Decent South Korean monster flick which has stylish handling and enough odd beat touches to make it a winner despite it's flaws. The set up is reminiscent of a 50s radiation movie or 70s John Sayles exploitationer - an American scientist orders his Korean offsider to dump some toxic chemicals in the river, resulting in a killer creature.
The creature is a good one and there are some strong set pieces, such as its initial appearance - no Jaws like teasing here, the thing is up and running around on its legs on dry land. It chomps away at various people, abducting some to have for a snack later - including a little girl, whose family go looking for her.
The family are an interesting bunch, each with a strong characterisation, kind of like Packed to the Rafters: granddad is a crusty old gent who runs a snack food stall, dad is a bit dopey with this weird dyed blonde hair and narcolespy, aunt is a champion archer, uncle is a former student radical turned unemployed drunk. They escape from being held by the authorities to go looking for the little cute on but to be honest aren't very smart heroes: dad grabs another girl's hand and thus indirectly causes his daughter to be abducted; grandad chases after the creature with his gun without counting bullets (dad thinks he's given him one but is wrong); uncle mis-throws a Molotov cocktail; archer auntie goes to use her bow and arrow several times but is always stopped until the end (this is very frustrating); dad is captured by the authorities twice; people attack the creature with no real thought of strategy.
I guess it's okay for the family to do that because they are amateurs but it's surprising that the authorities have so much trouble trying to find the creature, since it hangs around the same bridge most of the time. (There's very little army presence - the authorities seem mainly concerned with containing the virus.)
I enjoyed the satire and digs at American influence on Korea, the materialistic nature of Korean society, the keenness of scientists to lobotomize people. Also the effects and photography are very good and a lot of it is exciting. Occasionally I did feel a bit of a cultural divide watching it, eg when the family start bawling hysterically at the thought their little girl is dead (surely this induced laughs at the cinema?). the insert of comic slapstick (a man in a Hazmat suit who trips over).
It was a bit long and didn't quite all work for me, but was ultimately impressive.
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