The Great Flood: an end-of-the-world deluge in the Korean blockbuster

An-na wakes up as usual in her bed with her five-year-old son, Ja-in. But what awaits them will not be a day like any other: shortly after, she notices that the floor is flooding, and when she pulls back the curtains to look at the street, she can't believe her eyes: a terrifying mass of water has invaded the streets, reaching the lower floors of buildings, including hers.

The protagonist of The Great Flood, a researcher specializing in artificial intelligence studies, receives a call from an unknown number. On the other end of the line is Hee-jo, a security officer sent there to protect her and to lead her to a safe place. An-na's knowledge, in fact, could be fundamental for the salvation not only of the city but of the entire world. As the deluge increases incessantly and the water level rises non-stop, reaching the higher floors of the building will be anything but simple.

The Great Flood: Before and After the Rain

For all lovers of disaster films, the opening is quite intriguing: when the protagonist looks out the window for the first time, there is only a heavy downpour, but just a few moments later she glances outside again and the mass of water has now reached the height of her apartment. Thus begins what appears to be the classic escape attempt from an imminent danger situation by a mother with her child, and the first half of the viewing fully reflects this relatively canonical trend, to which, moreover, high-budget South Korean productions have accustomed us in recent years.

But then a sensational cliffhanger occurs, which we won't reveal for obvious reasons, and which shifts the entire narrative axis to a more scientific approach, with An-na's specialization thus proving not to be entirely coincidental to the events. A plot twist that initially disorients and risks appearing exaggerated, but which gives the film a new impetus and also increases the ambitions behind the entire project. 

Together Until the End of the World

The premise à la Flow (2024) is contaminated with existential drifts, where space and time no longer have meaning since every day is a new day, amidst hypothetical loops and identity issues that drag the characters into an infinite and seemingly unresolved vortex of water. At times, the impression is that director and screenwriter Kim Byung-woo – whom we remember for the thriller The Terror Live (2013) and the other recent apocalyptic Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy (2025) – wants to overdo it, mixing moods and suggestions from numerous archetypes of spectacular cinema, whether it's more inclined to the impossible or to very real climate changes.

But even when the operation seems to accumulate excessively, it is always saved by the profound humanity that unites the destinies of the characters, starting with the main relationship between mother and son: maternal love is, in fact, the alpha and omega that drives the entire story, and thanks also to the enveloping soundtrack, emotions will gush forth repeatedly in the second part, leading to an ending perhaps more bitter than expected.