The Yellow Sea
Fox World Cinema | Release Date: December 2, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenDec 1, 2011
Na captures at once the fragility of the human body and the deep-rooted darkness of the human soul. The Yellow Sea is easily one of the films of the year for underserved action-heads. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 1, 2011
A rush of a movie from South Korea that slips and slides from horror to humor on rivers of blood and offers the haunting image of a man, primitive incarnate, beating other men with an enormous, gnawed-over meat bone. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 31, 2016
A deafening explosion of energy, gruesome violence and chaos. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangDec 3, 2011
Gushing more blood and possessing more stamina than any number of Hollywood hack-'em-ups, writer-director Na Hong-jin's pulse-pounding, mordantly funny genre piece is at times messily convoluted, yet serious and full-bodied enough to achieve a genuinely tragic dimension. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanNov 29, 2011
More startling than an unexpected punch in the noggin, Na Hong-Jin's unusual thriller could have the highest knife count this side of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. A violent thrill-ride to a dark new corner of Asian cinema. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonNov 29, 2011
If anything, Na's film is too much of a good thing, exceeding credibility too often (the punching-bag hero is far too lucky - good and bad - and absorbs a hilarious amount of punishment) in its pursuit of despairing violence. But that's the Korean way, and Na nails down the bottom feeder realism while slouching toward video-game hyperbole. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearNov 29, 2011
Like fellow countryman Park Chan-wook's vengeful epics, this man-on-the-run thriller knows how to deliver a rush; unlike those superior tales of lives on the edge, that's the only trick up its sleeve. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMaggie LeeMay 31, 2016
The raging stamina, unrelenting violence, rapid-fire editing and truncated narrative all give one no pause for thought or even breath. By the time the central mystery is revealed in a nice twist, it gets swallowed in the messy, anti-climactic end. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonDavid JenkinsMay 31, 2016
After a ruthlessly focused, almost-Hitchcockian first hour, Na’s film fans out into a flabby, multi-stranded gang war and loses all sense of purpose. Read full review
40
Total FilmPhilip KempMay 31, 2016
The Yellow Sea is overkill in every sense. Read full review
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