I'm generally a fan of Korean movies but this one is terrible. The exposition is a parade of clichés. The quirky buddies meet the feisty but sexy lady (who has a cute daughter). Then everyone in Bundang, a satellite city of Seoul, gets the flu and starts dying. Of course this is a rip-off of every Quarantine/Contagion movie you've ever seen but it's got none of the character/plot or budget to pull it off. The director is from the A.D.D. school of direction and although Jang Hyuk does good work as the fireman it's wasted. None of the actors embarrass themselves here to be fair. But there's no time for character development which is problematic as the movie has no plot instead relying on personal drama to carry the day. Sure an advanced ability to suspend disbelief is often a necessity in Korean movies but the idea that a virus could be contained in Bundang is just plain silly. About the only thing that amused me in this movie was the undercurrent of xenophobia. Of course Vietnamese workers are the source of the deadly virus (the Vietnamese provide a growing emigrant workforce as well as mail order brides in Korea) and the scene where the "good" Korean President threatens to shoot down the "bad" American jet bombers (ordered to bomb a mob threatening to break the quarantine cordon)doesn't say much for a generation that prefer to ignore how the Korean War was won. In a country where few will have seen Contagion and xenophobia is considered a virtue it's hardly surprising this movie has found popularity but for a foreign audience this movie is best avoided.
Review of Flu
