For eager movie viewers curious about the next great disaster films, especially after recent hits like Twisters or Gerard Butler’s grounded 2020 hit, Greenland, Netflix has a surprisingly fresh alternative. From the same director as Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy, South Korea’s The Great Flood blends harrowing environmental destruction with a clever sci-fi twist.
Kim Byung-woo’s The Great Flood became instantly popular streaming on Netflix, where it currently sits at #1 for non-English movies from December 22-28, 2025. It has shown no signs of stopping, particularly because of its enthralling plot, especially for audiences seeking something new.
Instead of treading into Roland Emmerich territory of formulaic disasters in which humanity endures despite horrendous, extinction-level threats, The Great Flood outwardly states humanity is about to abruptly end. In fact, one can argue that the moment the bleak future teased by its trailers comes to pass, is when the movie becomes truly interesting.
The Great Flood Is Disaster Cinema Done Right
Après Le Déluge, Le Déluge
Borrowing a familiar premise, including an asteroid striking Antarctica, causing the world’s sea levels to engulf much of the Earth, The Great Flood feels at first like a typical grounded disaster flick. The main character, Gu An-na (Kim Da-mi), a researcher, and her son, Ja-in (Kwon Eun-seong), must survive as the flood swallows Seoul.
As An-na gathers supplies including medication for Ja-in’s unnamed illness, while the boy adorably fixates on the pictures he draws of the two, they must quickly evacuate as her employers promise safe extraction. However, as the fellow citizens understandably panic while their high-rise is surrounded by catastrophic levels of seawater, escape efforts become congested.
It’s here that Son Hee-jo (Park Hae-soo) finds them and guides them to relief, although not without multiple harrowing incidents. The movie is full of striking shots of terrified crowds powerlessly staring at the massive tidal waves that claim the city. However, the flood isn’t over even after the first or second wave, and humanity as they know it is doomed.
Park Hae-soo plays an impressive supporting role, bringing his physicality and layered callous-to-heroic portrayal to the character, very much the inverse of his famous part as Cho Sang-woo in Squid Game season 1.
Netflix’s New #1 Hit Movie Ditches Formulaic Disasters
No Spoilers, Promise
Around the halfway point, the movie’s premise takes a noteworthy shift to introduce a fascinating end-of-world scenario that recontextualizes the entire premise. Viewers will likely want to rewatch to catch certain dialog details, or focus on certain behaviors, set pieces, and visuals, as the story unfolds.
Everything, down to the flood covering Seoul and much of the Earth, is an extremely personal moment for An-na, triggering traumatic memories while her mysterious job, and connections to the truth about humanity’s future, are carefully divulged over the runtime. An-na’s mission is desperate, but she never loses sight of her goal to keep herself, and her son, alive.
The Great Flood takes on an approachable sci-fi spin while never losing sight of a believable disaster film premise, resulting in a fascinating development too interesting to spoil here. It strays from the formula while keeping the exposition approachable, turning the film into a surprisingly cerebral thrill-ride by the end, with Kim Da-mi’s An-na truly transformed by the end.
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January 16, 2007
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Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph
