Netflix's latest Korean sci-fi drama has sharply divided viewers online, with audiences split between praising its ambition and criticising its execution.
Netflix's latest Korean release, The Great Flood, is making waves online, and it looks like not everyone is on board with the sci-fi disaster film. Directed by Kim Byung-Woo, the movie made its OTT debut on Friday, December 19, 2025, starring Our Beloved Summer actress Kim Da-mi and Squid Game's Park Hae-soo. Although it garnered a lot of buzz, the internet has been left largely divided.
The Great Flood follows 'An-na' (Kim Da-mi), a single mother and a researcher, who gets trapped in a high-rise apartment in the city of Seoul with her young son 'Ja-in' (Kwon) after a catastrophic flood engulfs the city. As time goes by, the flooding grows more disastrous as water surges through the building, forcing residents to scramble upwards. Desperate to save her son, An-na rushes past panicked neighbours from her third-floor apartment to reach the building's roof, only to be separated from Ja-in.
While it initially looks like a typical disaster movie, it changes its course midway through when it's revealed that An-na works in a secret AI lab. Set in the near future, the story takes a more chaotic turn when security agent 'Son Hee-jo' (Park Hae-soo) drops a bombshell: an asteroid strike in Antarctica may spell the end of humanity. From there, The Great Flood leans heavily into sci-fi, time loops, and existential questions.
Initial viewers have already flooded X (formerly Twitter) with their reviews of The Great Flood, and judging by the reactions, there is a clear divide: some loved it, while others call it a sci-fi disaster. One user gave the film a 5/5 rating, saying it works best when watched from an emotional viewpoint rather than a logical one:
"Not even a catastrophe can shake a mother’s love. The Great Flood goes beyond being just a film about a natural disaster, it portrays a mother’s relentless attempts to reconnect with her child, and she doesn’t stop until she succeeds."
However, not all felt the same way. Despite a strong start, some users felt the sci-fi time loop angle made the plot unnecessarily complicated and ruined the genre with excessive incorporation of modern-day concepts like AI and clone technology. Several posts criticized the abrupt genre switch, with one user saying the movie “feels like it ends in the first 30 minutes and then reboots.”
A third user noted that the film is like a mixed bag, claiming that the flood concept and brilliant visuals were ruined by "confusing fillers" like AI and other sci-fi elements. Still, some netizens defended the film's core storyline, arguing that it's ultimately a story about motherhood and the lengths a parent will go to protect a child.
The mixed reaction has seeped beyond social media as well. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Great Flood holds a 60% critics score, but the audience score is much lower, at 39%. Based on critics' responses, the film's strength is the cast's performance, especially that of Kim Da-min and little Kwon. Both viewers and critics have agreed that the visuals are another strength, but when it comes to the storytelling, it struggles to balance ambition with clarity.
Well, that can be a tough call for The Great Flood. The fact that it isn't a standard disaster movie is both its biggest strength and weakness. If you are looking for visual spectacle and emotional intensity, there may be plenty to admire from the performance. However, those expecting a straightforward survival thriller may leave frustrated.
Have you watched The Great Flood yet? Let us know your thoughts.
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