Yizhou (Yilong Zhu) and his girlfriend Xiaojin (Junyan Jiao) are building contractors and working on a mountain tunnel. Yizhou's Dad, Yungbing (Zhizhong Huang) - a retired rescue worker - comes to visit. Shortly after Xiaojin fetches Yungbing from the bus station, the shifting of a tectonic plate causes a giant sinkhole in town - swallowing the bus he had just been on.
The quake was caused by work on the tunnel - now already 10 years in the making - and the surrounding mountains are now in danger of collapsing. The disaster scenes are incredibly well done, and the chaos and mayhem are reminiscent of 70's disaster movies. The film is in the vein of the recent Mandarin disaster movies 'Skyfire' and 'The Bravest'.
'Cloudy Mountain' is fast-paced and exciting, with suspense around every corner. Apart from the disaster element, the film is also a survival story. I enjoyed the characters. With no annoying or arrogant characters you generally find in these genre movies, I rooted for everyone. (I must confess, almost until the finale I wasn't sure whether Ding (Shu Chen) was a protagonist or antagonist).
I love disasters movies and 'Cloudy Mountain' is a great addition to the genre. The third act did loose some momentum, but it was nevertheless still thrilling, with a satisfying ending. I thoroughly enjoyed it.