The Yellow Sea (2010)

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  December 31, 2011

  DragonEyeMorrison

  Unlike the highly overrated "The Chaser" the story here makes sense, and there's not a bunch of silly coincidences, or clinically stupid cops. There's still some dumb cops, but the movie has a more convincing setting and characters. The problem is that, at some point, it becomes ... read morea long series of fight and chase sequences, where the protagonist, and the main antagonist, keep getting wounded, stabbed and what not over and over, without any real consequences to their bodies. This turns the movie into a cartoon, and from that point it becomes difficult to take it seriously. Again, just like the chaser, cheap thrills instead of real human drama, or effective characters.
  
  With a proper script, Mr Hong-Jin Na he could do something good. We'll have to wait for that day to arrive.

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  August 28, 2011

  Alireza64ir

  Yellow sea is one of the best action thrillers I have seen recently.everything is remarkable such as its 3D characters ,bleak atmosphere and memorable action scenes.Unlike I Saw the Devil another Korean action of this year we see an intellectual use of violence in entire film.

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  December 5, 2011

  gator681

  In the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture at the intersection of North Korea, China and Russia, many of the citizens resort to illegal activities just to get by. Gu-nam(Ha Jung-woo) works as a cab driver while futilely playing mah jong to try to pay off the 60,000 yuan he borr... read moreowed for his wife's visa into South Korea. Everybody else, including the two guys who visit him in the night wanting their money back, think that since he has not heard from her, she has obviously left him and is now sleeping around with half of Korea. He holds out hope, thinking that she would not abandon their daughter who his mother cares for. And hope does arrive in the person of Myun(Yun-Seok Kim) who offers to pay off his debts. The only question Gu-nam has is who does he have to kill?
  
  There is much to admire in "The Yellow Sea," namely an intriguing setting and the plight of the dispossessed Joseonjok, mixed in with a noir plot of a man in trouble in way over his head, finely executed in a slow burn in the first half. So far, so good. What troubles me about the second half is not the escalating violence which was inevitable. In any case, the foot chases are well handled, especially the first one, and the second one is like a mini-triathlon in and of itself. But there is only one way for them to be resolved, otherwise the movie ends. That's not to mention the plot spinning out of control with major characters suddenly being introduced out of thin air. As time goes on, the movie becomes increasingly less about Gun-am which is a shame because he is sympathetic, not only because he is not the only character getting any sex.

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  July 22, 2011

  fb6025506

  Director Na Hong-Jin's sophomore feature, THE YELLOW SEA is a crisp thriller that features excellent cinematography and a distinct style that has been prevalent in both this and his previous film (The Chaser) - a consistent sign of bravura filmmaking and likewise an auspicious st... read moreart to a potentially great career. YELLOW SEA takes its time to get rolling but once it does, the ride is brutally violent and daringly unsympathetic - as if we were watching water slowly boil, but where the boiling point lasts ten times as long and swells again wave after wave after wave.

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  September 2, 2011

  mvieaddict

  After enjoying Man from nowhere, I absolutely wanted to see Yellow Sea, another Korean action thriller from the director Hong Jin Na. In Yellow Sea, the characters were so unappealing and unsympathetic, and it showed the hard life of these poor Koreans had to face on the border o... read moref China, Russia.It was a seriously exciting movie with fast adrenaline action scenes experience that will have you questioning when, if ever, you saw these car chases and butchering skills in a Hollywood movie.( I guess, Never) When another group of hit men became involved, a series of events unfolds that transformed the hunter into the hunted, and that's where I will leave you to experience the plot twists for yourself.The lead character Gu-nam was an unlikely hero, and so were the villains, too, intriguing, with personalities worthy of their status and different enough from each other as to ensure that the audience was kept on tension from the begiining till the end.

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  April 7, 2012

  fb100002946249850

  The Yellow Sea
  
  For the telling of a man in peril story, the yellow sea is peppered with excessive violence and far too many villains and side kicks. I am aware that the South Koreans have a thing for the axe or the hammer like the Tamilians have it for the sword, the knife or th... read moree sickle. But this is a film that doesn't require it. The Yellow Sea has a soul that defies conventional south Korean necessities to pepper its film with gore. Old boy, for instance, had Daesuu take his years of captivity against dozens of goons, with a hammer. In Yellow Sea, we have Mung Da, a goon from the border, who lands in Korea with an axe and goes skull pulping.
  
  But this is not his story. This is the story of Ku-Nam, a lonely taxi driver, addicted to gambling and has debts to pay. Someone who misses his wife who has crossed the border for work and has not been calling. Ku-nam is unsure whether his wife's been sleeping around and is gone for ever.
  
  Ku-nam gets a one off deal that could kill his two birds with one stone. The deal is a murder he needs to commit. His debts will be paid off. Plush new funds will come to his account. The murder has to happen in Korea, where he will get to meet his wife as well. Ku-nam agrees to cross the yellow sea; its more about his wife than the money. If it costs a murder, so be it, he thinks.
  
  On the fateful day, the murder happens, but not exactly the way Ku-nam's been planning it the entire week. With his return boat gone, the murder gone awry and a dead body that closely resembles his wife, Ku-nam sojourn in Korea ends up being more than he had bargained for. Poor man.
  
  My issues with The Yellow Sea are trivial, one off moments when excessive violence and blood flow side step the natural unfurling of the story. Every time someone asked me for a good thriller, I have always suggested Na Hong- Jin's debut film 'Chugyeogja'. The Yellow Sea is his second film. Like many of my suggestions, I am sure none of you will ever see this one too. :|
  
  Genre: Thriller
  Rating: 3.5/5

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• Jung-woo Ha as Gu-nam
• Kim Yoon-seok
• Cho Seong-Ha
• Chul-Min Lee
• Yun-seok Kim

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  I Saw the Devil (100%)

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