It’s not so much that The Great Flood (2025) is generally disappointing, but that it doesn’t specifically deliver on its surface promise. If some films subvert expectations in a good way, this one pivots too drastically, into territory that deepens the message — but confusingly, and in a manner that deflates all urgency.
The build-up is promising, for those who enjoy disaster films. An-na (Kim Da-mi) is a scientist who lives on the third floor of a massive apartment complex with her six-year-old son Ja-in (Kwan Eun-seong). When she awakens one morning to find flood waters infiltrating the apartment, it quickly becomes apparent that a catastrophic climate event is underway. An-na’s work is important enough to the government that a security agent, Hee-jo (Park Hae-soo), is sent to escort her and Ja-in to a rooftop extraction. But as the flood waters continue to rise and the situation grows more dire, An-na discerns that things are not at all what they seem.
Although the special effects aren’t entirely convincing, The Great Flood provides a compelling diversion in its first half, as An-na, Ja-in, and Hee-jo struggle to ascend amidst an eye-popping, waterlogged backdrop. During this stretch, it’s a fine example of a survival spectacle, thanks primarily to Kim Da-mi’s sympathetic performance as a woman forced to redirect her maternal instinct into woman-of-action athleticism. The phoniness of the computer-generated imagery soon reveals itself to be at least partially deliberate, and as the mystery behind the scenario unfolds, the film’s disaster-action foundation is replaced by something outwardly science fictional — and that twist, which isn’t all that shocking, robs the narrative of life-and-death stakes. It’s all purposeful, and in the end makes the film more interesting than its initial appearance, but also less satisfying as immediate peril is replaced by something else entirely. It’s fair to say that if you come to the film looking for what’s in the second half, you might enjoy it, but if you’re roped in by the early stages, you’ll likely walk away underwhelmed.
