The Great Flood

This movie is a lot to process

Before I get into anything else, I have to talk about the cinematography of this movie! The cinematography in this movie is what stood out the best to me. It was incredible! So many of the shots were really creative and I always love to see that! I was blown away by it.

Onto the plot and acting.
The acting was great. I loved seeing Park Hee-Soo because I didn't know he was even in this to be honest, so I was really happy to see him! I loved his character as well as An-Na's. I think they were both complex characters which was really nice.

The plot is...a lot to take in. It starts off as your typical survival disaster thriller, which I love, and that was really great. I liked that there were only a few minutes of calm before the disaster hit. No wasted time that way since it dove right in. Then comes the confusing parts of this movie. It drifts away from being a disaster flood film and is suddenly about how the population is close to gone and needs to be saved using technology.
I understand that all the looping were different outcomes of her trying and retrying the disaster to get a different answer. I also understand that she as well as Ja-In are already dead before the movie even started. I understand what's going on in this movie, but I'd be lying if I said I think it was executed perfectly. It wasn't badly executed but the way they did was also just very confusing as it was happening. After I finished it and sat with it for a few minutes, it was clearer but still not great.

Looking at other reviews, I see a lot of people are in the same boat of just being really confused with the movie overall. Whether it's because of all the loops and crazy plotline, or simply because they thought it was going to be a disaster movie and then it turned into something else seemingly out of nowhere. I appreciate that this movie took a different turn that your typical disaster movie, but I just don't know how well it played out. Maybe on a rewatch it would be easier to figure out, and notice details you can't the first time around.

Even after writing this, I'm unsure about my rating.

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Released worldwide by Netflix on December 19, 2025, the South Korean film "The Great Flood" (Daehongsu), directed by Kim Byung-woo (The Terror Live), is one of the most ambitious and divisive productions of the year.

Although the trailer and title suggest a conventional disaster film (in the style of 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow), the work is actually an existentialist science fiction thriller that uses a "time loop" to explore artificial intelligence.

1. Synopsis and the Big Twist

The plot begins with An-na (played by the excellent Kim Da-mi), an AI researcher, desperately trying to save her son Ja-in from an apartment building being submerged by an apocalyptic tsunami. She receives help from Hee-jo (Park Hae-soo, from Round 6), a security agent with mysterious motivations.

The Twist (Mild Spoiler): The film reveals that the disaster we are witnessing is not immediate physical reality, but rather a computer simulation repeated thousands of times. An-na's research aims to "teach" real human emotions to an AI so that humanity's consciousness can be preserved in synthetic bodies after Earth's extinction.

2. Strengths: The Visual and Technical Spectacle

Aquatic Realism: The work with practical effects and CGI is impressive. The feeling of claustrophobia inside the flooded building and the force of the water are palpable and distressing. Performances: Kim Da-mi carries the emotional weight of the film, delivering an exhausted yet resilient performance that keeps the audience engaged, even when the plot becomes confusing.

Genre Innovation: Director Kim Byung-woo defies expectations by transforming an action film into a philosophical meditation on what makes us human (the "emotional engine").

3. Criticism and Controversy

The film's reception was mixed due to its complexity:

"Bait and Switch": Many viewers felt misled by the marketing, expecting a linear survival film and receiving a dense plot about transhumanism and time loops.

Fragmented Narrative: The repetitive structure (the loop) can be tiring. The film demands total attention to detail to understand which "version" of the simulation we are in.

Scientism vs. Emotion: Critics point out that, in its effort to appear intellectually profound, the script sometimes loses the simple emotional connection that the disaster subgenre usually offers.

Expectation vs. Reality
What the trailer promises What the film delivers
Global disaster film Psychological thriller in a confined location
Fight against nature Fight against human obsolescence
Frenetic action Cerebral and repetitive science fiction

Final Verdict

"Daehongsu" is a film for those who enjoy complex science fiction like Interstellar or Dark. If you're only looking for adrenaline and collapsing buildings, you might be disappointed by the second half. It's a film about memory and the human capacity to love, even when the world (or the code) is crumbling.

Interesting Note: The film ends with a post-credits scene that suggests the fate of "New Humanity" in space, raising ethical debates about whether AI clones can truly replace the human race.

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This is one of those movies that leaves you feeling confused… and strangely affected at the same time.

This is a disaster drama that leans much more into symbolism and emotional chaos than into a logical, well-structured story. It’s less about understanding every detail and more about feeling the weight of the situation: fear, loss, helplessness, and survival. The flood itself feels almost like a metaphor for everything collapsing at once, externally and internally.

This isn’t an easy film to follow. The narrative feels fragmented, sometimes messy, and often unclear. A lot of things aren’t explained properly, and more than once I found myself lost, trying to understand what was happening and why. But the more I thought about it, the more it felt intentional.

Visually, the movie does a good job creating a heavy and oppressive atmosphere. The cinematography and sound design help sell that sense of panic and disorientation, even when the story doesn’t fully land. Some scenes are genuinely impactful, while others feel rushed or underdeveloped.

That said, this isn’t a movie for everyone. If you like clear explanations, strong narrative cohesion, and answers, this might be frustrating. For me, it was confusing, yes, but also oddly compelling. I didn’t fully understand it — and maybe that’s part of the experience.

Overall, The Great Flood is far from perfect, but it left an impression. It’s messy, symbolic, and emotionally heavy, and even though I felt a bit dumb watching it at times, I can’t say it didn’t make me feel something.

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Pretty Average, entertaining enough

My mom recommended this one to me so I didn’t know what to expect.
The movie itself isn’t bad per se but it was pretty confusing. It kinda borders between being like interstellar mixed with K-Movie Wonderland… I can definitely see an attempt there.

I think majority of the movie kinda failed at showing you what exactly was happening throughout the film, until the very end where they literally say it whats happening by explaining it themselves. But I guess the fun part was also trying to guess where the plot is going.

Although I’m still confused as to why she was subjected to going through a loop of finding her son (even though it was her idea that the ideal mother will be made once she finds the son) if this experiment lasted centuries and all the humans died then how was it possible for them to be made with zero complications whatsover, especially since the first thing that happened to them once they launched into the space was getting hit by the other pods exploded particles… it all just seems a little lazily done, the world ending, robots taking over… yadda yadda.. But the movie isn’t bad so… it was pretty entertaining to watch and even the loops had me curious and wondering where the movie would ultimately lead. I genuinely thought this was going to be a typical apocalyptic movie where they try to survive the flood- but its also nice to see it be something different for once other than apocalypse! So i’m not too mad but also not mesmerised or amazed by it.

Overall a good watch. Maybe would be a bit more fun watching with someone else.

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What Survives the Flood

Though its narrative can feel cluttered, the film remains a deeply engaging and emotionally ambitious film.

At its core, it explores an empty vessel-an artificial consciousness-waiting to be filled with emotion, care, survival instinct, and the selfless love of motherhood. The entire project revolves around a singular, profound idea: how do you gift a body the emotions that make a human? Humans can be selfish, flawed, and cruel, yet the bond between a parent and a child, particularly between a mother and her child, often exists in a realm untouched by the outside world. That bond is the film’s true subject.

The humanoids were biologically complete, but biology alone was not enough. What they needed was a soul... and the film argues that soul is forged in the crucible of maternal love.

I appreciated how the narrative withholds its central conceit. We are not told upfront that we are watching a simulation; we experience the disaster and the desperation alongside An-na. Only later does the truth emerge and fall into place, rewarding the audience’s attention to its fragmented clues and narrative loopholes. The revelation, once pieced together, transforms the story from a survival thriller into something far more meaningful.

The supporting characters within the simulation--shaped by An-na’s consciousness, memories, and emotional experiences--each serve to push her beyond ordinary human limits. I was particularly captivated by Ji-Su, an emergent presence born purely from An-na’s psyche.

In this way, the film feels less about emotion in the abstract and more about the specific, primal emotions that bind a mother to her child. That love is presented as inherently selfless or at least as a love that must become selfless to be authentic. That selflessness is the quality that becomes the AI's final, indispensable lesson.

The ambiguous ending leaves us with synthetic versions of An-na and Ja-in, AI humans now imbued with real feelings and memories, heading toward the uncertain dawn of a humanity that is no longer entirely human.

On a technical level, I was mesmerized by the visual poetry: the slow-motion terror of the colossal waves, and the stunning moments where reality briefly glitches. In those instants, the film strips itself down to a particle-based, data-rendered core, revealing the simulation’s underlying architecture.

Despite its complexities, the ride was utterly compelling.

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Not for Everyone’ Is Not an Argument

When a movie defends itself with “it’s not for everyone,” it’s already in trouble.

The issue here is not ambition or complexity, but a broken narrative contract. The film promises a visceral survival experience and then abandons it midway for a conceptual twist that rewrites the rules instead of deepening them.

Confusing abstraction with depth doesn’t make a story intelligent. True depth comes from consequences, not from invalidating what the audience has already lived through.

Understanding a movie does not obligate you to praise it. And in this case, understanding the twist doesn’t improve the experience—it weakens it.

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Boooo this movie, boooo!

This movie had three things I hate.
1. Annoying kids
2. Stupid time loops
3. Pretentiousness

I hate movies with time loops because most don't do them right where they can feel new and exciting each time like Edge of Tomorrow or Happy Death Day to me. This movie did it the way I hate. I was bored.

And while programming human emotions, she should have programmed human intelligence because my God, woman! How hard is it to keep up with this kid? Tries too hard to be profound and falls flat at being entertaining too.

The first 30 mins was exciting and then we find out it was all AI simulation and that destroyed the thrill.

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J’ai cru à un survival dévastateur… j’ai eu autre chose...

Alors… "The Great Flood"... Franchement, au début, j’étais vraiment dedans. Genre vraiment 😅. L’eau qui monte, cette sensation d’urgence permanente, l’ambiance lourde, oppressante… j’étais tendue tout du long. Visuellement, ça claque. J'ai ressenti le danger, la peur, l’instinct de survie qui prend le dessus... et franchement j’y croyais.

Kim Da-mi… pfff 😔✨. Elle porte le film toute seule, sans jamais en faire trop. Tout est dans son regard, ses silences, cette fatigue émotionnelle qu’elle traîne du début à la fin. J’ai continué seulement pour elle.

Mais voilà… à un moment, j’ai senti le film me lâcher... Ou peut-être que c’est moi qui ai décroché 😅. On commence sur un film de survie bien brut, très concret… et d’un coup, sans trop prévenir, on bascule dans autre chose. De la science-fiction, des concepts, des idées balancées un peu tard… et là, j’ai commencé à me dire : ok, mais on va où en fait ?!? 😬

C’est pas que l’idée est mauvaise, mais j’ai eu cette impression que le film voulait être trop "malin", trop symbolique, alors qu’il avait déjà tout ce qu’il fallait sous la main. Une mère, un enfant, l’eau, la peur, l’urgence… franchement, juste ça, bien tenu jusqu’au bout, ça aurait pu me détruite émotionnellement 😔🌊.

Les persos secondaires, pareil... Ils sont là, ils font le taf, mais sans plus. Et plus ça avançait vers la fin, plus je me sentais perdue 😵‍💫. J’étais plus vraiment dans l’émotion, et pas non plus complètement dans la réflexion...

Du coup, ben… je ressors avec ce sentiment frustrant, parce que le potentiel était énorme. Les images sont belles, l’ambiance "catastrophe naturelle" est réussie, Kim Da-mi est incroyable. Mais à force de vouloir expliquer, conceptualiser, le film a oublié de me faire ressentir des choses plus émotive 😅.

Au final, "The Great Flood", c’est pas un flop. J’ai pas passé un mauvais moment, mais j’aurais clairement préféré un film plus simple, plus resserré, plus viscéral... Un truc qui te prend à la gorge, pas qui te fait cogiter après coup... Dommage 😔✌🏻

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Criou-se uma interrogação

O filme não é apenas sobre um prédio inundando após um meteoro atingir a Terra. O que você vê na tela é, na verdade, uma simulação de Inteligência Artificial.
A protagonista An-na (Kim Da-mi) foi uma cientista real no passado. Quando o desastre real aconteceu, ela morreu, mas antes disso, ela permitiu que sua consciência fosse usada como base para criar o "Motor Emocional" de uma IA.
Pois é, assisti esse filme numa expectativa que seria algo como desastre natural e a prota tentando se salvar e salvar seu filme.. Sendo sincera achei confuso e tbm não curti ..

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Quando a Água Sobe, a Emoção Nem Sempre Acompanha

The Great Flood chega com promessa grande, literalmente. Catástrofe, tensão, sobrevivência. A premissa é forte: um futuro onde a água engole o mundo e o que resta do humano precisa lutar contra mais que enchentes contra o próprio instinto.

Visualmente, o filme cumpre o que promete. A direção de arte entrega cenários claustrofóbicos, água por todos os lados, sensação constante de urgência. É bonito de ver. Tenso na medida. Mas nem sempre profundo na emoção.

A narrativa funciona, mantém o interesse, mas falta algo que atravesse a gente por dentro. Há momentos potentes, sim, principalmente quando o filme explora escolhas morais, quem salvar? Até onde ir por alguém? — mas a construção do vínculo entre os personagens poderia ser mais densa. Falta aquele impacto que faz o coração acelerar junto.

É filme competente, bem produzido, com boas ideias… só não chega a ser inesquecível. Parece que havia espaço para mais — mais camadas, mais peso emocional, mais consequência nas decisões.

É entretenimento sólido, daqueles que você assiste sem arrependimento, mas também não fica dias pensando depois.

Nota 7 com justiça: água alta, emoções médias.
Bom filme para uma noite tranquila, sem grandes expectativas, só com vontade de se deixar levar pela maré.

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