Train to Busan (2016) (Korean Language)

Review

118min

Genre:      Action, Horror, Thriller

Director:   Sang-ho Yeon

Cast:        Yoo Gong, Soo-an Kim, Yu-mi Jeong…and more

Writer:     Sang-ho Yeon

-Synopsis-

The passengers on a high-speed South Korean train are inadvertently caught up in a “Zombie” apocalypse when a virulent virus quickly spreads across the country; but far from their coffin, the train proves their only hope for survival as they struggle against the ravenous hoards towards their final destination.

Having already established himself in Korea by crafting popular animated thrillers and horrors, which include the animated zombie apocalypse horror ‘Seoul Station’; writer/director Sang-ho Yeon applies his experience of the sub-genre to a live-action debut film, with this visceral and blood-soaked Korean take on the familiar zombie survival thriller.

The story centres around workaholic financier “Seok Woo” (Yoo Gong); as he tries to mend the relationship with his infant daughter “Soo-an” (Soo-an Kim) by taking her to his ex-wife on an ill-fated cross-country trip to Busan, when suddenly all hell breaks loose as a mysterious virus spreads and transforms people into mindless cannibals, in this not-so-subtle metaphor for the 2015 MERS respiratory virus outbreak in Korea and the inadequate government response.

Indeed the nature of the ravaging “creatures” makes ‘Train to Busan’ less of a classic “reanimated dead” zombie film and more of a Danny Boyle-style “rage virus” proposition, although it never really goes into the disease’s origins; resulting in something along the lines of ’28 Days Later’ meets ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, however considering the lack of quality it’s probably more like ‘Flight of the Living Dead’ crossed with ‘Under Siege 2’.

We’ve become used to Hollywood turning to the innovative Asian cinema scene of the last 15 years or so for “inspiration”, re-packaging and re-making horrors and thrillers from a part of the world which has cleverly put its unique cultural stamp on western genres with films like ‘Ringu’ and ‘Thirst’. But director Sang-ho Yeon has flipped-the-script and seemingly regressed by taking established horror concepts and throwing them on a train while applying almost nothing of a cultural signature.

Sure you get the novelty of a new setting and a few original set-pieces that come with that, and yes there is plenty of action and dynamic, vascular contorting “Zombies” to feast your eyes on, pardon the pun. But there’s not enough tension and creativity here, and the film squanders its early potential with truly cringeworthy emotional character-building scenes throughout; completely breaking up the film’s momentum and amounting to corny soap opera melodrama, complete with a ridiculously clichéd score which helps to make the film unintentionally comical at times.

‘Train to Busan’  never pretends to be anything other than a Korean version of popcorn entertainment, with little menace or mood, let alone creativity or inspiration; but it’s just not that entertaining and certainly doesn’t justify its two hour runtime, as things get progressively worse towards an underwhelming 3rd act and conclusion, despite some decent action set-pieces and a sheer volume of non-CGI “Zombies” which hasn’t been seen in a while.

Perhaps there’s something lost in translation, and for some the language barrier and setting seems to qualify the film as innovative and intriguing, which would explain the largely positive reviews. But ultimately ‘Train to Busan’ amounts to a missed opportunity and for us this feels like a step back for an emerging filmmaking country which has produced some real quality over the last decade, and has new releases like the upcoming erotic drama ‘The Handmaiden’ and supernatural horror ‘The Wailing’ to offer.

The Bottom Line…

Despite a new cultural context, a different setting and some choice set-pieces, ‘Train to Busan’ is a rather underwhelming “Zombie” apocalypse thriller which squanders its early potential; a big, bloody and badly executed warning story about selfishness and corporate greed, wrapped in an uninspired and moderately entertaining horror flick.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

28 Weeks Later (2007)

28 weeks after the original “rage virus” outbreak decimated the British population, an area of London secured by the US army is designated to rebuild the population; but when things take another horrifically tragic turn, a small group of doctors and soldiers escort two invaluable young survivors on a dangerous escape journey.

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and starring Rose Byrne, Robert Carlyle and Jeremy Renner among others.

Comments

comments

Comments are closed.