Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula

    Four years have passed since to events portrayed in ‘Train To Busan,’ and the entire nation of South Korea is infected. A small group of survivors of that outbreak are presented with an opportunity to do a little looting in exchange for a big payout - half the plunder.

    Soon the team of four are deep in the city in search of a box truck loaded with duffle bags full of cash - U.S Dollars, to be precise. They are given directions, location of the truck, and the tools and weapons needed. 

    What seems like a very dangerous, but not too difficult mission becomes much more involved once resident survivors become part of the equation. And living in a country that is swarming with fast-moving undead, rules and society have changed as well. The team is quickly swept up in an ‘Escape From New York -style scenario where zombies are not the only threat.

    Importantly, Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula is NOT a sequel. It is just another story in that particular ‘universe,’ if you will. The only connection to Train To Busan is the zombie apocalypse in Korea. 

    And Peninsula is much more of an action film, with a lot of high-speed car chases, shootings and explosions. And while I can appreciate that when done well, (and a good bit of it IS done fairly well here, to be honest,) a lot of this comes across as formulaic. 

 

   The movie seems to borrow from a wide array of influences as well - Fast & Furious, The Walking Dead, and, of course, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. These are some great pieces of source material, true, but sadly, all of these elements don’t add up to a very original feel. 

    I know that every Zombie pic asks the viewer for some suspension of reality. One must accept that zombies exist, et cetera, to enjoy the movie. TtBP:P, however, really imposes on that request, though. (How a 14-year-old girl can ‘Tokyo Drift’ an SUV through streets crowded with old cars, burnt out buildings, and other assorted flotsam and jetsam to hit fast running zombies with pinpoint accuracy with ease and only casual concern sticks as one such example!)

But I nitpick.

    Let's talk about the dead. The zombies are runners - remaining true to form with the original film, but aside from that they appear to adhere to the other Rules Of Romero. 

    Transformation time from bitten to full-on zombism is inconsistent, though. Some in seconds, others much longer. (Depending on the character and the need for a tearful goodbye, apparently.)

    All of that action, the shoot-em-ups and run-em-downs, does keep the flick moving. And Peninsula moves at a decent clip, too, with exposition and backstories not taking away from the here and now. However, this pace tends to become a bit ‘samey’ after a while.

    The special effects are decent, as with Train, but more often than not, obscured with a cover of darkness, (both indoors and out!) However, as stated, the sense of horror is eclipsed by the sense of action here, and the FX are focused on that, too.

    The principle characters are well defined, and which side one should be rooting for is made abundantly clear. This time around, however, the heroes are not nearly all that engaging, and lack enough depth to care too much for them. On the other hand, the antagonists are suitably evil, and display little to no affability. Their villainy, though, is so over-the-top that they are bordering cartoonish.

 

   Despite what I have written, here, I did enjoy Busan’s Peninsula. No! Not NEARLY as much as the original. In fact, the two films are so different in nature that to compare them side-by-side is completely unfair. 

    However, just as Peninsula is set in a world where zombies are commonplace, this movie, too, just kind’ve felt generic. Nothing too original, and not really a standout from the middle of the ‘Living Dead’ field. Which is a shame as it’s predecessor was so amazing.

    But the middle of the pack is still much higher up in ratings than so many other z-flicks.

Which means it's time to consult The Zombie Movie Rubric, my angel of objectivity to keep personal peeves at bay! 

    So, with Film Quality, SPFX, Action/Pacing really buoying the rating that Originality and Characters were dragging down, the ZMR handed out a final grade of 2.11 out of 4.0. This equates to a watchable and enjoyable, if ultimately forgettable, entry into the whole zombie movie genre. 

     See the official trailer here on YouTube:

           TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA