movie review essay train to busan

Train to Busan

Yeon Sang-ho’s “Train to Busan” is the most purely entertaining zombie film in some time, finding echoes of George Romero ’s and Danny Boyle ’s work, but delivering something unique for an era in which kindness to others seems more essential than ever. For decades, movies about the undead have essentially been built on a foundation of fear of our fellow man—your neighbor may look and sound like you, but he wants to eat your brain—but “Train to Busan” takes that a step further by building on the idea that, even in our darkest days, we need to look out for each other, and it is those who climb over the weak to save themselves who will suffer. Social commentary aside, it’s also just a wildly fun action movie, beautifully paced and constructed, with just the right amount of character and horror. In many ways, it’s what “ World War Z ” should have been—a nightmarish vision of the end of the world, and a provocation to ask ourselves what it is that really makes us human in the first place.

Seok-woo ( Gong Yoo ) is a divorced workaholic. He lives with his mother and barely spends any time with his daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an). He’s so distant from her that he buys her a Nintendo Wii for her birthday, ignoring that she has one already, and that he’s the one who bought it for her for Children’s Day. To make up for this rather-awkward moment, he agrees to give Su-an what she really wants—a trip to her mother’s home in Busan, 280 miles away. It’s just an hour train ride from Seoul. What could possibly go wrong? Even the set-up is a thematic beauty, as this is more than just a train ride for Seok-woo and Su-an—it’s a journey into the past as a father tries to mend bridges and fix that which may be dead. It’s a perfect setting for a zombie movie.

Before they even get to their early-morning train ride, Seok-woo and Su-an see a convoy of emergency vehicles headed into Seoul. When they get to the train, Sang-ho beautifully sets up his cast of characters, giving us beats with the conductors, a pair of elderly sisters, a husband and his pregnant wife, an obnoxious businessman (a vision of Seok-woo in a couple decades), and even a baseball team. A woman who’s clearly not well gets on the train just before it departs, and just as something else disturbing but generally unseen is happening in the station above the platform. Before you know it, the woman is taking out the jugular of a conductor, who immediately becomes a similarly mindless killing machine. These are zombies of the “28 Days Later” variety—fast, focused, and violent. They replicate like a virus, turning whole cars of the train into dead-eyed flesh-eaters in a matter of seconds. They are rabid dogs. And you thought your Metra commute was bad.

The claustrophobic tension of “Train to Busan” is amplified after a brilliantly staged sequence in a train station in which our surviving travelers learn that the entire country has gone brain-hungry. They discover that the undead can’t quite figure out door handles and are mostly blind, so tunnels and lines of sight become essential. Sang-ho also keeps up his social commentary, giving us characters who want to do anything to survive, and others who will do what it takes to save others. Early in the film, Seok-woo tells his daughter, “At a time like this, only watch out for yourself,” but he learns that this isn’t the advice we should live by or pass down to our children. Without spoiling anything, the survivors of “Train to Busan” are only so lucky because of the sacrifice of others. And the film is thematically stronger than your average zombie flick in the way it captures how panic can make monsters of us all, and it is our responsibility to overcome that base instinct in times of crisis.

After the near-perfect first hour of “Train to Busan,” the film slows its progress and makes a few stops that feel repetitive, but the journey recovers nicely for a memorable finale. You could call it “Train of the Living Dead” or “’Snowpiercer’ with Zombies.” Whatever you call it, if it’s playing in your city and you’ve ever been entertained by a zombie movie, it’s hard to believe you wouldn’t be entertained by this one.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Jung Yoo-mi as Sung Gyeong
• Ahn So-hee as Jin Hee
• Ma Dong-Seok as Sang Hwa
• Kim Soo-Ahn as Soo Ahn
• Gong Yoo as Seok Woo
• Choi Woo-shik as Yeong Gook
• Yeon Sang-Ho

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Review: Train to Busan (부산행, 2016) ★★½

South Korea has become a powerhouse in the horror and horror-thriller genre over the last decade and a half. There have been many examples of their superb filmmaking combined with adequately horrific and disturbing story-telling: Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and I Saw the Devil (2010), Bong Joon-ho’s The Host (2006), and Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy (2003) and Thirst (2009), among others. In all of these films, there is a building of tension, almost at a snail’s pace, intermittently broken up by frightening images or revelations, and it works. These kinds of films keep the audience on the edge of their seats, and never suffer from being overly formulaic or reminiscent of Hollywood’s take on the horror genre. They feel unique to the Korean style of filmmaking and viewership. Unfortunately, Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan does not fit into this mold. It takes an entirely different, altogether less interesting approach.

The premise is intriguing, though not entirely original. A speeding train is a popular setting for horror/action films, due to its being inherently claustrophobic and at the same time allowing for a high-octane thrill ride. Films such as The Midnight Meat Train (2008) and Howl (2015) have used trains as the setting for their carnage with varying degrees of success, and this actually works pretty well in Train to Busan . A zombie epidemic shown from the perspective of train passengers as they barrel through the apocalyptic setting is both scary and exciting.

At the start of the film, we are introduced to Seok-woo, a career oriented fund manager who struggles to balance his work and family life. Seok-woo is not on good terms with his ex-wife, and his daughter, Soo-an, is slowly pulling away from him due to his selfishness and workaholic lifestyle. When Soo-an insists on taking the train to Busan to see her mother, her father is reluctant, but eventually agrees to take her. As they board the train, news breaks across the country of a horrific and fast-spreading virus that is turning the populace into bloodthirsty zombies. Just before the doors close, an infected woman slips past the attendant and stumbles onto the train. The passengers are suddenly trapped with an ever-growing number of infected, and must find a way to reach their destination safely.

Many of the scenes in Train to Busan are reminiscent of Snowpiercer (2013), a far superior film from South Korean director, Bong Joon-ho. Our heroes fight their way down a long string of cable cars, with each new segment of the train presenting a slightly different challenge than the last. Though they are entertaining, these extended fight sequences, interspersed with moments of sugary-sweet sentimentality, serve as the vast majority of the film’s plot. At times, Train to Busan becomes much more of a formulaic action movie than a horror movie, and this is possibly its greatest fault. Rather than having interesting characters, facing a terrifying situation, these are merely tired archetypes of people engaging in over-the-top fight sequences with the undead.

Seok-woo is the workaholic father, who must become less selfish and realize that family is the most important thing in his life, so that he may truly love and appreciate his daughter. Soo-an is the typical action-movie daughter, a doe-eyed, inquisitive little girl with an unfaltering moral compass. Then there is Sang-hwa, who initially comes across as abrasive and vulgar, but we come to realize that he is a kind-hearted working class man, who just wants what is best for his pregnant wife, Seong-kyeong. A few less important archetypes are also scattered about the train: a shy young man who must embrace his masculinity to try to save his girlfriend, a rich CEO whose selfishness borders on pure evil, a homeless man who teaches us that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and so on. The character types are such that, once the general premise is set and everyone is in place, we can predict what each of the main characters will inevitably do.

In addition to the predictability of the plot and characters, the film also beats us over the head with its lame sense of right and wrong. You shouldn’t judge people based on their appearance; money is not the most important thing in the world; spend time with your family while you still have the chance; be willing to make sacrifices for your loved ones; karma will punish those who are selfish; deep-down, the rich and the poor are the same, etc. It borders on being insulting at times, and ruins what could have been a fantastic zombie film.

So, Train to Busan has a great premise that is held back by cookie-cutter characters and an overly sentimental moral compass. These last two elements would be forgivable if not for the sheer length of the film. At 118 minutes long, Train to Busan feels like it will never end. What should have been an hour and a half movie is stretched for an extra thirty minutes for no reason in particular. Much like other formulaic action movies, the characters are faced with new and increasingly implausible hurdles to overcome, with each hurdle extending the story unnecessarily. You will be begging them to wrap it up after the 90-minute mark.

In short, Train to Busan took what could have been an amazing horror film and ran it off the rails with lazy, predictable writing and far too much screen time.

Rating: ★★½ out of 5

If you’d like to watch Train to Busan , it is currently available to rent or purchase via Amazon here .

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Matthew Jones is a freelance writer who has written for dozens of local and international businesses, in addition to his publications on film and philosophy. To see more of his writing, check out his Medium page or personal website . If you like Philosophy in Film, be sure to contribute on Patreon !

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Film Analysis: Train to Busan (2016) by Yeon Sang-ho

Sequel to the animated film “Seoul Station”, also by Yeon Sang-ho , “ Train to Busan ” is the film with the most admissions in South Korea for 2016, with more than 11.5 million. This number places it in the 11th position of the all-time list with admissions in the country, despite the fact that it is one of the very few South Korean productions with zombies.

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In contrast to the general depiction that has zombies portrayed as very slow, the ones in “Train to Busan” follow the rules of Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” and are actually very quick. This trait, along with their usual relentlessness and the setting of the train, which does not give much space to avoid them, results in one of their most onerous depictions ever. Furthermore, the scenes where they crash into each other as they are speeding towards their prey, are utterly horrific, although the one that truly stands apart occurs when they form a mass of some sorts in order to stop a moving train. Even the fact that their sole flaw is that they cannot see in the darkness heightens this sense of danger they emit, since the only way for the passengers to pass by them is in complete darkness.

Humans are scarier and this “trait” is chiefly represented by Yong-suk and his “entourage”, who are willing to let everybody else die instead of allowing them to come to their “safe place”, one of the wagons. The cruelty of this scene is truly shocking, and becomes even more intense after some of them manage to enter the specific wagon, only to be kicked out after awhile, despite the fact that they have children with them. Furthermore, Yong-suk gives one of the ugliest images ever attached to human nature, as he is a man willing to let everybody else be killed, or even kill them himself, in order to save his hide. The fact that he almost succeeds, through a number of episodes involving him feeding people who try to help him to the zombies, is at least as shocking as watching the zombies attack.

Despite the extreme concept, Yeon manages to present a number of social messages, chiefly regarding human nature through allegories. The most obvious one is that of the contemporary world, where ambition is the most crucial ability in order for someone to ascend the ladder of the socioeconomic environment. The zombie infestation serves as the allegory of this world, where dog-eat-dog is the rule. The separation of the passengers in the train, which leaves some safe in a protected wagon and the rest struggling to survive, is an allegory regarding the gap between the rich and the poor. Additionally, the former are portrayed as people willing to do anything to protect their safe environment, without caring the least for the lives of the have-nots. The fact that the protagonists have to give every inch of their power and even self-sacrifice to survive is an allegory of the class rebellion, as the only way to achieve their goal of equality. Lastly, a message is presented when Seok-woo closes the door on Sang-hwa; people may have the instinct of self-preservation that extends to their family members, but they are a long way from extending it to their neighbors and other people in general.

Zombie films frequently feature comic moments, particularly through the way the creatures move and act. “Train to Busan”, however, takes it a step forward, as the humor in the movie actually derives from the human characters. This trait is mainly achieved through Ma Dong-seok ‘s character, Sang-hwa. Ma manages to present a number of comedic episodes and his physique (he used to be an MMA trainer) makes his “bloopers” utterly hilarious. However, the funniest moment in the film, and the one that stands as a clear paradigm of the nature of the movie’s humor, features Seok-woo. As he calls his mother to see if she is well, she is zombified, but still whines about her daughter-in-law. Overall, Yeon Sang-ho’s use of humor does wonders for the film, as hilarious scenes frequently substitute the agonizing ones, keeping the audience’s attention from wavering even for a minute.

The overwhelming majority of zombie movies include a number of clichés. The first one dictates that a team of humans tries to survive against a zombie outbreak. In “Train to Busan”, however, the most significant danger derives not from the zombies, but from other humans who are willing to kill everybody else in order to save their hide. The second one has this team constantly moving in cities and towns as they search for solace and survival. In “Train to Busan”, the action is set mostly on a train, radically changing the usual setting of the genre. The third one involves zombies, who are usually slow and actually very easy to deal with. In contrast, the zombies in this film are very fast and even seem to share a collective mind, as it is presented in the scene where all together they try to stop the wagon. Furthermore, the lack of sound, usually presented as the most common way to avoid them, is replaced by a lack of light. The way the zombies act also strips the film of the usual humor frequently associated with their slowness, and in that fashion, heightens the aspect of agony in the film.

The acting element in zombie movies is usually on a very low level, since the genre tends to focus on the action and the creatures rather than the actual actors. However, Yeon Sang-ho used a different tactic, since the film also features much drama and the occasional comedy, which demands good acting, at least to some degree. In that fashion, Gong-you is quite good as Seok-woo, the detached executive that has been ignoring his family for years and now has to make up for it. The fact that he is not completely good, particularly when his and his daughter’s survival are at stake, adds another interesting layer in his character, and he is very convincing in that aspect. Ma Dong-seok as Kim Soo-an holds the most entertaining role in the film, being great in the dramatic, comic, and action sequences, as his presence always seems to elevate the film. Kim Su-an as Seok-woo’s kid daughter is also great, in a very mature role for a child that avoids the usual standards of similar roles that just demand cuteness. Kim eui-sung as Yong-suk is impressive as the definite villain of the film, as he portrays a truly despicable human being that is actually even worse than the zombies.

Given the speed the film moves, it would be very easy for it to become an action flick, simply jumping from one action scene to another. However, Yeon Sang-ho’s direction and script prevents this outcome by inducing a number of elements. Drama (and occasionally melodrama) is one of them, as is the change in Seok-woo’s attitude, a genuinely humanistic concept. The elaborate script, which retains the agony as it switches genres, is another factor, as is the case with the injections of humor, which occasionally occur through chaos. Both of the ending sequences also move in that direction, with the dramatic element being the dominant one, instead of action.

Yeon Sang-ho’s previous works were mostly animated. In that fashion, he tried to implement the animation aesthetics, particularly regarding the action scenes, in “Train To Busan”. With the help of visual effects supervisor Jung Hwang-su, he succeeded to the fullest, as the action in the film is very close to that of his animations. Starting with the appearance and the movement of zombies, continuing to the death of people in their hands and the various scenes involving trains, the special effects are magnificent in their hyperbole. Along with some show-stopping techniques in crucial scenes, “Train to Busan” is an audiovisual masterpiece.

Using the train as the main setting of a zombie film was a brilliant idea, particularly due to the claustrophobic feeling emitted from the hunting through the wagons. Yeon capitulated on the concept, heightening the tension continuously, as the passengers realize that eventually they will reach the edge of the train where there is no way out. In that fashion, he manages to retain the agony for the whole of the trip. Furthermore, he used an aspect ratio of 1:85.1 instead of the usual widescreen 2.35:1, thus downsizing the frame and stressing the claustrophobia even more. The fact that the protagonists progress to reach their loved ones through the zombie-infested train is very slow also adds to the sentiment.

One of the most important aspects of an action film is its editing. Yang Ji-mo does a great job in “Train to Busan”, as he retains a steady and fast rhythm throughout its duration, while he occasionally inserts footage that help the film become more impressive. Two sequences truly highlight his work. The first one includes the scenes where the fighting in the light repeatedly gives its place to the ones in the darkness, where the zombies stay still, and vice versa. The second sequence is the one that switches from Kim-soo being killed as he tries to hold off the creatures, while the rest of the “gang” try to enter the safe wagon, against the wills of those already in it. Furthermore, by frequently switching action scenes with non-action ones in an almost equal ratio, Yang keeps the film from either becoming an action flick or a melodrama, while the comic breaks enhance the entertaining aspect.

“Train To Busan” is definitely a blockbuster, but its depth, artistry and acting place it on a higher level than most films of the category.

The film screened during Five Flavours Film Festival , in Warsaw

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About the author.

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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Movie Review: Train to Busan (2016)

• Matthew Roe
• Movie Reviews
• No responses
• --> August 9, 2017

Zombie films have always been hotbeds of teeth-gnashing, blood splatter and almost the origin of stellar gore effects in cinema. But classics of the subgenre such as Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” and George Romero’s “Dead Series” have equally served as sociological petri dishes in which the filmmakers examine our own societies. While this breed of story has been explored by almost every filmmaking country in the world, South Korea has been interestingly, more or less, absent from the debate. Its horror and thriller films are bursting with creativity, originality and a unique voice in a flooded international market, set apart by works such as Bong Joon-ho’s “The Host,” Jang Cheol-soo’s “Bedevilled” and Kim Jee-woon’s “ I Saw the Devil .” But with Train to Busan (original title, “Busanhaeng”), Yeon Sang-ho delivers a personal and emotional work that also pulls major blockbuster appeal from its stylish effects, raw acting power and masterful storytelling within a convincing zombie outbreak.

The film is centered around a vivacious cast of characters as they travel from Seoul to Busan aboard the Korea Train eXpress (KTX). Though the main pair of protagonists are Seok-woo (Gong Yoo, “The Age of Shadows”) and his estranged daughter Soo-an (Kim Su-an, “The Battleship Island”) as he escorts her during a birthday trip to visit her mother, the cast is spread among the train. Each collection of characters are on the train for various purposes, but when a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, these passengers struggle to survive among the trapped infected.

The filmmakers take a very skilled hand to dissect numerous tropes that are combinations of Western zombie origins and Asian culture, creating an experience that is unlike most other media of its type. Though obviously at times taking notes from the exquisitely-executed, and similarly train-themed film “ Snowpiercer ,” Train to Busan never feels as if it is borrowing from someone else’s work. It relies on easily-followed set-ups of chemical leaks making rage-filled zombies, which is all delivered within the first ten minutes of its hefty 118-minute runtime. Each action on a country-wide scale is mirrored in its intensity within the train, which is also then compounded by characters undergoing epiphanous moments that alter the course of everyone’s stories. Then mix in the zombies — a whole lotta zombies — which move, snarl and pile up much in the way if those infected in “ 28 Weeks Later ” had fused with “ World War Z .”

It would be hard-pressed to find a substantial flaw in the production values or storytelling present in this superb movie. The emotional distance between the father and daughter is handled directly without being overbearing, allowing the chasm between the two be tested against this insane crisis rather than being easily set up to be healed with a hallmark ending. Nothing is ever certain between any of the characters, with many relationships altering continuously, and many supporting players becoming meat for the slaughter by incident, intent or surrender. This is brought to life by the bold and visceral acting of the cast, primarily by Ma Dong-seok (“Chronicles of Evil”), Choi Woo-sik (“In the Room”) and Jung Yu-mi (“Tough as Iron”). However, without a shadow of a doubt, the two strongest actors (thusly delivering the best results), are Yoo and Su-an, whose chemistry and pure emotional reactions to each other sell their performances every second they are on screen. Each decision the actor makes in their delivery is in tandem to the evolution (or devolution) of the characters they portray, complementing the change in tones and mindsets that each character undergoes to further the story.

The cinematography crafted by Hyung-deok Lee (“A Company Man”) is crisp, effective and immersive; though initially acting too well within convention it forgoes most elaborate camera positions or movements. Shots are held for longer than most of this work’s contemporaries, relying more on racking focus to draw out the claustrophobia and tension within the train, especially as the amount of space they have available is continually reduced, thus brilliantly inferring how the experience is collectively shared between each cast member. Regardless if a character is to be killed off later, they are given just as much importance as any other, making it a genuine shock if someone finally does die.

Coverage of the stunt work and fight scenes is never sporadically crazy either, relying more on what the character sees rather than for adrenaline injections into the image and pacing, adding impressionistic flourishes that could be pulled right from “Come and See.” This collection of intrusive and taut shots were mixed by editor Yang Jin-mo (“ Okja ”), whose magnificent sense of timing and parallel linear storytelling creates astonishing pacing and sense of space, especially when establishing the length of the titular train and the many people who are along for the ride.

From the abrupt title card in the beginning moments to its somber contemplative ending, Train to Busan is far more than a damn good zombie flick, a deep character study into the roles we play in society, or an excellent practice in cinematic storytelling. The strength of the work is that there is never an extended moment of pandering, fluff or unnecessary frames. The movie is so systematically well-built that it’s actually quite amazing that the film isn’t more successful than it has been (it has, however, broken nationwide attendance records in South Korea, and is the current highest-grossing Korean film in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore).

Train to Busan is a wild ride, and one that can be enjoyed by any fan of cinema who can handle the trip.

Tagged: daughter , father , Korea , survival , train , zombie

A Maryland-based film critic and award-winning filmmaker, founder of Heaven’s Fire Films. Has written film critique and theory for FilmSnobbery, Community Soul, The Baltimore Examiner, AXS, Men's Confidence Magazine, Screen Anarchy, and IonCinema. He writes the film theory column "Anarchic Cinema" for Film Inquiry, DVD/Blu-ray reviews for Under the Radar, and movie reviews for Film Threat.

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Film Review: ‘Train to Busan’

By Maggie Lee

Chief Asia Film Critic

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Following a motley crew on a bumpy ride from Seoul to Busan to escape a zombie outbreak, writer-director Yeon Sang-ho ‘s action-horror railroad movie “ Train to Busan ” pulses with relentless locomotive momentum. As an allegory of class rebellion and moral polarization, it proves just as biting as Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi dystopia “Snowpiercer,” while delivering even more unpretentious fun. Yeon has displayed recognizably cinematic sensibilities in his last three indie anime features — “King of Pigs,” “Fake” and “Seoul Station” — so it’s not surprising that he transitions easily into live-action, though his scathing, nihilistic vision of humanity is watered down for wider mainstream appeal. Buyers for Asian-friendly genre products should clamber to board “Train.”

Despite the vibrancy of genre cinema in Korea, you can count the country’s zombie films on the fingers of one hand. But whether it’s alleged prototype “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie” rip-off “A Monstrous Corpse” or the more recent “Zombie School” (2014), they’ve all been slapdash and unoriginal.

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However, with a MERS epidemic sweeping South Korea in 2015 and soaring discontent with corruption and economic disparity, a zombie apocalypse serves as a potent allegory for the dog-eat-dog world. In “Seoul Station,” Yeon depicted a homeless enclave inside the central train station as the ground zero of a zombie outbreak. “Train to Busan” picks up where that film left off. While the anime’s excoriation of the police and army is softened in the live-action sequel, scenarios of humans and zombies precariously separated by carriages fittingly symbolize the dangerous gap between society’s haves and have-nots.

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Workaholic fund manager Seok-wu (Gong Yoo) takes his estranged young daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an) on the KTX high-speed train to Busan to visit his ex-wife. The last person to hop on is a teenage girl whose bare thighs are crisscrossed with bulging veins. Yet, passengers and train crew get more alarmed over a homeless man hiding out in the washroom — one of the film’s frequent barbed comments on snobbery in Korean society.

The first 15 minutes tease audiences with glimpses of zombie threat, like a shadow lunging spastically across the platform, or ominous news reports of riots in the capital. Once the infected girl claims the first victim, however, the action surges ahead with exhilarating mayhem, abetted by the claustrophobic layout of train compartments.

The main reason zombies rank less scarily on the ghoulish scale is their slow waddling gait, but the resident evil here is so deliriously energetic and agile it’s like they’re powered by ginseng and soju. Yeon’s background in animation definitely lends their assault a cartoonish ferocity. The creatures’ only weakness is the fact they see poorly in the dark, giving rise to several mini-climaxes when Seok-wu exploits this to outwit them.

Whereas in Hollywood disaster or apocalyptic movies, the chief protagonist tends to take charge and puts him or herself in the line of fire, Seok-wu subverts the cliché by acting on his elitist, self-preserving instincts, telling Su-an off for giving her seat to an old lady, and shutting the door on escaping passengers Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife Sung-kyu (Jung Yu-mi, “Oki’s Movie”). It is up to Su-na, with her child’s innate decency, and the burly but dauntless Sang-hwa to undo the financial go-getting, cutthroat attitude, so he can learn that it is cooperation and altruism that ensures survival in a catastrophe.

Fans of Yeon’s edgier animations may miss his remorselessly evil characters, whose misogyny, sadism and dirt-filthy expletives exert repulsive fascination. In their place, “Train” features something one never expected from Yeon — nice people — such as a pair of high school lovebirds who stay faithful till the end, two deeply affectionate elderly sisters and the selfless tramp. The only major villain comes in the form of a a middle-aged corporate weasel (Kim Eui-sang) who’s calculating cowardice is bland compared with the conmen, religious hypocrites or bullies in Yeon’s past works. But his ability to incite the passengers into callous behavior is instrumental in illustrating how mob mentality works.

Given the sheer velocity of the action, some emotional connection is needed to prevent the film from turning into sheer technical exercise. Thus, Seok-wu’s gradual reform and other humane elements are essential to offset the insentient aggression of the zombies. Their sentimentality are also gleefully tempered by the jumpy, unpredictable script, which constantly teeters between nerve-racking and hilarious, as when Seok-wu hears his mother zombifying over the phone while still bitching about her daughter-in-law.

Shooting in standard 1.85.1 instead of widescreen, the confined mise-en-scene nonetheless affords lenser Lee Hyung-deok plenty of room for nifty camerawork of stunts in unexpected nooks. Washrooms become thrilling battlegrounds and unlikely sanctuaries. An extended sequence in which the driver tries to switch trains is choreographed with the utmost suspense.

However, like most Korean blockbusters, the production cannot resist showing off its visual and special effects clout, resulting in a bombastic stunt toward the end that’s incongruous with the film’s lean, gritty style. Likewise, the screenplay piles on the hysteria and the schmaltz in the last leg, and the hitherto restrained cast have no choice but to dial up performances to a borderline farcical level.

Craft contributions are top-drawer, especially breakneck editing by Yang Jin-mo, who raises suspense to nearly unbearable levels. Music by Jang Young-gyu and sound effects by Choi Tae-young are both sparingly and effectively deployed for genuine shocks rather than false jolts.

Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Midnight), May 13, 2016. Running time: 118 MIN. (Original Title: "Busan haeng")

• Production: (South Korea) A Next Entertainment World release, presentation of a Redpeter Film production. (International sales: Contents Panda, Seoul.) Produced by Lee Dong-ha. Executive producer, Kim Woo-taek. Co-producer, Kim Yeon-ho.
• Crew: Directed, written by Yeon Sang-ho. Camera (color, HD), Lee Hyung-deok; editor, Yang Jin-mo; music, Jang Young-gyu; production designer, Lee Mok-won; costume designer, Kwon Yoo-jin, Rim Seung-hee; sound, Choi Tae-young; special make-up, Kwak Tae-yong, Hwang Hyo-kyun; special effects, Demolition; visual effects supervisor, Jung Hwang-su; visual effects, Digital Idea.
• With: Gong Yoo, Kim Su-an, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Eui-sung, Choi Woo-sik, An So-hee. (Korean dialogue)

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Review: All Aboard ‘Train to Busan’ for Zombie and Class Warfare

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

• July 21, 2016

Elite passengers on a South Korean bullet train face a twitching, hissing threat from the cheap seats in “ Train to Busan ,” a public-transportation horror movie with a side helping of class warfare.

The setup is lean and clean. A flattened deer, mowed down in a quarantine zone in Seoul where some kind of chemical spill has occurred (echoes of Bong Joon-ho’s 2007 enviro-horror film, “The Host” ), springs back to life. Then, in just a few swiftly efficient scenes, we meet a harried hedge-fund manager and his small, sad daughter (Gong Yoo and an amazing Kim Su-ahn), see them settled on the titular locomotive and watch in dismay as a vividly unwell last-minute passenger lurches onboard. And we’re off!

Sprinting right out of the gate, the director, Yeon Sang-ho, dives gleefully into a sandbox of spilled brains and smug entitlement. (“In the old days, they’d be re-educated,” one biddy remarks upon spying an undesirable fellow traveler.) As zombies chomp and multiply, an assortment of regular folks face them down while furthering an extended critique of corporate callousness. The politics are sweet, but it’s the creatures that divert. Eyes like Ping-Pong balls and spines like rubber — I’d wager more than a few chiropractors were required on the set — they attack in seizures of spastic energy. They’re like break-dancing corpses.

Often chaotic but never disorienting, the movie’s spirited set pieces — like a wriggling ribbon of undead clinging doggedly to the last compartment — owe much to Lee Hyung-deok’s wonderfully agile cinematography. Dipping and levitating, his camera injects air into tunnels and washrooms and luggage compartments, giving the action a hurtling vigor. Even more impressive is the train itself: marveling at its freakishly strong doors and dedicated staff, you might find yourself mourning the state of our own rail services more than the fate of the characters.

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Review: train to busan (south korea, 2016).

World War Z meets Snowpiercer in this Korean zombie blockbuster.

By Anthony Kao , 19 Sep 16 05:48 GMT

Imagine World War Z and Snowpiercer mashed together. That roughly describes Train to Busan , the highest grossing South Korean film of 2016. With almost $100 million in box office earnings and over ten million domestic viewers, the movie is not only an entertaining blockbuster, but also a remarkable live-action debut for a director who previously was known exclusively for dark, socially critical animated features.

Train to Busan stars Gong Yoo (best known for his breakout role in the drama The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince ) as a hedge fund manager named Seok-woo who decides to take his young daughter Soo-an (played by the ten-year old Kim Soo-an) from Seoul to the southern city of Busan to see his ex-wife. As they depart on the KTX (South Korea’s high-speed rail line), Seoul erupts into a zombie apocalypse and their train becomes a speeding safe haven. However, that doesn’t last for long. A single zombie makes it onto the train and starts infecting passengers. This forces Seok-woo, Soo-an, and other survivors to quarantine themselves in uninfected cars and fight for survival.

As expected from a zombie apocalypse movie, there’s a gratuitous amount of violence and many shots of rolling zombie hordes a la World War Z or 28 Days Later . The film maintains a high degree of suspense throughout. It also creates both likeable and absolutely despicable characters for audiences to root for, cry about, or hate. With such an altogether entertaining makeup, it’s not surprising that Train to Busan sold so many tickets.

Interestingly, this represents a significant change for Yeon Sang-ho, the film’s director. Before this, Yeon had only made short films and animated features, none of which were box office flops. His two features King of Pigs and The Fake (which we reviewed last year) , are blisteringly dark and deal with mature, controversial themes like the hollowness of religion, domestic abuse, bullying, and class divides — hardly the stuff that attracts mass audiences.

However, signs of Yeon’s guiding hand are evident in Train to Busan if you look deeper. Like another well-known Korean train movie, Snowpiercer (directed by Bong Joon-ho), Train to Busan incorporates elements of class warfare and uses the claustrophobic setting of a speeding train to amplify the darker angels of human nature.

The Korean government is largely absent or, if present, unhelpful — the only time a government representative comes on TV, he tells people that the situation is under control when it clearly isn’t. Amidst the chaos, a ruthless businessman takes command of one of the train cars and orders the crew around to the whims of his self-interest. The hordes of zombies are juxtaposed against symbols of Korea’s material wealth — the shiny KTX train cars, immaculately designed train stations. It’s an ironic image: despite their outward trappings of civilization and modernity, the people are still monsters.

People being monsters — you could say that’s the unifying theme of Yeon Sang-ho’s work. With recent events in Korea, perhaps people are now more receptive to what he has to offer. When you have the nation’s Prime Minister calling 99% of the population “dogs and pigs” , an overloaded ferry sinking due to corporate greed , and public distrust of the government’s ability to handle viral outbreaks , maybe a zombie apocalypse starts to have some appeal.

If you enjoyed Train to Busan , consider watching:

• Seoul Station : Yeon Sang-ho actually made this animated prequel to Train to Busan and also released it this summer. For all of Train to Busan’s success, this prequel has gotten surprisingly little publicity.
• The Fake : Yeon’s second full feature, a biting and thoughtful satire of organized religion.
• Doomsday Book : Train to Busan is actually NOT the first South Korean movie to feature a zombie apocalypse — Doomsday Book is.
• Snowpiercer : A Korean-produced English-language movie (starring Chris Evans) that depicts a class struggle aboard a train speeding through an icy post-apocalyptic Earth. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, who also made Memories of Murder and The Host (the latter, which is essentially a South Korean Godzilla, is also worth watching).

Train to Busan (Korean: 부산행)– Dialog in Korean. Directed by Yeon Sang-ho. First released 20 July 2016. Running time 1hr 58min. Starring Gong Yoo, Kim Soo-an, Jung Yu-mi, and Ma Dong-seok.

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Review: the fake (south korea, 2013), by anthony kao, review: doomsday book (south korea, 2012), review: hwayi - a monster boy (south korea, 2013), review: inside men (south korea, 2015).

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Review: train to busan.

Train to Busan ’s scare tactics are among the most distinctive that the zombie canon has ever seen.

Writer-director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan , which largely takes place aboard a high-seed KTX train traveling from Seoul to Busan in the midst of a zombie outreak, is so nakedly hospitable to conservative attitudes that one may come to resent its strikingly creative and efficiently orchestrated maximalist frights. During the film’s elegantly staged opening, a man passing through a toll booth turned quarantine zone is so distracted by his phone, as well as by his contempt for the officials in hazmat suits who surely must be downplaying the seeming severity of the quarantine situation, that he runs over a deer. As the man drives off, the camera pans slowly to the right and reveals the deer jolting itself back to life, its glazed-over eyes representing both a promise of countless horrors to come and a confirmation of the man’s assertion that his government’s agents are “so full shit.”

When divorced of message-mongering, the film’s scare tactics are among the most distinctive that the zombie canon has ever seen. The zombies here are rabid, fast-moving ghoulies that, as Train to Busan ’s protagonists discover, are attracted to loud sounds and only attack what they can actually see. This realization becomes the foundation for a series of taut set pieces during which the story’s motley crew of survivors manipulate their way past zombies with the aid of cellphones and bats and the numerous tunnels through which the train must travel. The genre crosspollination for which so many South Korean thrillers have come to be known for is most evident in these scenes (as in the survivors crawling across one train car’s overhead luggage area), which blend together the tropes of survivor-horror and disaster films, as well as suggest the mechanics of puzzle-platformer games.

Train to Busan ’s macro frights, such as a freakish chase sequence wherein a horde of zombies unconsciously exhibit the behavior of colonial organisms, are no less impressive than Yeon’s staging of micro ones, primarily for how they shun conventional jump-scare tactics. When Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) and his young daughter, Soo-an (Kim Soo-ahn), board the train to Busan, where Seok-woo’s estranged wife is now living, an infected woman scurries onboard in the split second during which a conductor looks the other way. The moment is so casually presented as to hardly register at all. And as the train pulls away from the station, Soo-an barely glimpses from a window as someone crashes into and pushes a conductor to the ground. In one stylishly tossed-off beat, the girl’s fears of estrangement and uncertainty are effectively conflated with the audience’s certainty of this train’s doom.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to ignore Train to Busan ’s almost punishing devotion to formula. In between skirmishes with zombies, the train’s survivors dutifully corroborate their bona fides as stock genre types. Seok-woo is fund manager whose “bloodsucking” ways are understood by Sang-ha (Ma Dong-seok), a working-class bruiser on board the train with his pregnant wife, Sung-gyeong (Jung Yu-mi), to be consistent with how he only thinks of himself in the heat of the moment. Soon-an even takes her father to task, blaming the selfishness of his actions for his separation from her mother. The film sees Seok-woo as being one step away from the totalistic and cartoonish villainy of the bus-company executive played by Kim Eui-sung, and the zombie apocalypse as a means for Seok-woo to reconnect with what the filmmaker seems to believe is the man’s essential goodness.

Train to Busan treats, like San Andreas before it, a cataclysmic event as a backdrop to the restoration of a nuclear family—or something close to approaching one. The film’s drive toward a conventional sense of closure, executed with a clean sense of movement reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s work, becomes impossible to separate from a series of essentially socio-political talking points that suggest a nation’s ever-increasing embrace of capitalistic values has unhinged its populace from the salt-of-the-earth ethos of an idyllic past. And yet, because everyone’s reminiscences about how things used to be, delivered in service to remind Seok-woo of his capacity for empathy, are so culturally unspecific, it’s easy to see hypocrisy in how Yeon so scrupulously serves up Train to Busan as a calling card.

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Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine . A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice , The Los Angeles Times , and other publications.

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Train to Busan: A Ride Paved With Good Intentions – Review

By Serafina Siow (17A13A), pictures from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB.

I confess to being highly skeptical when first hearing of the film. Despite the 93% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and the 8.0/10 score on IMDB, zombie flicks have a reputation for being gratuitously and mindlessly violent for a reason (World War Z, while thrilling for a bit, turned insipid after a while).

But Train to Busan absolutely blew those initial reservations out of the water. Despite its (increasingly overused) genre, it proved an amazing watch worth the seven dollars I shelled out.

The basic premise of the film is simple. A father, Seok Woo, is bringing his daughter, Sang Hwa, to see his wife who is separated from him and lives in the port city of Busan. They decide to go by train, which turns out to be an unfortunate decision when a zombie attack occurs on board. They try to make it to Busan, the last remaining place in Korea free from zombies, along with the rest of the passengers- some who help and some who (decidedly) hinder the group’s chances of survival.    

While the premise of the film may seem totally cliched and typical of its genre, the film offers some refreshing twists to the usual disaster zombie film setting, while wearing its heart on its sleeve in the best way possible. The choice of a train as the setting not only aids in the action, but creates a sense of claustrophobia around the characters and compounds the tension. Emotions run high and this brings the humanity of each of the characters to the forefront. It is the human stories interweaved within the plot which will make you shed a tear or two by the end of the film .

The distant relationship between Seok Woo and his daughter strengthens by leaps and bounds and it is heartwarming to see the two reconnect and care about each other (helped by the liberal application of zombies).

The other noteworthy relationships in the film are between a gangster-like husband and his pregnant wife and two high school students. Although the husband helps to protect his wife physically, she is no shrinking violet and shows true grit throughout the film, more than successfully taking care of herself. It’s an admirable portrayal of a loving relationship where both parties are able to operate independently of one another, unlike some of the more dysfunctional relationships perpetuated in media nowadays.

The blossoming relationship between the two students is a little rushed with its development but completely justified by the circumstances. I mean, if you can’t trust your love interest in a race for survival, who can you trust?

Train to Busan also paints a chillingly realistic picture of the gamut of human attitudes and reactions to a zombie outbreak. With characters ranging from naive to cynical to self-sacrificing, we are reminded that people are all too human. On a positive note, someone who at first seems concerned only about the welfare of him and his own can learn to band together with other passengers to ensure a better chance of survival. On top of that, the claustrophobic setting helps to emphasise the very physical way that the characters are trapped within these circumstances, and are forced to adapt quickly.

Of course, there are people on the opposite end of the spectrum, such as an individual who personally causes the deaths of at least 4 other people (to the best of the author’s memory). Certainly, there are people who are consistently good: the train driver in the film comes to mind, living by his strong sense of duty which drives him to help the other passengers though he could have escaped easily on his own.

While a human story at heart, the action sequences were no slouch either. Nail-biting suspense and jump scares were a seamless feature throughout the film right down to the last seconds of Train to Busan. The fight through the train not only showcased the brawn but also the brains of the characters: innovative with the use of space, making best use of the narrow train cabins and the items they gave at hand. While this author finds the final victory a tad convenient in its timing (right when some characters were about to bite the dust), it ultimately does not detract too much from the film.

Overall, Train to Busan turned out to be a fabulous and marvellous film, with a fantastic plot, unforeseen twists, genuine human connections and well-choreographed action sequences. This movie’s spot-on delivery of the character lines in spite of the usual standards of its genre makes it a standout piece worthy of every bit of praise it’s gotten. This author reckons that Train to Busan reveals the blunt truth about the ugly side of society – the side unveiled when it’s every man for himself – that the audience will be able to dig deep and connect to the truth about human nature, when we usually conceal it.

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One thought on “Train to Busan: A Ride Paved With Good Intentions – Review”

haha, I really had to be that guy, but I remember that the daughter’s name was Su an while the big buff guy was Sanghwa. sorry, it was just funny reading that. Good review btw!

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