Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean film that became a smash hit overnight worldwide. This was mostly due to South Korean never actually exploring the theme of zombies in their stories. The film gave solid inspiration for other zombie related stories to be made such as Rampant, Nexflix's series Kingdom,(base off the webtoon) and the more recent Alive. There was an announcement some months ago that director Yeon Sang Ho would be creating another Train to Busan film for 2020. It's cast was to feature popular actor Gang Dong Won along side costars, Lee Jung Hyun, child actress Lee Re, and more. Despite the mix reviews, Peninsula also became a huge success in many countries.
An Army Solder tries to survive a zombie filled world four years after the events in Train to Busan. He returns to the Korean Peninsula to find riches with a group of people. They don't know if there's still survivors or if the undead lay in wait for them.....
I was one of the people who was excited for Peninsula as a fan of the original film. So I waited to get my hands on a copy of the film as everything started happening with the pandemic as the film opened. When I finally got a copy, I waited a few days to get myself in the mind frame to see this world again since I wasn't prepared for the emotional ride that Train to Busan took me on four years ago. Peninsula opens up somewhat like Train to Busan did only we all know that the world will never be what it was. After the few opening scenes, things start to go downhill slowly. Maybe it was a bit faster than I could see because I wanted to hold on to hope that this film would be as good as it's leader. Instead, the film takes on weak story telling to throw these character's into an apocalyptic world which doesn't make much sense in reality. You're going to risk your life for money that you probably won't get to spend because you'll be a mindless ass zombie like all those other people out there. I would have said no thank you to this proposal. What made Train to Busan such a powerful film was the instinct to survive while protecting your loved ones in a confined place like a train. Peninsula would have done well to stick to the same formula instead of trying to give viewers an open world that one of us asked for. A boat makes an appearance in the opening scenes and that could have been the setting for the whole film had Park Joon Suk and Yeon written this story with a bit more though. Even the zombies seem so uninspired to get run over multiple times by moving vehicles - You see them get run over so much that all I could do was stare at the screen blank face. I would say that the zombies an after thought as the human fight among themselves. Then they get thrown back in just to remind us that their still there. Zombies normally don't behave like this. You don't get time to pop in and out of the picture. I did like that Yeon kept the idea that the Zombies can't see in the dark though. Two golden moments of Peninsula are the beginning and the few scenes leading up to the ending. Everything else felt hollower than the pavement the zombies wondered around on in the city.
Gang Dong Won has always been one of my favorite South Korean actors. Over the years he has shown that he is capable of playing a wide range of roles. Plus he has the looks to top it all off. However, this performance right here was not it. I might even say it's one of the worse of his whole career. Peninsula's opening gives you context into his character which I loved because it had Train to Busan's original vibe but these attempts still couldn't stop his character from being very hollow throughout. All the performances were like this. Each and every one. I felt nothing when people died in this film. I wasn't too invested in them because they gave me no connection to true humanity. Unlike the film before, who's characters's relationships helped drive the plot to an emotional overload. Peninsula gives nothing heart wrenching till you get to the second to the last scene where the best acting in the whole entire film takes place. Someone needs to explain to me why this sort of emotional connect took the whole film to get to when it should have been intergraded into the film from start to finish. The little girl's final line that closes out the film must have been meant to be emotional but she sounded stupid. Compare this girl's ignorant comment to the experience of the child and pregnant wife in the first film who gave all they could to flee to safety four years before while this girl is sitting up there saying that same world wasn't so bad. Way to miss the mark that was set by such a powerful ending in the original Train to Busan.
Yeon Sang Ho should have left Train to Busan alone after Seoul Station. No, he had to go on thinking that he could cash in more by making this awful spin off film. Peninsula is not a sequel to Train to Busan just let everyone know. It's set in the same world but that's the only connection. That alone might be one connection too many.
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