The Yellow Sea

Matthew Martens

Blisteringly preposterous adrenaline overload for thrill kill cultists cut with protracted passages of handsomely bleak brooding, all adding up to a satisfactory, if overstuffed, exercise in pop-nihilism by one of the current champions of that cheap/deep tendency.

Gondo

Chaos Theory. Not so much in context of the causal effects but more in terms of the fatal and fractal structure of said chaos. An incredibly sad film.

Richard!

The first part of the movie plays as an incredibly well-done dark thriller about a poor chinese man in debt to gangsters, who is smuggled into Korea to kill a wealthy man, while at the same time trying to locate his wife. This is unfortunately ruined by the later part in the movie when it switches to preposterous action, that might have been entertaining if it didn't ruin everything that was built up until that point

Darragh McCarthy

Love the story, love the action, and although the last portion of the film does get a little bit too much, it's very enjoyable if you let yourself get carried along by the current of crazed Koreans axing each other. The acting is also excellent, as seems to be the norm for South Korean cinema. A fantastic thriller, and definitely easy to recommend to anyone looking for an exciting and engaging foreign film.

raggiodisole

Started gritty and Noir-ish, then went a bit mad. Great watch, some stand-out moments. Yet another example of the high quality films that South Korea is producing

Peter Lydon

Gripping, hypnotic mysterious. Very violent but I can see why. The story does get confusing but the sheer bravura of the style and the performances pull you through.

krisjkondrad

One of the best films of the last five years. Great story, great acting and great direction. The antagonist is so bad-ass and charismatic it's hard to root against him. Chaser was a great debut, but this second offering by Hong-Jin is pretty amazing. Since Old Boy, South Korea has been cranking out some of the best cinema around and this baby goes to the head of the class!

Mathias Palmberg

I started out great but after the first hour the story got too convoluted for it's own good. I almost felt that the makers of the film didnt trust the basic story they had and kept on twisting it around until everything became implausible. Still, the feel and look of the movie is great as is some of the performances.