Film review: Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula
Zombie movie Last Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula - Credit: Archant
Follow up to zombie classic Train To Busan is sentimental, with brain dead plotting annoying characters and too much CGI
Zombie movie Last Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula - Credit: Archant
What’s wrong with an old fashioned 2? (Or Train 2 Busan?)
A film presenting its follow up seems incredibly mealy-mouthed, but I suppose it’s there to emphasise that this is not a direct sequel to the Korean swarming zombie classic. Set four years later, Peninsula has all new characters and takes place in Incheon. That Presents could also be there to communicate the arm’s length being maintained between the pristine original and this dog of a follow-up.
Yeon Sang-ho has tried to swap genres, replacing horror for an Escape from New York type adventure in which survivors are shipped into zombieland Korea to steal $20 million.
The problem is he’s making a spectacular action romp, without the budget to pay for it. While Train looked liked it was happening in the real world, Peninsula may as well be an animation. The blanket CGI drains away all the tension or excitement, robs it of any sense that this is taking place in what was once a city where people lived.
But even with the money to realise his vision, you doubt it’d be much good because the characters and plotting are so constantly, invasively annoying.
None are like real people, and all potentially intriguing situations are explored in the most brain dead way possible. On top of that, there is the truly horrific sentimentality. You pity the zombies appearing in this.
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2/5 stars
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho. Starring Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Kim Min-je, Koo Gyo-hwan, Kim Do-yoon, Lee Re. In cinemas. Korean with subtitles. Running time: 116 mins.
