Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Disaster movie day, Category 7: End of the World versus Haeundae

Watched @ Funshion

I dun mean to be lazy and have 1 post for 2 movies, but cos I watched these 2 disaster movies one after the other. I cant help myself but to compare them, and the result is rather shocking. Here's the background to the 2 movies and my views on them.

Category 7, a 4hr mini-series originally aired on CBS in 2005. it's a very detailed and well thought thru plot which follows directly after Category 6, another mini series in 2004. It's basically about these killer tornadoes that are blowing out of proportion due to global warming and intense heat output of the metropolitans of the world. The pace of the movie is good, even though I watched 4 hrs straight, it's actually gripping enough to keep me in my seat and watch on.

Haeundae, a 2008 disaster film from korea. The basic plot revolves around the possibility of a mega tsunami hitting korea from the coastal town of Haeundae. Although the movie is only 2hrs long, I was really quite irritated by it, mainly by the vagueness of its genre. It's supposed to be a disaster movie, yet i is loaded with pointless drama and korea slapstick comedy!! 2 hrs of the movie, only the last 20mins consisted of the tsunami and its impact. I'm disappointed, really disappointed. Special effects in this movie is rather laughable as well, they did a tremendous job making the impact and onset of the disaster feel very heavy, very devastating. But yet somehow, buildings, bridges, people, survive the impact. Oh, and the director seems to like to kill off the characters in twisted ways!! Survive one turmoil only to get killed at the next turn. Too much korean comedy here. I'm just glad I fought off the urge to watch this movie when it was in the theatres here last year. Phew...

Spikefire ratings: (Category 7)
Story & Plot: 8 out of 10
Audio & Visual: 8 out of 10
Overall: 8 out of 10

Spikefire ratings: (Haeundae)
Story & Plot: 5 out of 10
Audio & Visual: 6 out of 10
Overall: 5.5 out of 10

Pictures

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