The Yellow Sea [Blu-ray] [Region B]

The new movie from the director of 'The Chaser' is as good and even more thrilling. I might point out at this point that Amazon does not advertise that this is the director's preferred and longer cut which has only been available thus far in Korea. The blu-ray is exemplary and I would suggest to anyone who loves World Cinema and Korean movies in particular to get this release while it is still available. The sub-titles have been newly translated and the main special feature is actually quite sufficient - a documentary comprising of smaller features which reveal the film-making process. I won't go into too much detail about the film so as not to spoil it for anyone but suffice to say that if you enjoyed 'The Chaser', as well as other Korean movies such as 'Nowhere to Hide', 'Tell Me Something', 'Green Fish' and any of the great Korean thrillers between 1999 and 2005 will be well-pleased with this film. Of recent some Korean Thrillers have failed to reach the heights of the aforementioned with the exception of 'I Saw the Devil',and 'The Man from Nowhere' but 'The Yellow Sea' is very much a return to form. The blu-ray release is from Bounty Films and distributed By Eureka. The cover and case are slightly different from the one shown on Amazon U.K. in that the case is light green and the cover has additional text. If you buy just one film this year - this ought to be the one! Watch it back-to-back with 'A Bittersweet Life' and you will see why people like me talk about how some of the best films over the last twelve years have come from South Korea. Make it a Korean film night with 'Epitaph' and 'The Host' and you will feel like you are in film heaven!

From the award wining director of THE CHASER brings you yet another great action crime thriller,The story of a cab driver in Yanji City, a region between North Korea, China and Russia. His wife goes to Korea to earn money, but he doesn't hear from her since in 6 months. Great car chase sequences, The violence is brutal, bloody and often up close, Good performances all round, fast paced and tense with twists that keep you watching and hanging on the edge of your seat. THE YELLOW SEA is the first Korean film to ever receive investment from a major Hollywood studio (Fox International Productions). Highly recommend this film!

I saw this at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2011 and have been dying to finally get this on blu-ray. This is a movie that has very few guns but all the knives and meat cleavers you could ask for. And uses them all. The violence is brutal, bloody and often up close. It is also excessive and never ending. Western films often glorify an intense moment of violence whilst The Yellow Sea follows it to its (un)natural conclusion. Remember the days when Seagal would walk into a room with a knife and kill everybody? This is the modern equivalent but done with Asian flair, outstanding production values, and a human-centred, relevant and modern tale. Like many Asian films, it's also slightly confusing if your mind switches to autopilot. So whilst you could watch this as a straight 'action' film and be happy with the violence, it's much better getting involved in the story too. The perfect non-Western action film.

The next film by The Chaser's director builds on many of the themes in that film. Here we have a twisted world in which probably no-one would choose to inhabit, where cops are useless or incompetant, bad guys are demonically strong, and protagonists dirtied by it all - in The Chaser for example we followed a cop turned pimp, but we also learn that he was hardly a model officer when he was on the force.. Yet at the same time in the Chaser there were many moments of humanity. In the Yellow Sea I struggled to find this humanity within most of the characters themselves. Partially difficulty in finding reasons to empathise with the characters comes from some of the detracting features in the film. Reviews abound on the internet, and you might seek out and find comments there such as 'women not portrayed in enough detail', 'overly long', 'lacks editing'. But at the same time there are many reasons to watch this film. Let me give you a few: - As social comment, albiet from the director's angle, this film differs from many of the more popular Korean films of recent years, examples here would be Oldboy, Bittersweet life, in particular The man from nowhere. Instead there is possibly a lack of character development, in the traditional sense, in favour of seeing the poverty and hardship of the lives in the first third of the film. This focus on Urban life/poverty/hardship demonstrates why the characters do as they do (to some extent). - The cinematography here is very good, much as in The chaser there is attention to detail, artistry with the lens. Not as polished looking as The chaser I would say the investment of more money, possibly time, and locations for filming opened up the use of different camera styles. Some may find this jarring - esp near the last third of the film - but I think it does add to the direction of the scenes. There is a lot of action which I think is best seen not described. - The acting as ever is good, despite my earlier point about a lack of character development in the traditional sense. The main character speaks little and we must therefore look to his experiences, facial expressions and suchlike. In terms of the other characters the villians work well, if again we learn little about them as people, but they seem clearly 'products' of their environments - note the 'clean' looking vs 'dirty' looking Boss theme! - The plot. Though there seems to be some confusion in interpretations, the film warrants a re-watch to understand the goings on after about an hour and a bit in. There are a number of twists and plot changes, notably the shift between the first third and middle/last portions of the film. Overall I would recommend the film, if it must be compared to exisiting Korean film then something like Sympathy for MR Vengence would be applicable, perhaps too Memories of murder. I would stress though that this is one of the bleaker films out there in Korean cinema, we are encouraged perhaps to learn (again in a limited way) about the plight of Koreans outside of the pop/glamour-world. Even more starkly less of the popular Black humour appears in this film than is ususally present in Korean thrillers; though it is there in small doses I think you might check your moral compass if you come away from this film smiling! #Buyers may be interested to know this features 2 discs, with a long making of feature. The film is a 'directors cut' in which about 15/20 mins is removed in comparison to the Korean release. There is a comparison on the net, but I would add that the film is long enough as it is.

Much more action than any Hollywood movie. Don't watch Hollywood stuff any more. ps. It was financed by Hollywood though . doh!

I'm in shock that someone ( quiet a few) gave this piece of crap 4 - 5 star reviews.Terrible film if you've got a brain.Excellent if you like lots of blood and don't have a brain,I guess.

Really great movie

great film , very realistic look and action (axes and knifes - loved it ). hard to understand but is a very good film.

Die Koreaner haben Krimis / Thriller drauf wie kaum eine andere Filmnation - da könnte sich in Deutschland so mancher Regisseur oder Produzent mal eine Scheibe von abschneiden. Aber so kann man sich an "The Yellow Sea" freuen. Ich fand schon den Vorgänger-Film "Chaser" richtig stark, aber hier ist noch mal eine Schippe draufgelegt worden. Spannend, temporeich, top Umsetzung einer clever geschriebenen Geschichte. Für den Film selbst daher 5*****. Der eine Stern Abzug lediglich für die technische Umsetzung der BluRay.Die Bildqualität ist bei einigen DVD's bei mir besser und auch das Fehlen von deutschen Untertiteln und die wenigen Extras waren schade. Aber der Film selbst: PURE EMPFEHLUNG, wenn auch nichts für zarte Gemüter bzw. schwache Nerven...

Bellissimo film, l'ho visto ad una ressegna cinematografica e devo dire che mi ha veramente colpito. Riesce a costruire e mantenere fino all'ultimo una straordinaria tensione nonostante la lunghezza. Trovo che proprio la grande articolazione della trama, l'accumulo e la successione delle diverse situazioni e la spettacolarità degli effetti accompagnati dall'essenzialità dei dialoghi rendano questo film qualcosa di veramente originale e riuscito, di intensamente soddisfacente, uno dei migliori thriller degli ultimi anni.

I loved every second of this movie even though at the end of it I had literally NO idea what I had just watched. great job !

Director Na Hong-jin's "The Chaser" shattered several box-office records in Korea and even won two major film awards in the 2008 Grand Bell Awards (best director and best film). Now, almost four years after its release, Na Hong-jin's follow up film finally gets released in the U.S. by Fox. "The Yellow Sea" was originally released in 2010 and received some coverage in the Cannes film festival. Those who have seen Na's first movie would remember "The Chaser" as a tightly-wound thriller that channels a lot of emotion and was a film based on a true story. "The Yellow Sea" may not be based on a true event, but rather based on the Joseonjoks in a region between China, Russia and Korea. There has been some confusion as to what is the director's cut of this movie since the film originally debuted as a 156 minute movie in Korea while the director's cut is 140 minutes long. The U.S. Dvd being released by Fox only has a runtime of 137 minutes. I have done my research and the shorter, tighter 140 minute version is indeed Na Hong-jin's director's cut. This review is based on this 140 minute version, and honestly, it is so hard to spot the difference between the 140 and 137 minute versions. Perhaps it is because the U.S. NTSC Dvd was converted from the U.K. PAL format? I have no idea. In the Yanbian province of China, Gu-Nam (Ha Jung-Woo), an ethnic Korean or a Joseonjok, is a disadvantaged cab driver whose evenings are mostly consists of hanging around gambling halls and drinking. He is also neck-deep in debt as he had taken a loan from gambling sharks in order for his wife to be able to legally migrate into Korea. To make matters worst, he has not heard from her since she left and is tormented by nightmares of her extra-marital affair while being hounded by his debt collectors. Gu-Nam sees a way out as a local gangster named Myun Jung-Hak (Kim Yeon-Seok) offers him a deal; all he has to do is to allow himself to be smuggled into Korea to kill a businessman and all his debts will be settled. Gu-Nam agrees and upon his arrival, he scopes out his target while at the same time, he searches for his wife. When the time does come to finish his mission, a string of coincidences and unexpected events occur that leaves him desperately looking for a way out. Now, Gu-Nam is being pursued by the Myun`s gang, the South Korean Mob and the police. What Gu-Nam discovers is something that would shock his being to its core. "The Yellow Sea" is one tight, exciting and intense thriller, and can be a difficult movie to review without spoilers but I will try. It is marvelously visceral, justly brutal with a simple set up and premise, but yet, the film's structure and the manner it unfolds becomes such a cinematic treat. Na's director's cut have cut off the `fillers', changed some scenes and made the movie much more intense and exciting than the original extended cut. The violence have been kept intact and the film is as sexual as the extended cut. What Na did well, was make for a much more cinematic experience with added flair and impact than what was originally released (the voiceover and the photo of a child in the beginning is one of the director`s cut best changes). The messages in its narrative had been preserved and the shorter version only made for a much more exciting watch. As with most Korean movies, the film spends some time developing its main character. There is an almost methodical approach with the way Na brought in the details of Gu-Nam's character. It was wise to really move the film in a way that truly justified the cause of his actions, it makes for a character that you can easily feel sympathy for. He is a man at the end of his rope, with a child and only his mother helping him raise her. It was a build-up which was effective that allowed a connection to the Joseonjok situation in Korea and China. This build up makes for a more satisfying experience as soon as the film began to take off, the viewer becomes set to root for his character while at the same time, begins to question the motivations behind each main character as represented by Myun and Kim Tae-Won (Seong -Ha Cho). The direction knew how to play on the screenplay's best strengths, it wasn't that twists and turns were original or stunning, but rather the way it executes the screenplay is set on careful manipulation that keeps one guessing. With its tight editing, good cinematography, interesting characters and careful directorial manipulations, the screenplay would have no problems engaging its viewer. The film is filled with intense chases, brutal fights and fast-paced action to drive its momentum. The set ups are certainly credible as you see Gu-Nam stumble across Korea in desperation. The film had some pretty wicked fights which were executed with visceral realism. Axes, knives and baseball bats are the weapons of choice, but even a huge Boar bone can fit the bill. The combatants were no fighters with a lot of finesse and style, but rather you could see that they are real people; they are afraid and they are willing to do whatever it takes to live through the struggle. One could easily feel the emotions behind each encounter. Many may say that Myun is a genre character and he may seem a tad cartoonish with his total awesomeness. Myun played by Kim Yeon-Seok was tough, mean, single-minded and totally relentless. Kim nearly stole the show as he closes in on his objective. Much of the movie is seen through the eyes of Gu-Nam and Ha Jung-Woo certainly delivers as someone who is certainly at the end of his rope. I could certainly feel his desperation and his resolve to redeem himself. The Kim Tae-Won character (played well by Cho) is by no means a special supporting role and he may be bordering on cliché, but he was a necessary one to achieve the film's narrative force. The screenplay may not be perfect since it left one device barely developed, but they were just tiny flaws to even nit-pick. Director Na Hong-jin truly out did himself with his second film. I liked "The Chaser" a great deal, and I truly cannot say just which of his films is better. It is amazing how a simple story if handled by an unskilled director would no doubt only be bordering on `fair', while in Na's hands, a premise such as this could be this incredible. It is to the director's credit that a screenplay that works around familiar devices could become such a compelling story because of the manner it is told. Na did a fine job because of his editing, timing and good old fashioned know-how. "The Yellow Sea" is dramatic, poignant, intense, powerful, filled with surprises and twists that it thrilled and truly kept me at the edge of my seat up to its final scene. The 140 minute Director's Cut is the better version. Highly Recommended! [4 ½ Out of 5 Stars]

Good movie! Happy with the fast delivery!