A consequence of that is that the movie ends up being longer than what it, really, should have been. Again, a lot of shit does happen, now that I look back on it, but a lot of the movie feels like it's just looking for ways to extend Lee's situation even further. The problem I have with the film is that, in spite of a lot happening, it feels like there's no real progression. There's nothing in the way of true complexity, I think they hit all the notes I expected of them, but it's still good storytelling. The reason I did is because they do a good job at telling this story. Every element of the film is fairly straightforward and simplistic, but I still enjoyed the movie. Not to mention the struggle Lee's wife faces once she, reluctantly, signs off on calling off the rescue. Complications also arise once the rescuers have no more contact with Lee, as his phone's battery ran out, and how other people wish to continue with the construction of the tunnel, which would require blowing up the debris with dynamite. There's also Lee's wife and how she hasn't left his side, or at least the tents that the emergency rescuers have set up just outside the tunnel. There are several other elements at play here, like Lee finds that there was another woman stuck in the tunnel at the same time (let'ts just say she doesn't last long) and Lee keeps her dog as his companion. It tracks the rescue attempts from the emergency rescuers and Lee Jung-soo's struggle to survive as he waits to be rescued. The story is very simple and straightforward. I mean if you're not invested in this guy after he finds himself stuck underneath a tunnel after a rock slide (tunnel was poorly built through a mountain), then there was nothing that they could have possibly done to hook you. Don't get me wrong, there's certainly some very dramatically heavy moments in this film, but I don't believe that they ever resort to exploiting or manipulating your emotions in order to get you to invest in this character and the situation that he finds himself in. And, of course, I'm very proud to say the film did not, in fact, suffer from any histrionics. I've gone on long enough about this, what did I think about this movie? I certainly enjoyed it for sure.
It made a pretty good movie considerably worse. The last South Korean disaster film I saw, Pandora (a Netflix original film), had one of these awful, weepy climactic acts. Not saying that it can't work when used sparingly and effectively, like in The Housemaid, which was a soapy erotic thriller (and a damn good movie as well). But I've still grown to hate their use of melodrama, I've just never found it to be an effective form of telling a story. Though I am perfectly well aware of the fact that they're making films for South Korean sensibilities and not necessarily western ones. That would be bullshit considering I've watched hundreds and hundreds of South Korean films, I know their style and I am allowed to dislike parts of it. And I'm not judging because I'm from a different culture and they don't do things the way I've grown accustomed to.
Perhaps exploitation of human suffering is too strong of a term, but that's always been one of my problems with films from this country and that is the rampant use of awful melodrama. And that is a completely histrionic exploitation of human suffering.
When South Korean filmmakers try their hand at this genre you can expect one thing. The Towering Inferno was just way too fucking long. But out and out disaster films (like The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno) have never been my bag. I love destruction in video games and I love action films, if they're well-made of course. I think it's genetic or something, I'm a man after all. I've honestly no idea why, I enjoy destruction. I've never been the biggest disaster film guy.
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