Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Year: 2016
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: Busanhaeng
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Desperate to reconnect with his daughter, a father takes her on an early morning train to visit her mother in a different city, but when they realize that a viral outbreak has gotten onboard, turning the infected into ravenous zombies must protect the survivors until they reach safety.
Review:
For the most part, this was a spectacular effort without much holding it back. One of the strongest features of this one is the stand-out storyline that manages to make for an experience thrilling and quite harrowing experience. The whole trip takes place because of the need to reconnect with his daughter, as we witness the kind of strained relationship they have, trying to raise her in a split-house manner as well as an unfulfilling, soul-draining corporate job that prevents him from being there for her, requiring the trip in the first place.. That sets up a great deal of sympathy not just with these characters but the others who are onboard the trip with them, as they’re portrayed as everyday people going about their lives only to get caught up in the outbreak, helping to further the tension as the likable group of victims are slowly brought into the full force of the scale of the outbreak by having to deal with the creatures as well as their own issues.
That comes to pass in some of the best moments here with the group fighting off the rapidly growing swarm of infected. From the opening involving the animals getting infected and the other passenger getting on board, that starts spreading to the others onboard, the first stages of the film offer up a thrilling series of encounters where the chaos and suddenness of the situation lead to a fun series of encounters involving the creatures running wild over the cars full of screaming passengers. Getting a better chance to see their ability to work together or split up based on how well the situation is going helps to give everything even more context for the final half. The escalation of everything from inside the train to the surrounding city when the train stops at various stations to check for supplies, which brings them into contact with general civilians involved in the chases.
The final half, with the dwindling survivors forced to escape the train and get to safety outside the city, is where the film’s best elements come together incredibly well. The series of encounters here trying to get out of the infested cars to get to the safer parts of the train utilizing a series of inventive tactics to get that accomplished against the wishes of others who are actively trying to stop them, the more involved setpieces trying to get to safety at the trainyard where it generates some impressive setpieces including the burning train storming into the yard or the escape on the powered locomotive. These are grand and impressive with some strong gore, acceptable levels of CGI, and an immensely heartwarming ending that works so well here to counteract the one minor, barely worthwhile issue here. That is why the one character can remain trusted for as long as he is with the type of self-centered actions he demonstrates repeatedly, so it becomes comical at times, since they’re just there to create more tension in a place that’s not necessary. Otherwise, this is still one of the best genre examples possible.
Overview: *****/5
One of the all-time genre masterpieces ever made, there’s so much to like here that it has so little wrong that it’s in the upper echelon of the genre as a whole. Those with an interest in this subject matter, who are massive Asian Horror fanatics, zombie fans in general, or are curious about it, will have the most to like here, as only those turned off by those factors won’t enjoy this one.
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