Train To Busan (2016) is a Wild Ride From Start To Finish
Overall Grade: A+
Overall Grade: A+
I don’t normally give A ratings. To date, I’ve only given “A” reviews to the Doctor Who (2018) season 11 premiere, Searching (2018), and Sharp Objects (2018). There are many more things I’ve eagerly watched, only to be so disappointed that I just passed on spending the time writing a review (*cough* Hereditary). Train To Busan (2016) is certainly worthy of high praise, and is the first movie I’ve given an A+ to; until now, I assumed I’d cap the highest grade at an A. This movie far exceeded my expectations. I watched it last weekend and haven’t stopped talking about it since.
This Korean apocalyptic thriller is no ordinary zombie movie. Train To Busan premiered first at Cannes in 2016 and just a few months after became the first Korean movie of 2016 to top 10 million moviegoers. After watching it on Netflix and being completely blown away, I’m not sure how I missed the hype in 2016! In my defense, in summer 2016 I was moving hundreds of miles away from home to start grad school, so I wasn’t watching much of anything at the time. Better late than never.
(Photo: Personal screenshot from Netflix) Jung Suk-yong played the pure-hearted, gullible captain of the train (middle) and Kim Eui-sung played Yon-suk, the selfish COO (right).
Train To Busan stars Gong Yoo as Seok-woo, an overworked fund manager and neglectful father. His young daughter Su-an (played by Kim Su-an) begs him to take her to stay with her mother in Busan for her birthday. He reluctantly agrees, thus setting off a frightening chain of events to cap off one hell of a birthday. They meet and quickly bond with Sang-hwa (played by Ma Dong-seok), an honest, hard working man and his pregnant wife, Seong-kyeong (played by Jung Yu-mi) after some initial friction between the two men. This film movie touches on themes of family, honesty, morality, capitalism, and social stigma of poverty and mental illness in a very covert, non-preachy way. Our cast of heroes cross paths with lovestruck high schoolers, two elderly sisters, a selfish and greedy COO, a homeless man suffering from PTSD, among others. I smiled at the moments of love, triumph, sacrifice, and well-deserved vengeance peppered throughout.
This film includes one of the most breathtaking cinematographic moments I’ve ever witnessed on any screen. Every now and then, there’s a part in the movie when there’s a ton of zombies in pursuit of their next victims. When I say a ton, I don’t mean average The Walking Dead numbers. For reference, the movie travels through multiple cities, from Seoul all the way to Busan. Those two cities alone have an estimated combined population of 14 million people. And that’s not counting the cities along the way. For reference, the state of Georgia (where most of TWD is set) has about 10 million people. So, we have tons of people turning into zombies very rapidly and all of them end up trying to chase the same small herd of people. There are multiple occasions in which the zombies fall over each other to create a gigantic, living and breathing Zombie Rat King (Google at your own risk). I tried to take a screenshot, but capturing high-action scenes is trickier than it looks. You’ll just have to take my word for it and then see for yourself.
(Photo: Personal screenshot from Netflix) Left to right: Ma Dong-seok as Sang-hwa, Choi Woo-shik as Yong-guk, a lovesick teen baseball player, and Gong Yoo as Seok-woo.
Since I’m already talking about the zombies, let me tell you one thing. These things are fast. I jokingly told friends that I didn’t want to watch the movie late at night because I’d have nightmares (I have a no-scary-movies-after-dark rule). They assured me that I’d be fine.
Well, they lied.
The movie itself isn’t “scary,” and I actually didn’t have nightmares. But my heart did race at times because I didn’t expect these zombies to run like they’re chasing down Usain Bolt for his gold medals! The zombies fly like bats out of hell and it is absolutely terrifying.
This movie also succeeds in disrupting certain dominant elements of the zombie genre. Train To Busan did exceptionally well at world-building with very, very little. The world-building was quite brilliant given the situational constraints of the movie. Unlike other movies, the characters’ discovery of zombie mechanics wasn’t forced or disjointed. Breadcrumbs were dropped throughout, so that when someone had an epiphany, you immediately remembered that yes, you noticed that thing, too. We knew very quickly 1) how people were being turned into zombies so fast, 2) the zombies’ physical capabilities, and 3) their shortcomings — which is even more important.
(Photo: Personal screenshot from Netflix) Left to right: Jung Yu-mi as Seong-kyeong watching as her husband confronts Seok-woo.
(Mild spoiler in this paragraph). This movie is thought-provoking regarding the overall mythology of zombies. After the outbreak on the train begins, the passengers quickly realize that the zombies are blind (more like night blind). Blind zombies! Honestly, I never thought about zombie sight. In other cinematic works, it’s abundantly clear that zombies have good hearing and smell. But I’ve never thought about whether they can see. Most movies and shows imply that they’re blind, but that aspect is never central to the plot. In Train To Busan it’s absolutely critical. I personally experience partial nightblindness in one eye, so it was amusing to watch this be such an important piece of the movie.
There aren’t that many good horror, apocalyptic, thriller, scary, whatever movie these days. This movie did a lot with a little (they’re stuck running between a few train cars for most of the movie), and every aspect came together. This movie isn’t for the faint of heart — you may not be scared, but you’ll most certainly find yourself devolved into a puddle of tears by the end. Train To Busan spares no punches — there’s tragedy after tragedy, and even the ending is bittersweet.
You’ll love it, I promise.
