Tidal Wave (2009 aka Haeundae/MagNet/Magnolia Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

The Disaster Film was pretty much played out by the early 1980s, but digital effects gave it a new round of life, one that quickly died but is still producing bombs and bad hits like 2012.  Besides some bad TV movies and mini-series, there is occasionally a foreign release that jumps in and Jk Youn’s (aka Je-gyun Yun’s) Tidal Wave (2009) may use the current look of CG digital visual effects, but its script is much more rooted in the original 1970s hits with all their hokey melodrama.

 

It is still not a great film, but it is an unintentionally funny one and amusing in its consistency to be like the older films throughout its two hours.  The makers were being ambitious here and they do succeed in recreating the older style, but they also have nowhere to take it; no new directions.  Still, it is amusing and fans of such films will want to give it a look.

 

The 1080p digital High Definition image was shot in the Super 35mm film format and has many digital effects and other work, softening the image in a way it should not be here.  However, that is no worse than most of the Hollywood equivalent since Twister made tornadoes look like an old TV ad for liquid cleaning detergent.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is better with a good soundfield and some good sound effects, but this is not a great or memorable mix either.  Extras include nine featurettes covering the production (two on sound, one on cinematography, one on marketing, one on visual effects, one on music, etc.), Deleted Scenes and a Gag Reel.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo