

You get into Gu-nam as a character and you want to see him succeed in his quest. The acting is strong, I greatly enjoyed Kim Yun-Seok as Myun, I thought he was tremendous in the role. Again, not a perfect movie, but it is a pretty damn great thriller.