Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

paulclaassen The film is divided into four parts. 1) Taxi Driver. This part sets up the protagonist's background. Gu-Nam is a Taxi driver, battling financially. He borrowed money to pay for a visa for his wife to go from China to Korea to look for work, but he hasn't heard from her again. Now fearing she is having an affair, he hates her. When an opportunity arise for him to go to Korea and earn money in the process (by killing a businessman), he grabs it.2) Murder. Gu-Nam's preparation for the murder is very interesting, as he plans everything in meticulous detail, and his thoughts are also very well portrayed on screen. However, things go terribly wrong for our hero.3) Josean Clan (North Korean Person). This part explains the Mafia set-up as well as the Korean mob, both of which are after Gu-Nam. It shows us how ruthless and determined the antagonist is, excellently portrayed by Kim Yoon-seok. The film's pace slowed down significantly during this part and I got a bit confused with way too many characters.4) Yellow Sea. Time is running out for Gu-Nam. The film gets extremely violent towards the end to the point where it becomes gory, and I found the killings just too many. The action sequences were incredible, though. I was not very happy with the ending, so this was a once-only viewing for me. (I do, however, appreciate the unpredictability of Korean movies).

Zyankali I have nothing against unsteady camera work if this is used for chasing scenes or is taken as a crucial stylistic element (e. g. Black Witch Project). But what the heck ... over the whole movie you feel like sitting in a boat that pitches and yaws up and down on the sea. The camera work mirrors any gestures or motions even in no-action plots. Otherwise, this movie shows great acting and is surely an interesting thriller. I love the Korean no gun fights. Sometimes you have problems to recognize and relate the Korean actors (they looks very similar to me). Thus, the movie encounters difficulties to follow the plot easily. Nevertheless, i strongly recommend this movie - even if you have to watch it twice.

bob the moo Unable to break free of the visa debts that his wife left him with when she went to South Korea to earn money, a taxi driver takes an offer from local criminal Myun to be smuggled into South Korea in order to kill someone for him. The money is the main motivator but he also hopes he can find his wife somehow. Trying to accomplish these hurts both of his goals and, as he is soon to discover, the story is much larger than just a simple killing.I had heard good things about this film and, if I'm honest, it took me a while to get around to watching it mainly because the running time put me off. In a way I was right and wrong because when I finally did watch it the running time is excessive but yet it does mostly still deliver as a thriller. The plot sees a simple murder escalate as others involve in its planning or execution all start to represent a danger to our main character, who is trying to get home even though he'll be no safer there. It takes a little while to get moving but the film soon delivers some violent scenes as well as some exciting chases and escapes. The build of the plot helps these be engaging and exciting while in fairness they are also pretty well filmed as well. The more frantic action has the feel of the Bourne movies (although not as effective) and those that know the locations may get extra value from Busan harbor and some of Seoul showing up.The plot isn't perfect though and it does contribute towards most of the film's weaknesses. The first of these is the subplot involving the missing wife; it acts as an engagement tool with the main character that we didn't really need but otherwise it just seems to add distraction away from the main narrative. I was fine with it being mentioned but in the end I didn't understand why it was given so much time. Speaking of time, this is an issue because the film runs far longer than it really needs to and even though I enjoyed it, I still found myself thinking of all the really obvious places where the film could have been edited down to a still-generous two hours. As it is, the length means the pace cannot be kept up and that the simple story is spread out too much. This shows in how excessive but yet how very tidy everything gets. I liked the way that the various characters all fell into place around the lead's story, but I liked it best when it was chaotic, not when it is all pulled together to be all tidy and resolved at the end. That said I did enjoy the nihilistic tone it had and that, in the end, the route of the original murder was something so simple and personal that it wasn't even worth one man's death, far less all those shown here.The main actor is convincing and kept me interested in his escape; his performance keeps him as a human and tragic figure even though he is able to evade the odds a bit too easily and a bit too frequently. Myun is a great character full of menace and violence and the actor has fun in that role, but the excessive action does at time get too much to buy into since he has a stamina that a Terminator would baulk at. The rest of the cast fill in well enough, but mostly it is the action and plot that keeps the film moving, not the performances. Na's direction is good although I know some dislike cameras that move all the time.Overall Hwanghae is a solid and enjoyable thriller which would be better were it not for its own excesses. The running time is excessive, the spiralling plot and stamina of the main characters are excessive and the whole film really needed a tighter edit to make the most of its strengths. Still solidly good but could have been more.

diggus doggus I'll try to keep this review brief - you're encouraged to go see the film and judge for yourself;The plot is simple - and in-debt man from a northern province of Korea travels to Seoul to assassinate someone to pay his debts; the result is utter chaos as he tries to escape back home.Right, first off, if blood and gore scare you, this film is not for you - it's quite gruesome and relentless in the violence; The Yellow Sea does not compromise, does not glorify the hit-man (he's just a taxi driver), nor does it include any super-human feats of agility or other unlikelihoods in its plot. The roughness of the story and its characters is the real strength, and i have found myself watching intently (waiting for the usual ridiculous Hollywood stuff to happen) as i rarely do, but TYS continues to deliver without pause.Unfortunately not all is well; good characters, good lead, good pacing but some truly horrid camera work spoils what would have been a great film in its genre. Why the Koreans must have learned the Blair Witch Shake because, while it's reasonable for the camera to shake during chase scenes, it's not acceptable that any movement on screen (be it a man's mouth opening as he eats, or a car passing by) must be mirrored by the camera making the same movement.All in all, The Yellow Sea is gritty and dark like only the asians know how to make, but the camrashakey- end result is really bad, and makes this a film to recommend only to those who know what they are after.My final vote: 7/10 and who knows .. if it had been made properly ...