"The Yellow Sea", the title refering to the sea between China and Korea, should actually be called The Red Sea. There is a lot of bloodshed in the second film by director Hong-jin Na that is following his promising debut "The Chaser". After the cleverly constructed plot in his first film it is quite disappointing to see this one turn out to be a structural mess.
Gu-Nam is desperate. He is a gambler who makes his living as a taxi driver in China. We meet him in his run down appartment, where he lives alone since his wife has left to go work in Korea. Since then he hasn't heard anything of her and thinks she cheated on him and started a new life without him abroad. One day he is confronted by some gangsters who want him to pay his debts. The poor, unhealthy guy obviously doesn't have enough money left. Filled with anger and fear for his own life he decides to make a deal with another local gangster who offers him a bag of money if he kills a Korean businessman. To save himself he agrees to kill the guy. But also it's his chance to get to Korea and find his lost wife. Once he arrives he starts to investigate. For a long time Gu-Nam observes his victim. He is not a killer and not sure of how to handle this in a safe way. But when the time comes to finally do the job, some things happen that he could not have anticipated. Gu-Nam eventually finds himself trapped in a seemingly hopeless situation. With his back to the wall there is only one direction to go and he has to find a way out of this mess to survive.
The petty taxi driver suddenly becomes the target not only of the police but also of the Korean mob and his Chinese employers. Like in his debut "The Chaser" it's these really complicated unexpected quandaries that build up enormous amounts of tension as there is no obvious solution to such a difficult problem. Sadly in this film, the director loses track of his story right after his promising scheme is set up. The film is not able to keep the pace fast as "The Chaser" did but rather slows down from here. Moreover the film introduces too many parties and can not tie them all up properly in the plot resulting in a lack of dramatic momentum. Rather aimlessly the protagonist and the plot wanders around from here trying to escape. Meanwhile Korean and Chinese mobsters start their own private war but without one single soldier to root for. The film degenerates into an oddly paced chase movie with a lot of blood and fights but without any focus or red line. Just like the protagonist we get completely lost and indifferent about what happens to the characters in a very uneven and too long script. There are quite a few moments when things just doesn't seem to go anywhere.
The director has kind of this trademark shot he already used in "The Chaser" where somebody is running, sliding into the frame and then running in a frontal shot with the camera moving backwards. This was exciting the first time and had kind of an emphasis on the story in his first film where physical chases where essential parts of the plot. It ís overused this time as most of the film is not more than an exercise in style. There is quite a bit of visceral power but the clumsy narration denies the viewer to get emotionally engaged.
The film shows a very sad world. Very dark, very dirty with everything colored in various shades of grey and brown. It is no place you want to be and it gets rather depressing to watch. When the film's subplot about the wife eventually pays off there is a moment when the movie feels like a personal drama about this man who discovers that his horrible life is even worse than he thought it was. But as a whole it doesn't work as it is all over the place without any emotional center.
Its rather cynical attitude, exhausting and the excessive violence that seems to obligatory for Korean thrillers doesn't help either.
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