Train to Busan (2016)

Follow @Filingwords

Another entry into the zombie market. They just keep coming.

Train to Busan

Straight out of the gate, this film is largely plot-less. Man and child get on train to Busan - zombie apocalypse. Does that make it a bad film? What was the plot of Night of the Living Dead? My point. The film follows father, Seok-woo, who is taking his daughter, Soo-an, to her mother (his estranged wife) in Busan. Once on the train we are introduced to couple Seong-kyeong and Sang-hwa, along with a train full of passengers. And one of them has been bitten by a zombie. 

There is some backstory about a bio leak or something, but the long and short of it is the apocalypse begins as they leave the station.

Seok-woo (Yoo Gong) / Soo-an (Su-an Kim) / Sang-hwa (Dong-seok Ma)

Train to Busan is a near flawless character study, wrapped in a fun horror flick. It's win-win for film enthusiasts. So let's look at the cast:

Father Seok-woo is a flawed figure. He comes across as rude and blinded to others at the beginning of the film, learning to show compassion before the final reel. Portrayed by Yoo Gong (Silenced) with excellence. Standout is Su-an Kim as Soon-an, his daughter, in a heartbreaking rendition of a girl lost in the situation. The support from Dong-seok Ma (Exchange) and Yu-mi Jung (Tough as Iron) as expecting couple Seong-kyeong and Sang-hwa adds the wonderful dimension of warmth and care, mirroring the arrogance of Seok-woo. Of course by the end of the movie, humanity is released in him, and true redemption sought. It's almost tear jerking from start to finish.

And it's a horror movie.

Zombies!

A damn fine one at that.

We're saturated with zombies these days. According to Wikipedia we have had 192 mainstream zombie movies in the last decade. And most of them are shit. 

Train to Busan doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but what it does bring, it brings with cake. The film is fun. Yes, fun. The zombies are fast moving - which brings the mind around to World War Z, but it's mostly practical. There isn't waves of CGI zombies. There are waves of made up extras. It's bright. Unusually filmed in the daytime with no filters. The zombies are scary, contorted monsters. 

Honestly, it's the best zombie movie I've seen in many-a-year.