A bluish, hazy lens flare focuses to a young man inquiring about a flight that would have the most passengers in the busy Incheon airport on a busy summer day was not the strongest opening for a disaster movie. Yes, one might be curious for that young man's intentions, but the camerawork obstructed me from focusing on the screen. Instead, I just couldn't wait for a normal camera angle and coloring.

However, it redeemed itself with the succeeding scenes once the lens toned down. The tension about the apparent "attack" is now building up as the said young man is now trying to pull out the trigger for a what seems to be a bio terror attack on a plane bound for Honolulu. Also, the passengers of said plane whom he would victimize are now being introduced on the screen. I felt pity towards them being innocent on what would happen next, but at the same time, I couldn't take it much seriously knowing that there were also teenagers aboard wearing their uniforms on their way to vacation.

This disaster movie, as with most disasters, is divided into 2 parts: the 1st half talks about the disaster itself and its victims; and the 2nd half is about the consequences of that disaster to its victims, and the society to an extent.

The 1st half was purely genius in terms of balancing grit, suspense, and thrill. The outcome was already predictable, yet it felt that it was not. Im Si-wan's portrayal as the young man mentioned earlier named Ryu Jin-seok was absolutely terrific in terms of characterization. He really was fit for the role of an innocent-looking yet dangerous and narcissistic terrorist, and he was able to convey the necessary emotions well. Also, the plane attack in itself was brilliant in terms of how carefully-planned it was. The pacing from the first scene at the airport towards the attack itself was spot on, if not top notch. The attack though, felt too abrupt when it was done, and I was wanting for more intense scenes.

Meanwhile, the 2nd half now focused on the consequences of said bio terror attack and how the passengers and air crew dealt with it. It had the same pandemonic vibes as "Train to Busan", but unfortunately, this movie took the story potential for the worse. It attempted to compress several actions into one big story which dragged the movie's run time. The events that occured post-attack felt too emotional and illogical, even for the basic movie viewer like me. It seemed that there was a different approach for the direction, but ultimately turned out to be unnecessary.

The movie could have been more impactful had it been more explicitly tragedic. A sad outcome based on the events of the attack and its consequences to all of the plane's passengers and crew would have been more logical and acceptable. The "vague" ending in itself felt safe to be open for interpretation. As the credits rolled, my first thought was that this movie wasted immense potential and that it could've reached the same critical response as "Train to Busan" or even beyond, but it did not.

On the other hand, I have to commend the well-shot scenes inside the plane. The movie showed different angles and perspectives of the plane on air, and added tension to the impending disaster. Korean disaster movies are really world-class in terms of showcasing the disaster itself and really convinces the viewer with its great camera work aside from the mentioned earlier.

비상선언 (Emergency Declaration) overall was like the air turbulence shown in the movie, it was bumpy. It tried to incorporate several genres within a disaster movie, but it was not successful in doing so. It wasn't able to maintain the amount of thrill and suspense it had at the first half, but was still able to portray action thanks to its talented star-studded cast, despite some ending up being under utilized.

In the end, this movie served its purpose - to be a precautionary tale for possible bioterrorism, but a mindless one.