Tidal Wave (2009)

Billed as South Korea’s first big disaster film, Tidal Wave (aka Haeundae) is a visual effects spectacular that easily rivals anything that Hollywood has released in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, there’s more to a successful movie than special effects. And, sadly, Tidal Wave doesn’t have much more than visuals going for it.

The film centers around a popular vacation spot in South Korea called Haeundae Beach. Various residents are going through relationship struggles. A scientist meets up with his estranged wife and discovers his young daughter doesn’t know he exists. A rescue worker strikes up an unlikely courtship with a rich party girl. A young man tries various illegal schemes to make money, usually using his brother’s son as a pawn.

And, at the center of all of them, are Man-sik (Kyung-gu Sol) and Yeon-heui (Ha Ji-Won). Man-sik was present when Yeon-heui’s father was killed on a fishing boat during the Indian Ocean Earthquake in 2004. Feeling responsible for her father’s death, he has avoided letting her know how he feels about her. Yeon-heui has feelings for Man-sik but thinks he’s not interested.

And for the first hour of the film, these relationships take various twists and turns with elements of drama and romantic comedy. Some of the gags border on slapstick. It’s an unusual mix when one is expecting a disaster film.

Sprinkled throughout the melodrama are hints that something is brewing under the sea floor. The aforementioned scientist, Kim Hwi (Joong-Hoon Park,) notices eerie similarities to what happened in the Indian Ocean in 2004. Hwi proposes that a mega-tsunami may occur if an island between Korea and Japan experiences an earthquake with a scale over 7.0. Of course, no one believes him. As the film goes on, smaller earthquakes progress into larger ones with the epicenters creeping closer to the island in question. And guess what happens?

The final half of Tidal Wave features some excellent special effects. Not all of them work and some look exactly like the computer-generated images they are. But, overall, the combination of the CGI and practical soundstage effects makes for a convincing enough portrayal of a large-scale tsunami strike. The script, however, tries to wring as many tears as possible out of every single one of the established character relationships. The acting borders on hysterical quite often — in both the “extremely emotional” and “hilarious” definitions of the word. As a viewer, you’ll have compassion fatigue by the time the water recedes.

Still, there are some inspired and genuinely good moments to be found in Tidal Wave. American disaster films usually don’t lean on character development quite so heavily. The fact that there is so much emphasis on the characters does help the viewer feel sympathy as they’re affected by the devastation. If the script wasn’t so hellbent on trying to manipulate the audience, the film might have achieved its goals more organically.