The Great Flood
I don’t know about you, but I enjoy reading movie reviews. Since I took a high school class on film studies I’ve been interested in all aspects of movies, from production to advertising to popularity, etc. One of the things an internet user will notice near the end of a calendar year is people posting lists of Best movies and Worst movies. I rarely agree with every pick of a reviewer, but it’s still interesting to read. A few days ago I read one of those and learned that The Great Flood is one of the worst movies of 2025. Challenge accepted!
The film had been showing up on my Netflix homepage, but I just wasn’t interested for some reason. It’s advertised as an apocalypse film about a mom climbing lots of stairs with her kid on her back to escape a huge flood that is reaching the top of skyscrapers. Okay. Stoopit. I felt like the reviewer was probably right, but for some reason I don’t even remember I started watching it anyway. Even more strangely, I kept watching it past the first five minutes because the story is just plain dumb. How in the world can that kind of flood occur? The mom wakes up, tired, when her bratty, willful, dumb kid has climbed in with her and woken her up. She plods around, making breakfast, enduring his unending whining and calls for attention. She’s on the phone and he’s yammering at her. She tells him to be quiet and he goes into a closet to pout. She apologizes. Argh!!! The phone call is from a person who tells her to go up to the roof of her building because of the flood. She looks out her 16th floor window and sees the ocean is beginning to leak through the windows. Three minutes ago it was just raining hard.
Do you see why I was surprised to continue watching? For half the movie, the mom struggles to get the kid to the roof. He wanders off, brat that he is, the flood gets more and more dangerous. Eventually the film takes a sudden, horrible turn and now I not only cannot turn it off, but I’m actually intrigued. Where the heck is this going? What the heck is going on? My viewing companion kept asking me those questions and I had no answers. The end of the movie had us staring blankly at the screen and then at each other. Pardon my French, but what the actual f?
Then I realized why this film is getting so many views on Netflix. (I won’t go into the whole two minute thing.) Like me, people probably watched it, had a hard think about it and then re-watched trying to understand. I still couldn’t tell you if I liked or disliked it. I think it’s both. This movie has no business being so compelling. The acting is about what you would expect from a Korean film. The mom cries a lot. The kid is obnoxious. The hero is oddly flat, emotionally. They all do a fine job. The special effects are good, with the flood staying mysterious and ominous all the way through. Color is a bit muted, sound and music are okay. Nothing stands out, except for the story and even that takes forever to really take off and show itself.
Do I recommend watching this movie? Absolutely. It will confuse you. It may even make you mad. It will probably make you think and have to re-watch trying to understand everything. My second viewing helped a little, but not entirely. We talked about it for a while. My viewing companion is not happy that I am recommending this because, “It’s annoying”. The main theme is something that currently has a lot of people on edge, even though it’s been a thing since Isaac Asimov was writing. Enjoy your brain twisting.
Triggers: child endangerment, lots of “unintended” underwater shots and agonizingly slow swimming
Available on: Netflix
Spoiler: This movie is 2012 meets Groundhog Day meets The Matrix. Wrap your head around that for a minute.
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CFR: In Addition
A few days ago I read one of those and learned that The Great Flood is one of the worst movies of 2025. Challenge accepted!
LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Uh, no, giggle, I won’t be watching this. Thanks for taking the hit, Cranky.
Plus, Cranky! I think I think your negativity about the movie got to me as I started thinking of it being called The Last Flood. Now I’m laughing again.
Big flood? This is why I live in the landlocked Midwest, thank you very much.
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