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
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
