Train to Busan (2016) [Film Review]

Train to Busan; or, Shinkansen Daibakuha meets Zombie Apocalypse

     Attention, everyone. For the safety of those on board we won't be making any stops. We're heading straight for Busan.

It’s just a day like every other day. You wake up early in the morning, travel by car (did fire-fighters’ trucks just pass you?), and reach a railway station. You buy your ticket, take your seat and... relax? Nope! Because a girl infected with a zombie virus just ran into the compartment. Welcome on the Train to Busan!
Release Info

Directed by: Yeon Sang Ho Starring: Gong Yoo, Ma Dong Seok, Jung Yu Mi, Kim Su An

Language: Korean Original Title: 부산행 Runtime: 118 min

 

Synopsis

Seok Woo (Gong Yoo) is an ever-busy fund manager from Seoul who does not have the time for his daughter Soo An (Kim Su An). On the day of her birthday, she pleads with the father to take her to Busan to see her mother.  Seok-woo reluctantly complies and they depart on the KTX train the next morning. Nevertheless, it turns out in the news that some kind of violent riots are breaking out across the country. The truth about the impending zombie apocalypse is finally revealed when one of the infected passengers transforms and proceeds to attack other people on the train. Now, those who are still alive (Seok Woo and his daughter, Sang Hwa (Ma Dong Seok) and his pregnant wife Seong Kyeong (Jung Yu Mi), a high school baseball team, two elderly sisters, and a hobo) have to fight for their survival until they reach Busan.

 

Get in or Die

First of all, I should point out that I’m not a huge fan of zombie flicks. The Walking Dead series is something totally strange to me and that stupefying Brad Pitt movie based on a great novel did not impress me. However, Train to Busan pleasantly surprised me. It’s not a horror, but at the same time, something more than just another zombie story. Specifically, it is a high-speed action drama with neatly sketched out characters and a thrilling screenplay.

 

Though Train to Busan starts off as a typical Korean drama (father and daughter issues), when the action kicks in, it kicks you right in the guts, and it keeps kicking you until the closing credits roll. It would be a gross indiscretion from my part to mention any spoilers, so I will just limit myself to the following comment: The film successfully keeps your adrenaline level up with lots of exciting sequences inside the train (the rescue mission is icing on the cake!) as well as outside of it (the final act).

 

However, the movie is not just about making one’s way through hurdles of the un-dead flesh-gourmets. It is also a subtle study case of an epidemic (shared similarity with Contagion (2011)), a father-daughter reconciliation set against the background of a raging pandemonium, and the examination of the virtues of altruism (unintentional reference to Ayn Rand?).

 

All of the abovementioned features are what makes Train to Busan such an exhilarating cinematic experience. Not forgetting about the cast, Gong Yoo delivers another fine performance together with Jung Yu Mi (they starred alongside together in The Crucible (2011)). Also, Kim Eui Sung as a snobby executive who turns into a heartless, rotten-to-the-core, antagonist does a great job. Honourable mentions go to Ma Dong Seok as a straightforward working-class husband and Kim Su An as Seok Woo’s daughter. Jang Young-Gyu’s music score varies greatly across the film, yet works in every scene (though, I don’t feel encouraged to listen to it independently).

 

Recommendations

I can safely recommend it to everyone. Train to Busan has everything which a solid entertaining movie requires. It’s got the story, disaster, human drama, vivid characters, and a train. In other words, it’s a multi-layered entertainer which effortlessly excels in the genres of disaster and zombie flicks. Train to Busan takes you on a wild ride, which can only be equalled by the thrilling journeys of The Bullet Train (1975) and Runaway Train (1985). This Korean hit has something for everybody and it’s definitely worth checking it out on the big screen.

Overall score: 9/10