No, the picture above is not from the Day after Tomorrow movie, but from Haeundae, which is a South-Korean disastermovie about a Tidal wave. The Day after Tomorrow had a budget of 125 million. Haeudae didn’t have that much money available, only 11 million dollar (the most expensive South-Korean movie ever made). Does the movie succeed to be convincing despite the relative small budget? 
The movie (which is also known as Tsunami and Tidal Wave) is named after Haeunda Beach. According to the Korean tourism site it has enough place for 120.000 people. So it’s a perfect location for a disaster movie about a tidal wave. 
As usual with this type of movies you first need to be introduced to some characters you care about. This movie chooses local workers, a scientist investigating tsunamis, a rescue worker and some young, rich students. What surprised me is that the movie has a lot of humor, which you really don’t expect in a disaster movie. Of course the characters have their personal issues, but the mix of drama and humor is refreshing. 
Because the budget for the movie wasn’t extremely high a lot of time is spent showing the characters and their lives. Only in the last part of the movie the disaster finally strikes. The effects look convincing and didn’t feel cheap. Even during the disaster there is still time for funny situations, like a scene on a bridge shows. Some nice trivia about this movie is that the water tanks which were used for some effect shots were also used in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 
I first read about this movie on the site of fellow blogger Barry Norman (who also reviews movies) and was very interested in seeing it. I was not disappointed and i liked seeing a disaster movie not made in Hollywood. Because of it, it was just not completely what you would expect with this type of movie. Haeundae is an enjoyable movie with some moments which you’ve seen many times in other disaster movies, but it is definitely worth checking out. Score: 7
