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| A scene from the film "Train to Busan" / Courtesy of NEW |
By Yun Suh-young
When it comes to zombies, only a handful of movies have dealt with the theme in Korean film history. It is usually dealt with in cult films and considered a cult genre more so in Korea than in Western films.
Much of the reason for this is attributed to the unfamiliarity with the Western-born concept of the walking dead who can infect living people and turn them into the similar creatures. Koreans are more familiar with ghosts ― especially the stereotypical ones clad in white with long black hair.
Director Yeon Sang-ho, in that regard, is a pioneer in the Korean film industry in taking the genre into mainstream commercial cinema. And he's looking toward garnering 10 million viewers, a barometer for being a blockbuster film.
"The fact that Yeon made a film with a theme that could be very unfamiliar to Korean audiences is extremely fascinating. That is the part that I like the most about this film," said actor Gong Yoo, who plays one of the lead roles in the film "Train to Busan" to be released July 20, as a fund manager dad who tries to protect his young daughter from the zombies.
In fact, as a first-timer to action films, director Yeon does a respectable job in producing his first on-set, commercial film featuring real actors. For an animator who had only produced satirical animation films such as "The Fake" (2013) or "The King of Pigs" (2011), the production of this film was a big challenge as well as a big change in style. His melancholic and sarcastic views of society heavily embedded in his previous films are nowhere to be seen in his new one strategically aimed to be a blockbuster. Rather, the zombie film is clad with action, heroism and an emphasis on the importance of family.
The movie is set inside a KTX train heading to Busan. One abnormal passenger with peculiar behavior boards the train at the last minute and she starts attacking the people on the train one by one, turning them into zombies. Once bitten, the infected people begin twitching and suddenly become aggressive and start biting other people. In order to avoid getting bitten by zombies, the uninfected fight for their lives hiding and running toward safe compartments until they reach Busan, which is claimed to be safe from the virus that causes "zombification."
While watching the film, those who have seen director Bong Joon-ho's preceding apocalyptic train action thriller "Snowpiercer" will find themselves recalling that movie, while others will be reminded of the American zombie flick "World War Z" featuring Brad Pitt with aggressive and excessively active zombies running about, unlike the stereotypical drooping and lifeless figures.
Featuring elements similar to both films, it sounds as if "Train to Busan" would be double the fun, which it isn't. It seems to be lacking a little bit of everything, from thrills, intensity, speed and humor. As much as the plot involves a lot of action ― fighting sequences between uninfected humans and zombies ― the film is not as gripping or intense as it could have been. Zombies are not exactly scary (perhaps they're not meant to be), the speed of the train is not sensed, and the few scenes which carry some humor could have had more edge to them. If the film is lacking in thrills, it could have added more humor in between scenes.
The ending is almost like a deja-vu from another film, which viewers will know when they see it.
Yeon does manage to send out a strong message about family values and protecting our loved ones because, he says, that is something he believes "humanity can leave to our next generation." This is the reason why he set Gong Yoo's character as fund manager ― a job most representative of capitalism ― and turns him into a heroic dad.
While kudos go out to Yeon for walking the un-trodden path, the success of this movie will be left to the audience.
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