The Flu (2013)

I haven't finish Jang Hyuk or Soo Ae's works before. I came by chance & decided to watch it. I was blown away with this movie. The acting was top-notch especially Park Min Ha. She may be a child actress but she brought her character to life.

Story: It's a disaster movie, not original. But the flu was an original concept.

Acting: As I said above. Park Min Ha blew me away. I love the father daughter chemistry between Park Min Ha & Jang Hyuk. There was some romantic chemistry between Soo Ae & Jang Hyuk even though there was never a romantic plot. I like it that the romance was never the main theme of disaster movies or dramas. I cried so many times in this movie & for a long period of time. One scene with Park Min Ha crying made me cry so hard(watch the movie to find out) that I had to look away from the screen & took a break for a moment to recompose myself.

Music: The music fitted the right moments. I want to look into the ost. But it was mostly instrumental music(or all because I watched this 2 months ago).

Rewatch: It's low because I don't want to cry for too long again. Some things were too painful to watch. I would recommend it. Watch it once, but don't watch it again or once a year.

Why watch: for the actors & actresses. If you like medical, disaster & action type movies then you'll probably like this one.

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If every stereotypical movie involving some type of infectious disease/pandemic or apocalypse hasn't bored you yet, then look no further than the flu.

In the way that almost all characters in Korean entertainment meet, this one does not stray from the formula as no sooner have the two main characters met, they immediately bicker with each other. Of course this merely serves as the formulaic introduction to characters whom you know will be at the center of this plot.

The Flu features almost all your infectious disease apocalyptic type of characters.
1.) A heroic male lead who's abilities far extend his profession
2.) A mother with a cute daughter which will serve as emotional bait.
3.) A friend
4.) Bad guys who do bad guy things.
5.) Terrible politicians but rumor has it there are no good ones.

If the following characters haven't prepared you for the plot then simply put. An illegal smuggling shipping container finds itself in Korea, which triggers the spread of a highly infectious, toxic flu. Panic ensues and obviously, the government isn't prepared for this despite previous warnings.

In the theme of it's predecessors, the Flu takes absolutely no original route in delivering its story.
So prepare for.
A sick child
A hero who will save the day
A discovered cure in limited quantities
Everything to be safe at the end of the day.

By these standards this movie shouldn't warrant anything more than a five. However, it is a relatively stellar narrative that while melodramatic at times, delivers good entertainment and evokes emotion. Ultimately what you have is a mildly enjoyable story that doesn't imprint itself in memory due to its stereotypical undertakings. However, it's one that is a decent popcorn grabber.

There's not much to say about it, no lengthy review to entice you with this one. It's a cookie cutter one that is merely an easy watch.

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This movie was very similar to Train to Busan but unlike Train to Busan which was superior to this movie, this movie had one big plot device in the little girl. I mean, the entire plot revolves around the little girl ie. when she gets lost, having to save her, etc and at one point, it starts getting redundant. There's also a K-drama-like romance between the main leads which annoys you as a viewer coz here's a guy who does so much for the female lead but she shows no appreciation or gratitude throughout the entirety of the movie. The female lead was literally a cold bitch to the main lead who was saving her ass and her daughter's time after time and it made me wish her death in the movie due to how utterly annoyed I was at her personality. She was so selfish to the point that she basically put the life of the kid who survives the infection and has anti-bodies to cure the disease all to save her daughter. Not to mention how she literally tells this kid to stay alive as he's about to die after being stabbed just so that she can use his anti-bodies. When the female lead got shot in the end during the climax of the movie, I was happy but then I realized that she was shot in the shoulder and its only a flesh wound and not fatal. Which reminds me of how predictable the movie is during the end. Its not gonna make you cry or anything unlike Train to Busan did. What I love about Train to Busan is that it explores the struggle of a father and daughter through a zombie apocalypse on that train and it doesn't use the daughter as a constant plot device like this movie does to the point that it becomes annoying. If your're having second thoughts about watching this, watch Train to Busan instead of this K-dramaish movie about a flu infestation and a very annoying female lead.

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Intense movie - might hit a bit too close to home, but rewatch-worthy

I really liked this movie. It's been on my list forever and with the current COVID-19 climate, as morbid as it sounds, it seemed like a rather fitting time to watch it. What had me the most intrigued was the FMC's daughter, Mi Reu - her role in the story dynamics had me curious as to how the story played out. And man I was NOT disappointed!

The story was a good pace and the intensity was real. The atrocities that occurred during this fictitious outbreak had me feeling so grateful that modern-day Earth nations handled COVID so civilly. While watching the events in the story unfold - the push and pull between medical staff and government officials and military - I experienced a range of emotions from disgusted to enraged to delighted to worried to grateful, etc. The scenes and pacing were well balanced and kept me thoroughly emotionally engaged.

I really liked the dynamics between the two MCs, Ji Goo and In Hae. In Hae seemed like a pain in the ass at first, but she was alright - she was just trying to do her job and care for her daughter, no more, no less. Ji Goo is simply a good man - he does the right thing because he knows it's right, not because anyone is looking. I loved that about him. He took care of Mi Reu (In Hae's daughter) simply because he grew attached to her and knew he *could* help, even if it put him in danger. The relationship he developed with Mi Reu had my chest tight with worry in anticipation for how the story ended. >.<

The ending was great! I didn't see the story taking all it's turns and twists (issues with containing the disease, issues with preventing the spread of the disease, issues with curing the disease, issues between governments over international risk, etc.), but by the end, I was very satisfied! That one scene were Mi Reu protects her mom and Ji Goo holds them had me crying, goosebumps all over my flesh. It was fantastic and the build of emotions was beautifully executed.

Overall, I would recommend this movie. It's definitely serious and has a lot of things that are a bit hard to watch (the politics alone are enough to send anyone into a fit of rage), but the movie as a whole was really well paced and satisfying. Be sure to watch the epilogue - it brings everything full circle - had me smiling ear to ear! :D

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Korea Knows How To Make a Good Epidemic/Disaster Movie!

Well the title speaks for itself...Korea knows how to make a good Epidemic/Disaster Movie! If you are looking for a good thriller with lots of twists and turns, this movie is for you. Very entertaining and heart-stopping movie.

Story: The story is nothing new...You have seen it before in other epidemic/disaster movies. It does go to the extreme and the storyline with its twists and turns does have intense moments where you are on the edge of your seats. Very entertaining, you will not disappointed with the plot.

Cast: THIS IS WHERE THE MOVIE SHINES! The acting in this movie is phenomenal! The entire cast was great and the cast was big so you had many different characters and personalities in the movie. The main leads were amazing especially Park Min Ha. THAT LITTLE GIRL CAN ACT! She was my favorite actress in this movie...THAT ENDING WITH HER! WOW! Park Min Ha was the stand out actress in this movie for me but the cast/acting overall was just really good in this movie.

Music: Wasn't very memorable except I did notice some familiar melodies from other songs in the score but that might have just been me imagining something. The music did ebb and flow with the plot, rising during intense moments and getting emotional during sad moments.

Rewatch Value: I would definitely watch this again...It was a nice and entertaining movie.

Overall: WATCH THIS MOVIE FOR THE ACTING! FOR SURE! It is an entertaining movie that will not let you down but The acting is where is shines the most. If you like disaster/action/thriller movies try this one. If you liked Train to Busan, you will definitely love this movie.

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Particularly relevant in times of contagion - Good, keeps you watching

7/10 is my rating. This is a 2013 South Korean pandemic film. It is written and directed by Kim Sung-su. A deadly and extremely virulent flu breaks out in a suburb of Seoul. A container full of illegal immigrants is discovered in the course of rescuing traffic accident victims. A sole survivor escapes into the city. A smuggler and the infected immigrant are the source of a quick spread of a virus that kills at a high rate within 32 hours. The city breaks into chaos as evidence of virus ridden individuals is everywhere. Officials respond with quarantine and martial rule. Dr. Kim In-hae (Soo Ae) is a doctor on the front line of the virus. She is also a mother who is solely responsible for her young daughter, Kim Mi-reu (Park Min-ha). Coincidentally In-hae was in the accident that involved the illegal immigrants and was saved by Emergency worker Kang Ji-goo (Jang Hyuk). Ji-goo later delivers In-Hae’s purse to her daughter and finds Mi-reu staying alone while her mom is dealing with the virus. When Mi-reu contracts the virus, In-hae is forced to choose between the actions of a mother and those if a doctor containing a pandemic. Ji-goo finds himself enamored with the feisty and courageous doctor and her intelligent and kind daughter and helps to protect and assist them in the middle of social unrest.

Spoiler 🚨 I enjoyed this movie and it was particularly relevant as we all struggle to deal with the coronavirus. Though sensationalized and exaggerated it revealed the varying way people and authorities deal with an aggressive yet invisible threat. Some lose their humanity and start seeing fellow human beings as disease vectors. Atrocities occur as those who are able to suspend their humanity take dire action in the name of containment. Others maintain their caring and it sets up conflict between the two.

I liked this movie as it showed the range of human response in a pandemic. I also thought the depiction of conflict in dual roles causes. It was horrifying to see someone cough and slow motion magnification of the aerosol spray and the range and number of people it would “ hit”. Most of the acting was really good, particularly the leads, but there was room for improvement with the supporting cast. Overall good and entertaining.

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Disclaimer: I am fairly sure, I would enjoy this movie less, if I watched it before pandemic.

If you look for realism, you won’t find it here. The plot is pushed to extremes at times, but it does fit the overall mood and story progression - I never felt like they were going so far just to shock the viewers, all the scenes seemed to match well together.

Surprisingly, with how grim the movie was at times, it left me quite happy and hopeful - we truly dealt with the pandemic way better in real life, compared to authorities in The Flu.

The whole cast did an amazing job portraying the characters - each representing a different reaction to an unexpected and dangerous event occurring. Different motivations led to different actions taken by them. The characters were smart and dumb in a realistic way, so even when they made mistakes, it was understandable.

If I had to complain about anything, I would say Kang Ji Goo was unreasonably heroic and the ending was not satisfying in one specific aspect.

Overall, it got my blood boiling. I was annoyed, but in a good way - I was supposed to be annoyed. Even though I wanted to throw my laptop out of the window, I still kept watching - it truly got me engaged. Would definitely recommend it, just remember: it’s not a realistic story.

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Cliche, falls flat

There were a few parts of this that were harrowing — the crane picking up bodies into the incinerator, for example. Other than that though, this movie just completely fell flat for me in terms of plot, characters, and everything else.

I was first very put off by the characters; probably the only saving grace as Jang Hyuk as the male lead. The female lead was rude and annoying, and even though she was a doctor I felt like she made so many stupid decisions throughout the entire movie that made no sense. The child was continuously used as a plot device. It's hard to enjoy a movie when over half of it is about the main leads running around looking for a child (multiple times) who I couldn't care less about.

The last thing that really put me off this movie was unfortunately the cinematography; the camera just shook way too much during every single scene (even the peaceful, calm ones) and it made the movie difficult to get through without becoming nauseous.

All in all, this was exactly how you would expect a disease-based apocalyptic movie to go — incompetent politicians, abusive law enforcement, riots, etc. — but even with all these cliches, I felt like the Flu's downfall was its reliance on evoking the audience's sympathy with the little girl, a method that just did not at all work on me.

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La película que se puso de moda durante la cuarentena.

La historia como The Flu es de mis favoritas a la hora de ver películas coreana, la adrenalina que siento cuando los personajes están en una situación extrema o de desastre natural, me mantiene totalmente pegada a la pantalla y The Flu no ha sido una excepción. No es una película que haya visto recientemente, por lo que no recuerdo mucho los detalles, pero sí que recuerdo que la disfruté mucho y que la recomiendo para aquellos amantes de los desastres y las historias de sucesos inusuales como yo.

Creo que hubo un poco de polémica con la película porque cuenta una historia similar a la que estábamos viviendo en esos momentos y que parecía como “una profecía”. Sin embargo, la historia está inspirada en la epidemia del 2015 de un virus respiratorio que afectó a varios países entre ellos a Corea del Sur y el tratamiento ante epidemias o pandemias como la del Covid o esta son muy similares. Por lo que sí llegué a escuchar que todo estaba planeado ya que incluso había una película que trataba dichos sucesos, pero, lo siento mucho, nada más lejos de la realidad.

Si estás buscando una película sobre desastres o situaciones extremas, recomiendo mucho The Flu y el tratamiento que hacen los coreanos en su cine sobre dichos temas me gusta mucho.

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What a great movie! It was kinda funny how evil they made the Americans but I loved the guy who played the President, he was the Prime Minister in Pandora too and in both, he played the caring leader who wanted to save his citizens. The acting in this film was great. I saw Jang Hyuk in the Voice and was so happy to see him in this, he plays all his roles to so well. And Park Min Ha as the daughter was just outstanding! I was totally rooting for them to become a family in the end.

The story was well done, I wasn’t bored oncee. Everything progressed at an even pace. The score fit the movie perfectly. My only complaint is one of the scenes, about midway through we saw how they were disposing the corpses and it was quite disgusting. I think they could’ve scaled back on that a little. But I guess it achieved what the scene intended, I was entirely on the citizens side at that point and thought, “to hell with the government!”

Definitely worth the watch. Especially it you love disaster and thriller movies.

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