My weekend went according to play so I had time to watch Train to Busan, I was going in with the impression that this movie is a Zombie Gem and it didn't disappoint me, it’s one of those rare gems that comes from South Korea and demonstrates how a zombie movie should be made, the interesting part is that it takes most of the common elements we see in zombie movies and somehow makes them fit together to make something unique that keeps you interested throughout the entire time, and I could even go as far to say that this is probably the best zombie movie ever made beating out big names like World War Z but I don't want to go that far, this movie proves that you don’t need a big Hollywood production or a big name actor to make something great.
This film is set in South Korea, the story develops around a fund manager named Seok Woo to whom his daughter Soo An never gets to spend much of her time as he always has tons of work to keep himself busy, classic movie that amps up characters regrets before the bad events happen, when she asks if he could take her to her mother for her birthday in Busan, he had to relent doing that by taking her on a train ride, which turns out to be a hellish train ride when a biological outbreak starts turning people into zombies, not zombies as we see it in The Walking Dead, these are non stop full speed and in the matter of seconds make people into zombies which makes them even more horrifying and what’s interesting is that mostly this film is set inside of the train with the whole claustrophobic sensation given the space and making the tension become more wholesome, first time I saw this type of 0 to 100 real quick zombies was on World War Z.
Rottentomatoes Rating
Train to Busan starts by showing us a biological leak at a factory in the South Korean countryside and we see roads being blocked off and a weird incident with a deer getting hit by a truck and coming back to life as a zombie which sets up what’s to come but doesn’t really give us any information on how this virus spreads or works, we never really know if it travels through the air, water or what happened at the factory that caused all of this chaos, all we know is that this biological waste is responsible for turning people into these fast, aggressive zombies that we see throughout the movie.
There is another breaking out in Seoul when the train is getting ready to leave the station but we never do find out if it's connected to the factory incident or if it's something completely different, what makes this virus so terrifying is the speed at which it works, unlike other zombie movies where people get infected and then die and come back as zombies after some time, in Train to Busan the transformation happens almost instantly, you get bit and in seconds to minutes you’re one of the pack, you can't say goodbye or have any meaningful last words before you’re a mindless creature that just wants to attack and infect others, this adds a ton of tension to the movie because you know that just one bite is all it takes and there is no coming back from it, no cure to find, no hope of survival once you’re infected, game over.
The plot is not that complicated and I like that because it make it simple for an action movie and what makes it work is the fact that everything around it worked so well, from the moment the outbreak starts the movie doesn't let go and every time you think that the characters are safe something happens to ensure that they're not, its just one event after another similar to an action pack sequence, but it never feels forced and it was the right balance when it came to the pacing and how every scene served a purpose; what I liked most though was the way in which the film actually took time to build up the relationships between each of the characters and their interactions, but didn't compromise the horror or the tension elements making it into a action over drama movie.
Train to Busan has a great cast with some fabulous performances from Gong Yoo who goes through the transformation of his character from a detached workaholic dad to a man who will do anything to protect his child played by Kim Su An who does a phenomenal job as well considering her age she manages to make her character feel real in a completely relatable way, without falling into the unpleasant child stereotype that films like this tend to fall for, Ma Dong Seok who plays Sang Hwa steals every scene he is in with his charming nature and the most heroic actions, he starts off as opposed to Seok Woo only to become one of the most likable characters in the movie while his relationship with his pregnant wife adds another level of emotion to the story. To be honest its the first time that I heard or saw many of this actors but its almost the same on this side of the world when watching movies from the other side of the world.
What sets the movie apart from the others is that it really does have a fresh feeling despite many of the familiar elements we can find in the genre such as a confined space which the train provides, fast moving zombies, still predictable story, these three along with many other elements work together to create something unique, not global award for unique ideas for a movie but you get my point. The movie works on multiple levels as yes its a zombie movie with fantastic action sequences and scare moments but the points it makes about social issues such as class division and selfishness in society are also key, we see this with characters like Yon Suk whom embody the wealthy elite that would do anything to survive, even sacrificing others if they had to, another character who brings a contrast to this is Sang Hw, a working class character that plays by his heart and has more humanity and compassion, it would be very easy for the movie to come off as preachy regarding these themes but instead it allowed them to naturally develop through the actions of the characters, the visual effects and makeup of the zombies are worth mentioning to as they look terrifying in character and feel as realistic as possible without too much use of CGI.
After everything they’ve been through, Seok Woo gets bitten while protecting his daughter, in his final moments he thinks of every time he didn’t have her back and throws himself from the train before turning into a zombie, a sad but fitting ending for his character as he finally places someone else’s needs above his own, Soo An and the pregnant woman Sung Gyeong are the only ones to make it to Busan, when they finally reach safety we see Soo An singing the song she wanted to perform for her father at the beginning of the movie, it’s a moment that rounds everything out and shows how much has been lost, but also how humanity can persevere in the worst of times.
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