Concrete Utopia

It is kinda like "Lord of the Flies", meets "I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash", meets a disaster movie.

Firstly, the effects are pretty good, and it is hard to tell what is practical and what is CGI for most part. There's not many studios out side Hollywood who can pull off these types of effects movies, and South Korea is certainly competing and catching up with them.

It is a psychological study of people in a crisis situation, and how you would react and what depths they would stoop to to survive.

It is well crafted, but there are some areas which you could only describe as major loop holes. I mean South Korea is a technically advanced nation, so where is the government within all this and the rescue operation. Even if the whole country was affected by the quake, there would be international aid. There is no explanation to why they are still in exactly the same position 2 months later.

Still, if you can put that aside, its an enjoyable disaster movie with plenty psychological twists.

Giving this 7 star really mainly because Lee Byung Hun delivered as he always did. Stellar performance and script but clearly unrealistic ending whatsoever in a hopeful manner but still a show worth watching .Not much depth to the show so it's not too draggy along the way and the duration explains it because other than the survival that's going on and on there isn't any other topic or drama revolving around the show or characters. The characters can be more developed and would be nice to see more background story of the few main characters but i suppose it's not really necessary judging from the entire movie.

A film that tells the story of humanity's survival from a terrible disaster. But the disaster that really threatens them is actually human nature itself. This film depicts humanity at its worst.

I love how the film opens with a documentary about the development of apartments and their importance in upgrading modern lifestyle and providing convenience. Throughout the film, the apartment becomes a symbol of protection and not just a place for them to live.

Right after that, we get to see the terrible disaster that seemed funny and absurd to me. They said it was an earthquake, but what I saw feels like Godzilla is coming out from surface of the earth. No reason prior to it, no news from the government, no presence of military powers.

There is a scene that discusses whether to accept the outsiders (non-resident) or to evict them. Since food resources have become scarce with the increase of people, they need to make an important decision which will be voted according to the majority of the original residents.

I felt like this scene should've been more intense and more dramatic because it questions the moral of humanity. Accepting and helping them will result in reducing food resources while casting them out means letting them to die with no protection. Doesn't this count as a 'Collective Act of Murder'?

But the scene felt light and less serious and the decision they chose also seemed easy to make without any strong objections from others. Maybe it's the director's vision to show the selfish nature of human greed when they feel threatened.

To be honest, there is not a single character in this movie that I like. The lack of character development makes it difficult for me to connect with them.

Overall, this movie is quite good and fun to watch especially for fans of disaster movies and survival movies.

Concrete Utopia is a decent disaster survival thriller with solid direction, strong performances and production designs. Disaster movies aren't movies I see as art but rather as an entertainment popcorn movie. This movie does approach the themes more serious and explores themes of human selfishness and fight for survival.

The narrative does get predictable but it does provide some strong themes of human selfishness that felt effective and purposeful to the setting. The production designs, special effects and costumes are all pretty good that helped create the feeling of the danger and roughness of the aftermath's of the disaster. All the performances are pretty good without any bad performances observed throughout.

As I mentioned, the narrative is interesting but could use some better works on the writing. The characters, unfortunately, weren't as interesting or connectable as they felt too thin to care much.

Overall, the movie remains ambitious because I never felt bored and I found the emotional and crucial moments to be effective. If only the movie worked on some moments, the movie would have been much better.

After an epic earthquake disaster the concrete smoldering ruins of Seoul seem to stretch on as for as the eye can see.

In the centre of the massive disaster one building remains standing.

Dozens of outsiders from the surrounding area desperately seeking food and shelter from the cold. Feeling a threat to their very survival, the residents enact measures that questions the act of morals or survival.

Very well written, well done cinematography storytelling and great acting.

A must watch.

I had the opportunity to watch this at tiff this year. Tickets were sold out so I had to stand in Rush Line, two hours before the movie was being viewed,.

It was absolutely worth it.