Haeundae (Tsunami) poster & wallpaper

Ha Ji-Won, In-kwon Kim, Jeong-hwa Eom

Located on the southeast tip of the Korean peninsula is the international city of Busan. A popular vacation spot on the East Sea coast, Haeundae draws one million visitors to its beaches every year. M...( read more  read more... )an-sik, a native of Haeundae, lost a co-worker to a tsunami on a deep-sea fishing trip four years ago. He has never returned to sea ever since. He now leads a simple life running a small seafood restaurant and is preparing to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Yeon-hee. Man-sik's brother Hyung-sik works for the coast guard. One day, he rescues a female college student from Seoul who promptly, comes on to him aggressively. While these everyday domestic affairs unfold, geologist Kim Hwi, an expert on tsunami research, discovers the East Sea is showing signs of activity similar to the Indian Ocean at the time of the 2004 tsunami. Despite his warnings, the Disaster Prevention Agency affirms that Korea is in no harm of being hit. Then, he discovers that a mega-tsunami is headed straight for the Korean peninsula. With only minutes to spare, vacationers and citizens of Busan are enjoying a peaceful, hot summer day, and a mega-tsunami is headed straight for Haeundae at 500 miles per hour.

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60% liked it

275 ratings

Unrated, 2 hrs. 9 min.

Directed by: Je-gyun Yun, Yun Je-gyun

Release Date: August 28, 2009

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Stats: 93 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (93)

  • sitenoise
    October 17, 2009
    sitenoise
    Tsunami is a great big huge gigantic disaster. The first ten minutes introduces about a dozen characters all of whom you'll hope are dead in the next ten minutes. It's the strangest character development I've ever seen. There's no subtlety or differentiation to them. They're all ...( read more)loud, extremely loud, obnoxious idiots. There are three things at play here: stupid, godawful, and annoying as hell. The director of the film, in a pre-emptive strike sort of way, has acknowledged that the special effects aren't very good (or very expensive) so he's going to treat us to some good ol' Korean charm. FAIL. I hope this film never sees the light of day outside Korea because it could set back by decades the good reputation of that country's cinematic output. The acting is bad, the myriad plot lines are predictable and groan out loud awful, the special effects are cheesy, and, well .... you get the point.

    sitenoise at the movies: Haeundae
  • kiriyamakazou
    July 29, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    Flaunted as Korea's most expensive movie and the countries first venture into disaster movie territory. I was both excited and worried about this film. The trailers looked spectacular but I was concerned about the melodrama. I'd also read that the effects were not very impressive...( read more). It built the suspense really well. With disaster movies you know what's coming, the trailers pretty much give you the third act. Therefor, it is the job of the screenwriter, actors and directors to make us care about what is going to happen. Haeundae does this well by unfolding as a drama. People have their own problems, especially a close-knit community that suffered tragedy during the 2004 Asian tsunami. All this drama is handled well and connects us with the characters. Even the usual generic scientist that warns everybody has a human story going on concurrent to his explanations and discoveries. Once the tsunami comes we are treated to a wide range of set-pieces, each one more spectacular than the last. Only one scene, on a bridge, goes TOO far, using the comedic relief character as a catalyst for a huge explosion. In some places the film does too much, towards the end we have a large number of slow-motion crying sequences and reached out arms as people stare at their doomed love ones. It does work, a few times, but then just feels intrusive. The slapstick comedy is also overused. Hitting people can only be funny for a certain number of times in 2 hours and when it constantly happens to the same character, it loses it's effect. These are all pretty minor flaws for a disaster movie. The effects were fantastic, especially given the budget. On the big screen this was a very powerful film in all regards. This is truly a summer blockbuster, exciting entertainment, thrilling action, moments to make you laugh, moments to make you cry and moments to make your jaw hit the ground.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    November 28, 2009
    DragonEyeMorrison
    It's a shame because i like the cast.
  • EmmyLee93
    November 21, 2009
    EmmyLee93
    Tis movie is intresting...
  • joen42
    November 16, 2009
    joen42
    Beginning was very draggy, towards the end it was great.
  • kyo9
    November 3, 2009
    kyo9
    one of the best korean movie this year..
    the actors really make this movie feels alive..
    the story also was incredible..
    the CG is worth watching~
  • agentjade
    October 24, 2009
    agentjade
    The Koreans really know how to make their shows heartwrenching, couple the emotional element with amazing CGI effects and you get a truly spectacular tearjerking disaster movie. The development of the characters is also intricately done unlike its Hollywood counterparts. Skip 201...( read more)2 and go for the tsunami instead.
  • DinchT
    October 13, 2009
    DinchT
    conflict part nice O.o... juz watched at Oct 1st week !
    after watching Sorority Row few day ago, haha!
  • dinastik
    October 12, 2009
    dinastik
    It's really touched and sometime funny too~
  • rusd85
    October 6, 2009
    rusd85
    cerita yg sgt bagus..
    digambarkan dr pelbagai sudut yg sgt menarik
    saat2 menyedihkan yg betul mengharukan

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