South Korea once again proving that they can make a far superior genre film than any American filmmaker is my favorite kind of aesthetic. Train to Busan is South Korea's first zombie film to reach blockbuster heights, so much so that it was their highest-grossing film of 2016. While being an absolute financial smash hit, it also has the ingenuity in its writing and fresh take on storytelling to back it up. This movie follows a lot of similar tropes and plot points that other zombie films do, but the way that the script throws its audience for many loops was immaculate. This is by far the most interesting and emotionally compelling story about an uprising of the undead that I have ever seen and its focus on the cast of characters along with the apocalyptic world-building was incredibly refreshing. There is so much to dissect about this film, including its fantastic father-daughter relationship and the way it even satirizes American politics, but more than anything, this movie is a purely entertaining and clever story that takes all of the best parts of this horror subgenre and elevates it to new heights.
On the eve of young Soo-an's (Su-an Kim) birthday, her father Seok-woo (Yoo Gong) agrees to take her on a train to visit her mother in Busan. As they are traveling, an infectious zombie plague breaks out and the world begins to be overrun with the undead. Along with husband and pregnant wife Sang-hwa (Dong-seok Ma) and Seong-kyeong (Yu-mi Jung) and high school baseball player Yong-guk (Woo-sik Choi), this group of survivors must fight to make it to the end of their destination alive. Yeon Sang-ho and Park Joo-suk's script is phenomenal and they clearly show a mastery of this genre while being able to toy with it simultaneously. Like many themes in zombie films, this movie explores how the living can often be more dangerous than the undead. I loved how Yeon and Park's script explored this idea and their slight satirization of American politics is more relevant than ever. The way that these fearful passengers betrayed each other for no good reason other than their terror was fascinating and to see the antagonist businessman Yon-suk (Eui-sung Kim) blindly yet confidently lead them was so interesting. Train to Busan takes so many twists and turns that one could expect from an apocalyptic thriller but smartly avoids the tropes and instead leaves you wanting even more. Caring about these characters was definitely the screenwriters' top priority and while they absolutely achieved that, the way they utilize some of them makes this film such a frustrating experience, in the best way possible. There are so many scenes that leave an audience member shouting "oh, COME ON" and I was absolutely one of them. Yeon's direction does a great job of tying all of this together and really drawing one into this world with no room to breathe.
The best part of this film is its characters and Seok-woo and his daughter Soo-an's relationship was the most compelling. Both performances were great and their development over the course of this film was highly emotional, which I greatly appreciated. While the spectacular writing and direction are this film's absolute standout aspect, the technical achievements are impossible to gloss over. The cinematography from Hyung-deok Lee was extraordinary and made way for some very quick and adrenalized movement. I loved his use of out-of-focus zooming for many of the establishing shots and how he is able to make every shot in these train cars appear fresh and exciting. Despite being mostly set in the same train, every car really had its own environment to it that kept my attention very well. The tight camerawork in the darkness was particularly effective and also added to the slight comedy revolving around the zombie's blindness when the lights were off. One of the most prominent pieces of this film that really astounded me was how well Yeon was able to utilize his minimal space. Having an entire film set in one train could very easily become boring, especially in the different ways that these survivors have to fight off the zombies, but there are so many workarounds that he cleverly uses to push this story along. The undead in many modern films tend to have the same characteristics as being slow, brainless creatures lusting for flesh but this film takes a new turn on making the monsters quick to attack and much smarter. This made for a more exciting atmosphere for these characters and because of that, the film never put on any brakes in terms of pacing. From its haunting, initial scene with the deer to its arguably frustrating finale, Train to Busan throws you right aboard and uses its storytelling to absolutely leave you breathless.
Train to Busan is undoubtedly one of the greatest zombie films ever made and there is no denying how spectacular and detail-oriented Yeon is as a filmmaker. The way he is able to take all of the best parts of American zombie movies and blend them together to make a clever story that is simultaneously horrific and enthralling is spectacular. No other zombie filmmaker I have ever seen plays with this genre as brilliantly as Yeon does and because of that, we get this amazing rollercoaster of a film that will keep you on the edge of your (train) seat.
My Rating: ★★★★
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