Critics reviews

But the film fails to lift off from its sturdy aesthetic launching pad; it never allows the characters, however stock, to evolve in their respective dealings with one another, which is the primary source of tension and escalation for a thriller set in a confined place. Shim slips into a predictable alternation between a fatally dull hero, Dong-sik, and his forbidden Chinese love interest, Hong-mae, and the various crewmen who turn, disappointingly, into a coterie of anonymous baddies.

As far as tales of economic and social stratification go, both Ow and K are more successful than the Bong Joon-ho produced Haemoo, a high seas Korean immigration thriller directed by Shim Sung-bo that forgoes nuanced political consideration in favor of brute force action-adventure.

The pace is so snappy that I expected lots of cutting, but I counted only about eight hundred shots in 106 minutes. (The Equalizer, only twenty minutes longer, has three times that number.) I attribute this cutting rate to neatly functional direction, with no fuss or waste. The ship's engine room is a cramped set, hazy with steam and dust, and the shots there are finely calibrated to build the drama through depth, fluid camera movement, and our old friend The Cross.

Produced and co-written by internationally recognized Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho ("Snowpiercer," "The Host,") this directing debut by helmer-scribe Shim Sung-bo echoes Bong's trademark cynical vision of human nature, but the characters lack dimensionality and psychological depth.

Assimilating influences as diverse as Sunshine, Southern Comfort, and The Caine Mutiny into its sea bound story of human trafficking, Haemoo is ultimately so gripping because of how Shim is able to bend the film's myriad modes into a bold and singularly lucid portrait of the unraveling male id.