Review of The Yellow Sea (2010) by Eric R — 10 Dec 2011

Hong-jin Na's follow-up to 'The Chaser', 'The Yellow Sea is an ultra-violent intense story of a man who is adrift, alone and desperate. The story reloves around Gu-nam, a cab driver from the area of the East China Sea between the Chinese mainland and the Korean peninsula.

He is a drunk, who has squandered all his money gambling in an attempt to pay back his debt. It turns out his wife left for Korea to help make money with promise of a quick return, but it's been six-months now.

This leads Gu-nam to take an offer from a crime lord, Myun-Ga, to kill a man in Korea, which Myun-Ga promises will clear all his debts and give him a fresh start. Gu-nam agrees but on the night of the assasination all hell breaks loose.

Hong-Jin Na's film sues 'the Yellow Sea' as a device to help illustrate the desperation and isolation in which our main protagonist goes through. This what is he is interested as a director.

After the botched (if thats what you call it) assassination, Gu-Nam is all alone in Korea, being chased by various crime syndicates. He was chosen for the HIt because he is viewed as expendable, but it's his humanity when compared with the evil and despicable men around him, that makes the viewer root for him.

This film is ultra-violent with barely any gun play; these men like to use knives. Myun-Ga's (Yun-Seok Kim) character is fantastic as the violent man, who is an expert at killing people. When he arrives in Korea to find Gu-Nam is when the film really heats up.

The chase scenes in this film are a real highlight. They are intense and I found myself repeatedly saying, there is no way he is getting away from them this time. My biggest problem with the film was that it just becomes a little too heavy and convoluted after the assassination takes place.

I think it could have been streamlined a little bit more with less characters as it all became a little too confusing. Either way, this is a rush of a movie that has lots of violence, some dramatic weight and some under-valued dark humor making it a primitive, intense thriller about a man who is Isolated and has to fight his way back.

Not as great as 'The Chaser', but a good follow-up.