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Despite the intense tone you would expect from several films depicting how characters deal with natural disasters, ‘Ashfall’ has a number of humorous moments – to the point that I was thinking, “Am I watching a comedy?” I left for my cinema location just by reading the synopsis via my ‘Touch n’ Go’ ewallet mobile application (I now usually book tickets from the app).

I would like to think that my 2019 trip to South Korea’s Jeju Island was one of the motivating factors for watching this film. The geography of South Korea is such that there are mountains and volcanoes, as the East Asian country is mainly surrounded by water. Notably, there is only one active volcano, the rest are all dormant.

It is worth noting that the audio is primarily in Korean with some Chinese and English. Subtitles for those watching it in Malaysian cinemas are provided in English and Chinese.

Even though it may not be obvious at first glance, you’ll walk out of the film feeling the humanistic side of the story – it’s not just one about the measures being taken to save the Korean peninsula, but also about how ordinary lives are affected by something massive.

Also known as Baekdusan (Mount Baekdu), this 130-minute creative work received a P13 rating for local cinemas in Malaysia. Cast members of the largest and most expensive Korean disaster movie include Ma Dong-seok, who made a cameo appearance on the TV drama ‘Sense8’ (2015), as well as Suzy from the South Korean girl band Miss A (years active: 2010-2017).