Overview
Martial law is declared when a mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival…
We’ve had Snakes on a Plane, now we have Zombies on a Train! As silly as it sounds, putting Korean zombies on a train works a lot better than those mother-loving snakes on that Monday-to-Friday plane, as a censored Samuel L. Jackson would say.
Unlike the recent The Girl With All The Gifts, Train to Busan doesn’t really innovate all too much in the Zombie genre. But what it does it does well. It actually has a real story with real characters that get depth to them. Even ones that only have a small part to play get a personality before they get eaten…
A divorced father takes his daughter on the train to visit her mother for her birthday. It doesn’t take long for the first signs of trouble to show, and within minutes the train is divided in an increasing number of zombies vs a decreasing number of survivors… Is it just this train that is in trouble? Can they still make it to its destination, Busan? The survivors team up together to fight the aggressive zombies, but can they all be trusted? As they say, there is no ‘I’ in teamwork, but there is one in selfish…
Indeed, there are a few lessons about what’s important in life, but really you watch this movie for the fun of it. Very watchable zombie action, with a proper narrative and real characters. So if you’re in the mood for a trainful of fast-moving flesh-eating lamebrains, grab a beer, some popcorn and a few mates and find out if anyone makes it to Busan alive…
★★★½