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taehyungsfatnose

taehyungsfatnose

Train to Busan korean movie review
Completed
Train to Busan
0 people found this review helpful
by taehyungsfatnose
Dec 26, 2023
Completed
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

Get on board the zombie express.

Train to Busan can best be described as a Korean clash between Snowpiercer and World War Z. The Korean thriller's zombies and special effects are world-class, but the emotional bits can get a little cheesy.

I can really appreciate when the entire plot of a genre film can be summed up in one sentence. A simple and effective concept that arouses curiosity: Snakes on an airplane. A tornado with sharks. Okay... you understand that it might not be the world's best movie every time, but you know exactly what you're getting, and if you go along with those premises, you're in for a while of good entertainment.

So what happens when you put a zombie on an express train? It doesn't take long, of course, for things to go off the rails. Bloody chaos as more and more people are bitten, the survivors' fight for life and death. Being trapped with the living dead in tight spaces is never a good idea if you ever find yourself in that position. It's claustrophobic, and really rough.

The conflicts that arise among the group of people, the fear that breeds mistrust and selfish thinking, are not new. Countless Stephen King movies have explored this with what happens to ordinary people in terrifying situations. It becomes more exciting, however, when zombies have to face the danger, as when a small group of passengers have to sneak past several carriages without becoming someone's dinner.

We need to talk about the zombies! Someone may have been inspired by World War Z and its hordes of the undead, and created equally insane creatures that you don't want to share a carriage with. They are really fast, and all rabid. They're not necessarily the smartest, but good nasty designed with their sickly faces and jerky movements. Arms and legs are twisted in unnatural directions - It's hard to tell where the intense effort of the actors ends and special effects take over.

The story in Train to Busan is bigger than what takes place on the train. The news tells about something that has happened around the country. "Zombie" is trending as a keyword. It looks and feels like a big, lavish disaster thriller, which has chosen to zoom in on a few really unlucky individuals. But if it sounds loaded and gloomy, then... Well. There's a kind of cheesy B-movie humor that makes us laugh, too. The occasional goofy zombie or cocky alpha male opens up fun elements and the audience seems to love it.

At worst, the pieces are meant to be emotional, where you touch so the strings bleed. The relationship between a guilt-ridden father and his neglected daughter takes up a lot of space, and sometimes becomes unnecessarily sentimental. The film is also longer than it needed to be, with several dead transport stretches. And just when you think we're at the end, it continues with a finale that should have been better - Or in any case completely scrapped.

Watch it with zombie-crazy friends and you have a wonderful and terrifying 2-hour journey ahead of you.
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