Train to Busan

Horror express.

A week ago I saw a zombie film from Japan called 'I Am a Hero' and now this Korean. I have not seen a quality zombie film at the recent time. The second tier films like 'Cooties', 'Freaks of Nature', 'Scouts Guide...', all these were comedies. Probably 'World War Z' was the last decent zombie film I have seen and after that this is the one. So the timing of the film was another advantage. Since there's no competition, this zombie film rules. And not to forget the Korean style, they are among the best thriller film makers today.

Directed by an Anime filmmaker, this is his first live-action film. When I decided to watch it, I thought it would be another Korean film, which rely on father-daughter sentiments. You know I kind of tired of that Korean cliché where at the final stage they let the kid sob and call it a twist. Initially I enjoyed those and later on getting bored of that. With that kind of reasons, I would have missed it. Being a film fanatic, I won't mind to risk a watch, except give up writing a review for it.

But in this case, it was completely different. Even the characters, any characters in the film, either in the lead or the supporting ones, all are unpredictable. That's the biggest plus point of the film. At the end you won't be sure, who you were rooting for. You know in those edgy scenes, we blindly back the one we like. You will think you can guess the upcoming scenes, but the writing was very smartly done. Feels like they did not care about a sequel, if this meets a greater success. But who knows, this is a cinema and there were many mysteries kept unsolved, so they can pick up from one of those loops.

"Whatever you do, you must finish what you start. It's worse than not doing it at all."

This is the story of a divorced, workaholic father and his young daughter. After the progress, many others join them. On her birthday, they decide to visit her mother in Busan. On their train, soon after it took off, they come...

With a couple of the zombie movies I've watched recently, I've found myself able to go so far in my reviews as to credit the films for some modicum of surprise originality, alongside a rating of four of five out of ten. But it has been years since I've been able to say that I saw a zombie movie I genuinely and wholeheartedly enjoyed. Or I should say, it had been years, right up until last night when I saw Train to Busan.

Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time.

Fantastic watch, will watch again, and can definitely recommend for those looking for a new zombie movie to watch.

This one really had me yelling at the screen: I was heavily invested....until I was basically emotionally exhausted. I don't think I reacted quite how the director wanted me to react during that last act.

This is a fascinating premise. A zombie outbreak that leaks onto a train (with just one infected), and these are "World War Z" running, 15 seconds to turn (usually) zombies. I'm staunchly against running zombies, but when you do something well, it is really hard to discredit you for it.

There is one aspect that is truly odd for zombies, but it would be quite the spoiler, it's basically the 3rd act (out of 4). The writing structure feels very different, it doesn't seem to adhere to a 3 act staple: it really feels like 4 acts broken into chapters (or levels similar to a video game) and as whichever characters survive the transfer from chapter to chapter, the story progresses. There is clearly though pre-infection establishing act, post infection establishing act, confrontation act, and resolution act. Once you get past the first act, it's pretty much non-stop action, by the by.

The one frustrating part about this movie is that most of the characters seem to have a death wish: despite trying to stay alive, they all seem to want to die. I understand that a story can't happen without flawed characters, but the things these people do are so remarkably stupid sometimes that the zombies become more believable at times. It does allow for some of the more amazing scenes though, so it might be somewhat forgiveable.

This movie is honestly so good, I really feel like I'm reaching on any of the complaints.

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com

Zombie apocalypse is far from being a groundbreaking subgenre. The Walking Dead franchise is arguably the most popular show on Earth when it comes to portraying this supernatural future. World War Z and the Zombieland duology play that role in the movies' realm. However, all of these works fail to reach the always high expectations that come with a story set in a time like this. When people ask, "what's the best zombie apocalypse film ever?", one doesn't have a clear answer simply because there isn't an outstanding, mind-blowing, near-perfect flick. Well, at least not until 2016, the year of release of the best movie in the genre, Train to Busan.

I genuinely feel sorry for everyone who refuses to watch foreign films for whatever reason. A different language and/or the display of subtitles shouldn't be enough to convince viewers to ignore so many unique works from all around the world. If someone dares to call themselves a "zombies fan" and has not watched Train to Busan yet, then "fan" is far from being the right description. This is South Korean cinema at its best. Everyone is 200% committed to their role, whether that is a stunt man or one of the protagonists. Yeon Sang-ho delivers a powerfully suspenseful, intense, epic, and most of all, heartbreaking story with the help of a phenomenal screenplay written by Park Joo-suk.

When the only "negative" aspect that I can find is related to "maybe not-that-logical" specific actions performed by some characters, I know that I'm nitpicking a near-perfect movie. I struggle to find a single real issue with the entire film. In my opinion, the reason why the latter works so well is largely due to Park Joo-suk's script. Usually, people always think about the zombies first: how do they look? How do they act? Do they run wildly or stroll? Which new attributes or skills do these zombies have different from what we've seen unt...