The Flu Review

“The Flu” (2013) 

Koreans need an award when it comes to portraying love and relationships onscreen. “The flu” is a movie with a similar plot to the American Film “Outbreak” (1995) but with a different take on the characters and their relationships; also the flu is not brought in by a monkey, but by an immigrant. This disaster movie will make you fall in love with a kid; it will make you root for a fire fighter; it will make you wish for the death of the evil and incompetent; and from now on, it will make you cover your nose and mouth from sneezes around you -if you didn’t do it before.

This Korean movie is about Kang Ji Koo (Jang Hyuk), a fire fighter, and Kim In Hae (Soo Ae), a doctor, along with her daughter Kim Mi Reu (Park Min Ha) fighting for survival after their whole town is infected by a deadly and contagious virus. I will not go into details because I do not want to spoil the movie -even if it might not be a brain wrecker. The story does great connecting the characters as to how Ji Koo and In Hae meet. It also does well showing how Mi Reu and Ji Koo grow fond of each other; so the movie does give us time to have the characters grow on us.

When I saw this film I was surprised by a couple of things. First, little Park Min Ha’s performance. That kid really took my heart, not only by her acting abilities, but by how believable she portrayed her character. I made me believe all kids should behave like her. Second, the quality of the production. I had seen Korean movies before and I knew they were good, but I still got surprised. I’m one to find bloopers in films really quickly, and although I saw this film more than once I can’t remember finding one. The set, props and color of the movie was well directed; and although Bundang is a small district it felt really big in scenery. Last but not least, I was surprised by the spin in this story. I previously mentioned how it was kind of similar to the movie “Outbreak” from 1995, and I was surprised because I love the moments when a man fights and does what he must to save and protect the woman he loves, hence: “Outbreak”. “The Flu” also had that element as Ji Koo wanted to help In Hae, but the elements of mother-daughter relationship took me off guard. It was more surprising because it was Ji Koo protecting a child that was not his, yet between the desperation and chaos he seemed like her real father.

On the down side -and is not even something bad it’s just that I didn’t like it as much- I find both Ji Koo and In Hae are bad parents. Can’t they just take the child with them everywhere?! Lots of things wouldn’t have happened if Mi Reu hadn’t been alone. Then again maybe we wouldn’t have had a good movie. You will understand once you see the movie.

In all, “The Flu” is a great movie that entertains while showing the typical chaos a city, if not country, goes through when faced with an unknown deadly virus and the race against time to find a cure.

My rating for this movie is: ♥♥♥