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Yeon Sang-ho’s “Train to Busan” is the most purely entertaining zombie film in some time, finding echoes of George Romero ’s and Danny Boyle ’s work, but delivering something unique for an era in which kindness to others seems more essential than ever. For decades, movies about the undead have essentially been built on a foundation of fear of our fellow man—your neighbor may look and sound like you, but he wants to eat your brain—but “Train to Busan” takes that a step further by building on the idea that, even in our darkest days, we need to look out for each other, and it is those who climb over the weak to save themselves who will suffer. Social commentary aside, it’s also just a wildly fun action movie, beautifully paced and constructed, with just the right amount of character and horror. In many ways, it’s what “ World War Z ” should have been—a nightmarish vision of the end of the world, and a provocation to ask ourselves what it is that really makes us human in the first place.

Seok-woo ( Gong Yoo ) is a divorced workaholic. He lives with his mother and barely spends any time with his daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an). He’s so distant from her that he buys her a Nintendo Wii for her birthday, ignoring that she has one already, and that he’s the one who bought it for her for Children’s Day. To make up for this rather-awkward moment, he agrees to give Su-an what she really wants—a trip to her mother’s home in Busan, 280 miles away. It’s just an hour train ride from Seoul. What could possibly go wrong? Even the set-up is a thematic beauty, as this is more than just a train ride for Seok-woo and Su-an—it’s a journey into the past as a father tries to mend bridges and fix that which may be dead. It’s a perfect setting for a zombie movie.

Before they even get to their early-morning train ride, Seok-woo and Su-an see a convoy of emergency vehicles headed into Seoul. When they get to the train, Sang-ho beautifully sets up his cast of characters, giving us beats with the conductors, a pair of elderly sisters, a husband and his pregnant wife, an obnoxious businessman (a vision of Seok-woo in a couple decades), and even a baseball team. A woman who’s clearly not well gets on the train just before it departs, and just as something else disturbing but generally unseen is happening in the station above the platform. Before you know it, the woman is taking out the jugular of a conductor, who immediately becomes a similarly mindless killing machine. These are zombies of the “28 Days Later” variety—fast, focused, and violent. They replicate like a virus, turning whole cars of the train into dead-eyed flesh-eaters in a matter of seconds. They are rabid dogs. And you thought your Metra commute was bad.

The claustrophobic tension of “Train to Busan” is amplified after a brilliantly staged sequence in a train station in which our surviving travelers learn that the entire country has gone brain-hungry. They discover that the undead can’t quite figure out door handles and are mostly blind, so tunnels and lines of sight become essential. Sang-ho also keeps up his social commentary, giving us characters who want to do anything to survive, and others who will do what it takes to save others. Early in the film, Seok-woo tells his daughter, “At a time like this, only watch out for yourself,” but he learns that this isn’t the advice we should live by or pass down to our children. Without spoiling anything, the survivors of “Train to Busan” are only so lucky because of the sacrifice of others. And the film is thematically stronger than your average zombie flick in the way it captures how panic can make monsters of us all, and it is our responsibility to overcome that base instinct in times of crisis.

After the near-perfect first hour of “Train to Busan,” the film slows its progress and makes a few stops that feel repetitive, but the journey recovers nicely for a memorable finale. You could call it “Train of the Living Dead” or “'Snowpiercer' with Zombies.” Whatever you call it, if it’s playing in your city and you’ve ever been entertained by a zombie movie, it’s hard to believe you wouldn’t be entertained by this one.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Train to Busan (2016)

118 minutes

Gong Yoo as Seok Woo

Ma Dong-Seok as Sang Hwa

Jung Yoo-mi as Sung Gyeong

Choi Woo-shik as Yeong Gook

Ahn So-hee as Jin Hee

Kim Soo-Ahn as Soo Ahn

Yeon Sang-Ho

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Train to Busan: Action-Horror and Class Critique

A ragged-looking man cowers in a train-car’s bathroom. All that can be seen of him are his trembling hands––his face shrouded by his long hair and downturned gaze. The man mumbles: “All dead… Everyone…” The cabin attendant stands at the bathroom door, along with Soo-an (Kim Soo-Ahn), a young girl traveling to visit her mother, and Yon-suk (Eui Sung-kim), who had requested the attendant to check for someone “odd” on board. The attendant asks the disheveled man for his ticket, and warns him that he will be escorted off at the next station. To this cautionary advice, the man turns his gaze towards the attendant, eyes full of fear. “Everyone’s dead!” he mutters, only a little louder, repeating himself at the beckoning of the attendant, this time with a strange smile. Soo-a stares down at the man, turning around to the older man behind her who advises her: “If you don’t study, you’ll end up like him.” She replies with no hesitation: “Mom said whoever says that is a bad person.” Train to Busan (dir. Yeon Sang-ho, 2016) presents South Korea at the onset of a zombie apocalypse, and does so with refreshing ingenuity. But what makes Sang-ho’s vision of a world in outbreak so compelling is its particular focus on class, making for an exciting action movie and a nuanced exploration of social ills. This aforementioned scene encapsulates the film’s ethos, which questions the dynamics of morality and social status: the elderly versus the youth or the rich versus the working class. What makes a zombie apocalypse so terrifying? In Train to Busan, it’s not just the un-dead but the living––a rupture of normalcy brings out the worst in humans, making us victims of our own narcissism.

Train to Busan tells the story of Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), a fund-manager, and his daughter Soo-an. Occupied by his job, Seok-woo is emotionally absent in Soo-an’s life. After missing Soo-an’s singing recital, he gives her a Wii for her birthday. He makes a careless mistake: she already owns the exact model, gifted to her for Children’s Day. Seok-woo’s brand of consumerist love, and capitalist individualism is quickly tested once he and Soo-an board the high-speed train from Seoul to Busan.

The two are faced with a zombie outbreak that is fast and uncontrollable. Unlike the slow-infection time in some other popular depictions––say AMC’s The Walking Dead ––once these zombies bite, death is near. The infected come back to life contorting in inhuman angles, horror made visceral through the audible snaps of shattering bone. Evolving from human to carnivorous monster in a matter of seconds, the undead are frightening. They are a physical manifestation of contagion, to which fear is rooted in the unknown.

Early on in the train’s outbreak, Seok-woo instructs his daughter: “At a time like this, you only look out for yourself.” Soo-an affirms her humanistic morals later, criticizing her father: “You only care about yourself. That’s why mommy left.” Soo-an is right, and she exists in the film as the audience’s moral grounding, a figure of youth uncorrupted by society’s capitalistic values. The comparisons between zombie and corporate businessmen are with purpose; Seok-woo is described by passenger Sang-hwa (Dong-Seok Ma) as a “bloodsucker.” Corporate corruption causes the outbreak––Seok-woo himself is complicit, having sold shares at the company from whose chemical leaks produced the fatal virus.

Train to Busan doesn’t offer entirely satisfying deaths; that is, morality doesn’t always triumph. There are those whose kind-hearted nature remain intact amidst the chaos, or those who undergo moralistic revision, like Seok-woo, who recognizes the faults of his greed. And there are those who are wholly infected by their narcissism, like COO of Stallion Express Yon-suk. Yon-suk manipulates others at the expense of people’s lives, all for his own well-being. Though he is arguably the most terrifying embodiment of capitalist hegemony and human selfishness, his dishonesty takes him far. His character arc proves the most disheartening of lessons, painting a picture of South Korea’s social ills along the way.

Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie apocalypse is not entirely without hope. Tragedy brings out not just the worst, but the best in people. Seok-woo’s character arc is the main thrust of the story, and it is one of moral redemption. Beginning the film as a selfish, emotionally detached father, he transforms into a self-sacrificing hero, saving others and realizing how important Soo-an is to him. In the face of the current pandemic, Train to Busan offers innumerable parallels to today’s anxieties. It can however, also offer us hope––humans are also capable of selflessness.

* Train to Busan is available to stream on Viki or on Amazon Prime. It is also available to stream for free with ads on Tubi.

Sources/Further Readings

Catsoulis, Jeanette. “Review: All Aboard ‘Train to Busan’ for Zombie and Class Warfare.” The New York Times , 21 July 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/movies/train-to-busan-review.html . Accessed 5 November 2020.

Kermode, Mark. “Train to Busan review – a nonstop zombie thrill ride.” The Guardian , 30 October 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/30/train-to-busan-review-nonstop-thrill-ride-zombies . Accessed 5 November 2020.

Review: All Aboard ‘Train to Busan’ for Zombie and Class Warfare

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

July 21, 2016

Elite passengers on a South Korean bullet train face a twitching, hissing threat from the cheap seats in “ Train to Busan ,” a public-transportation horror movie with a side helping of class warfare.

The setup is lean and clean. A flattened deer, mowed down in a quarantine zone in Seoul where some kind of chemical spill has occurred (echoes of Bong Joon-ho’s 2007 enviro-horror film, “The Host” ), springs back to life. Then, in just a few swiftly efficient scenes, we meet a harried hedge-fund manager and his small, sad daughter (Gong Yoo and an amazing Kim Su-ahn), see them settled on the titular locomotive and watch in dismay as a vividly unwell last-minute passenger lurches onboard. And we’re off!

Sprinting right out of the gate, the director, Yeon Sang-ho, dives gleefully into a sandbox of spilled brains and smug entitlement. (“In the old days, they’d be re-educated,” one biddy remarks upon spying an undesirable fellow traveler.) As zombies chomp and multiply, an assortment of regular folks face them down while furthering an extended critique of corporate callousness. The politics are sweet, but it’s the creatures that divert. Eyes like Ping-Pong balls and spines like rubber — I’d wager more than a few chiropractors were required on the set — they attack in seizures of spastic energy. They’re like break-dancing corpses.

Often chaotic but never disorienting, the movie’s spirited set pieces — like a wriggling ribbon of undead clinging doggedly to the last compartment — owe much to Lee Hyung-deok’s wonderfully agile cinematography. Dipping and levitating, his camera injects air into tunnels and washrooms and luggage compartments, giving the action a hurtling vigor. Even more impressive is the train itself: marveling at its freakishly strong doors and dedicated staff, you might find yourself mourning the state of our own rail services more than the fate of the characters.

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Review: Train to Busan (부산행, 2016) ★★½

South Korea has become a powerhouse in the horror and horror-thriller genre over the last decade and a half. There have been many examples of their superb filmmaking combined with adequately horrific and disturbing story-telling: Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and I Saw the Devil (2010), Bong Joon-ho’s The Host (2006), and Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy (2003) and Thirst (2009), among others. In all of these films, there is a building of tension, almost at a snail’s pace, intermittently broken up by frightening images or revelations, and it works. These kinds of films keep the audience on the edge of their seats, and never suffer from being overly formulaic or reminiscent of Hollywood’s take on the horror genre. They feel unique to the Korean style of filmmaking and viewership. Unfortunately, Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan does not fit into this mold. It takes an entirely different, altogether less interesting approach.

The premise is intriguing, though not entirely original. A speeding train is a popular setting for horror/action films, due to its being inherently claustrophobic and at the same time allowing for a high-octane thrill ride. Films such as The Midnight Meat Train (2008) and Howl (2015) have used trains as the setting for their carnage with varying degrees of success, and this actually works pretty well in Train to Busan . A zombie epidemic shown from the perspective of train passengers as they barrel through the apocalyptic setting is both scary and exciting.

At the start of the film, we are introduced to Seok-woo, a career oriented fund manager who struggles to balance his work and family life. Seok-woo is not on good terms with his ex-wife, and his daughter, Soo-an, is slowly pulling away from him due to his selfishness and workaholic lifestyle. When Soo-an insists on taking the train to Busan to see her mother, her father is reluctant, but eventually agrees to take her. As they board the train, news breaks across the country of a horrific and fast-spreading virus that is turning the populace into bloodthirsty zombies. Just before the doors close, an infected woman slips past the attendant and stumbles onto the train. The passengers are suddenly trapped with an ever-growing number of infected, and must find a way to reach their destination safely.

Many of the scenes in Train to Busan are reminiscent of Snowpiercer (2013), a far superior film from South Korean director, Bong Joon-ho. Our heroes fight their way down a long string of cable cars, with each new segment of the train presenting a slightly different challenge than the last. Though they are entertaining, these extended fight sequences, interspersed with moments of sugary-sweet sentimentality, serve as the vast majority of the film’s plot. At times, Train to Busan becomes much more of a formulaic action movie than a horror movie, and this is possibly its greatest fault. Rather than having interesting characters, facing a terrifying situation, these are merely tired archetypes of people engaging in over-the-top fight sequences with the undead.

Seok-woo is the workaholic father, who must become less selfish and realize that family is the most important thing in his life, so that he may truly love and appreciate his daughter. Soo-an is the typical action-movie daughter, a doe-eyed, inquisitive little girl with an unfaltering moral compass. Then there is Sang-hwa, who initially comes across as abrasive and vulgar, but we come to realize that he is a kind-hearted working class man, who just wants what is best for his pregnant wife, Seong-kyeong. A few less important archetypes are also scattered about the train: a shy young man who must embrace his masculinity to try to save his girlfriend, a rich CEO whose selfishness borders on pure evil, a homeless man who teaches us that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and so on. The character types are such that, once the general premise is set and everyone is in place, we can predict what each of the main characters will inevitably do.

In addition to the predictability of the plot and characters, the film also beats us over the head with its lame sense of right and wrong. You shouldn’t judge people based on their appearance; money is not the most important thing in the world; spend time with your family while you still have the chance; be willing to make sacrifices for your loved ones; karma will punish those who are selfish; deep-down, the rich and the poor are the same, etc. It borders on being insulting at times, and ruins what could have been a fantastic zombie film.

So, Train to Busan has a great premise that is held back by cookie-cutter characters and an overly sentimental moral compass. These last two elements would be forgivable if not for the sheer length of the film. At 118 minutes long, Train to Busan feels like it will never end. What should have been an hour and a half movie is stretched for an extra thirty minutes for no reason in particular. Much like other formulaic action movies, the characters are faced with new and increasingly implausible hurdles to overcome, with each hurdle extending the story unnecessarily. You will be begging them to wrap it up after the 90-minute mark.

In short, Train to Busan took what could have been an amazing horror film and ran it off the rails with lazy, predictable writing and far too much screen time.

Rating: ★★½ out of 5

If you’d like to watch Train to Busan , it is currently available to rent or purchase via Amazon here .

Matthew Jones

Matthew Jones is a freelance writer who has written for dozens of local and international businesses, in addition to his publications on film and philosophy. To see more of his writing, check out his Medium page or personal website . If you like Philosophy in Film, be sure to contribute on Patreon !

Film Analysis: Train to Busan (2016) by Yeon Sang-ho

Sequel to the animated film “Seoul Station”, also by Yeon Sang-ho , “ Train to Busan ” is the film with the most admissions in South Korea for 2016, with more than 11.5 million. This number places it in the 11th position of the all-time list with admissions in the country, despite the fact that it is one of the very few South Korean productions with zombies.

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In contrast to the general depiction that has zombies portrayed as very slow, the ones in “Train to Busan” follow the rules of Danny Boyle's “28 Days Later” and are actually very quick. This trait, along with their usual relentlessness and the setting of the train, which does not give much space to avoid them, results in one of their most onerous depictions ever. Furthermore, the scenes where they crash into each other as they are speeding towards their prey, are utterly horrific, although the one that truly stands apart occurs when they form a mass of some sorts in order to stop a moving train. Even the fact that their sole flaw is that they cannot see in the darkness heightens this sense of danger they emit, since the only way for the passengers to pass by them is in complete darkness.

Humans are scarier and this “trait” is chiefly represented by Yong-suk and his “entourage”, who are willing to let everybody else die instead of allowing them to come to their “safe place”, one of the wagons. The cruelty of this scene is truly shocking, and becomes even more intense after some of them manage to enter the specific wagon, only to be kicked out after awhile, despite the fact that they have children with them. Furthermore, Yong-suk gives one of the ugliest images ever attached to human nature, as he is a man willing to let everybody else be killed, or even kill them himself, in order to save his hide. The fact that he almost succeeds, through a number of episodes involving him feeding people who try to help him to the zombies, is at least as shocking as watching the zombies attack.

Despite the extreme concept, Yeon manages to present a number of social messages, chiefly regarding human nature through allegories. The most obvious one is that of the contemporary world, where ambition is the most crucial ability in order for someone to ascend the ladder of the socioeconomic environment. The zombie infestation serves as the allegory of this world, where dog-eat-dog is the rule. The separation of the passengers in the train, which leaves some safe in a protected wagon and the rest struggling to survive, is an allegory regarding the gap between the rich and the poor. Additionally, the former are portrayed as people willing to do anything to protect their safe environment, without caring the least for the lives of the have-nots. The fact that the protagonists have to give every inch of their power and even self-sacrifice to survive is an allegory of the class rebellion, as the only way to achieve their goal of equality. Lastly, a message is presented when Seok-woo closes the door on Sang-hwa; people may have the instinct of self-preservation that extends to their family members, but they are a long way from extending it to their neighbors and other people in general.

Zombie films frequently feature comic moments, particularly through the way the creatures move and act. “Train to Busan”, however, takes it a step forward, as the humor in the movie actually derives from the human characters. This trait is mainly achieved through Ma Dong-seok 's character, Sang-hwa. Ma manages to present a number of comedic episodes and his physique (he used to be an MMA trainer) makes his “bloopers” utterly hilarious. However, the funniest moment in the film, and the one that stands as a clear paradigm of the nature of the movie's humor, features Seok-woo. As he calls his mother to see if she is well, she is zombified, but still whines about her daughter-in-law. Overall, Yeon Sang-ho's use of humor does wonders for the film, as hilarious scenes frequently substitute the agonizing ones, keeping the audience's attention from wavering even for a minute.

The overwhelming majority of zombie movies include a number of clichés. The first one dictates that a team of humans tries to survive against a zombie outbreak. In “Train to Busan”, however, the most significant danger derives not from the zombies, but from other humans who are willing to kill everybody else in order to save their hide. The second one has this team constantly moving in cities and towns as they search for solace and survival. In “Train to Busan”, the action is set mostly on a train, radically changing the usual setting of the genre. The third one involves zombies, who are usually slow and actually very easy to deal with. In contrast, the zombies in this film are very fast and even seem to share a collective mind, as it is presented in the scene where all together they try to stop the wagon. Furthermore, the lack of sound, usually presented as the most common way to avoid them, is replaced by a lack of light. The way the zombies act also strips the film of the usual humor frequently associated with their slowness, and in that fashion, heightens the aspect of agony in the film.

The acting element in zombie movies is usually on a very low level, since the genre tends to focus on the action and the creatures rather than the actual actors. However, Yeon Sang-ho used a different tactic, since the film also features much drama and the occasional comedy, which demands good acting, at least to some degree. In that fashion, Gong-you is quite good as Seok-woo, the detached executive that has been ignoring his family for years and now has to make up for it. The fact that he is not completely good, particularly when his and his daughter's survival are at stake, adds another interesting layer in his character, and he is very convincing in that aspect. Ma Dong-seok as Kim Soo-an holds the most entertaining role in the film, being great in the dramatic, comic, and action sequences, as his presence always seems to elevate the film. Kim Su-an as Seok-woo's kid daughter is also great, in a very mature role for a child that avoids the usual standards of similar roles that just demand cuteness. Kim eui-sung as Yong-suk is impressive as the definite villain of the film, as he portrays a truly despicable human being that is actually even worse than the zombies.

Given the speed the film moves, it would be very easy for it to become an action flick, simply jumping from one action scene to another. However, Yeon Sang-ho's direction and script prevents this outcome by inducing a number of elements. Drama (and occasionally melodrama) is one of them, as is the change in Seok-woo's attitude, a genuinely humanistic concept. The elaborate script, which retains the agony as it switches genres, is another factor, as is the case with the injections of humor, which occasionally occur through chaos. Both of the ending sequences also move in that direction, with the dramatic element being the dominant one, instead of action.

Yeon Sang-ho's previous works were mostly animated. In that fashion, he tried to implement the animation aesthetics, particularly regarding the action scenes, in “Train To Busan”. With the help of visual effects supervisor Jung Hwang-su, he succeeded to the fullest, as the action in the film is very close to that of his animations. Starting with the appearance and the movement of zombies, continuing to the death of people in their hands and the various scenes involving trains, the special effects are magnificent in their hyperbole. Along with some show-stopping techniques in crucial scenes, “Train to Busan” is an audiovisual masterpiece.

Using the train as the main setting of a zombie film was a brilliant idea, particularly due to the claustrophobic feeling emitted from the hunting through the wagons. Yeon capitulated on the concept, heightening the tension continuously, as the passengers realize that eventually they will reach the edge of the train where there is no way out. In that fashion, he manages to retain the agony for the whole of the trip. Furthermore, he used an aspect ratio of 1:85.1 instead of the usual widescreen 2.35:1, thus downsizing the frame and stressing the claustrophobia even more. The fact that the protagonists progress to reach their loved ones through the zombie-infested train is very slow also adds to the sentiment.

One of the most important aspects of an action film is its editing. Yang Ji-mo does a great job in “Train to Busan”, as he retains a steady and fast rhythm throughout its duration, while he occasionally inserts footage that help the film become more impressive. Two sequences truly highlight his work. The first one includes the scenes where the fighting in the light repeatedly gives its place to the ones in the darkness, where the zombies stay still, and vice versa. The second sequence is the one that switches from Kim-soo being killed as he tries to hold off the creatures, while the rest of the “gang” try to enter the safe wagon, against the wills of those already in it. Furthermore, by frequently switching action scenes with non-action ones in an almost equal ratio, Yang keeps the film from either becoming an action flick or a melodrama, while the comic breaks enhance the entertaining aspect.

“Train To Busan” is definitely a blockbuster, but its depth, artistry and acting place it on a higher level than most films of the category.

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About the author.

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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Movie Review: Train to Busan (2016)

Matthew Roe
Movie Reviews
No responses
--> August 9, 2017

Zombie films have always been hotbeds of teeth-gnashing, blood splatter and almost the origin of stellar gore effects in cinema. But classics of the subgenre such as Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” and George Romero’s “Dead Series” have equally served as sociological petri dishes in which the filmmakers examine our own societies. While this breed of story has been explored by almost every filmmaking country in the world, South Korea has been interestingly, more or less, absent from the debate. Its horror and thriller films are bursting with creativity, originality and a unique voice in a flooded international market, set apart by works such as Bong Joon-ho’s “The Host,” Jang Cheol-soo’s “Bedevilled” and Kim Jee-woon’s “ I Saw the Devil .” But with Train to Busan (original title, “Busanhaeng”), Yeon Sang-ho delivers a personal and emotional work that also pulls major blockbuster appeal from its stylish effects, raw acting power and masterful storytelling within a convincing zombie outbreak.

The film is centered around a vivacious cast of characters as they travel from Seoul to Busan aboard the Korea Train eXpress (KTX). Though the main pair of protagonists are Seok-woo (Gong Yoo, “The Age of Shadows”) and his estranged daughter Soo-an (Kim Su-an, “The Battleship Island”) as he escorts her during a birthday trip to visit her mother, the cast is spread among the train. Each collection of characters are on the train for various purposes, but when a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, these passengers struggle to survive among the trapped infected.

The filmmakers take a very skilled hand to dissect numerous tropes that are combinations of Western zombie origins and Asian culture, creating an experience that is unlike most other media of its type. Though obviously at times taking notes from the exquisitely-executed, and similarly train-themed film “ Snowpiercer ,” Train to Busan never feels as if it is borrowing from someone else’s work. It relies on easily-followed set-ups of chemical leaks making rage-filled zombies, which is all delivered within the first ten minutes of its hefty 118-minute runtime. Each action on a country-wide scale is mirrored in its intensity within the train, which is also then compounded by characters undergoing epiphanous moments that alter the course of everyone’s stories. Then mix in the zombies — a whole lotta zombies — which move, snarl and pile up much in the way if those infected in “ 28 Weeks Later ” had fused with “ World War Z .”

It would be hard-pressed to find a substantial flaw in the production values or storytelling present in this superb movie. The emotional distance between the father and daughter is handled directly without being overbearing, allowing the chasm between the two be tested against this insane crisis rather than being easily set up to be healed with a hallmark ending. Nothing is ever certain between any of the characters, with many relationships altering continuously, and many supporting players becoming meat for the slaughter by incident, intent or surrender. This is brought to life by the bold and visceral acting of the cast, primarily by Ma Dong-seok (“Chronicles of Evil”), Choi Woo-sik (“In the Room”) and Jung Yu-mi (“Tough as Iron”). However, without a shadow of a doubt, the two strongest actors (thusly delivering the best results), are Yoo and Su-an, whose chemistry and pure emotional reactions to each other sell their performances every second they are on screen. Each decision the actor makes in their delivery is in tandem to the evolution (or devolution) of the characters they portray, complementing the change in tones and mindsets that each character undergoes to further the story.

The cinematography crafted by Hyung-deok Lee (“A Company Man”) is crisp, effective and immersive; though initially acting too well within convention it forgoes most elaborate camera positions or movements. Shots are held for longer than most of this work’s contemporaries, relying more on racking focus to draw out the claustrophobia and tension within the train, especially as the amount of space they have available is continually reduced, thus brilliantly inferring how the experience is collectively shared between each cast member. Regardless if a character is to be killed off later, they are given just as much importance as any other, making it a genuine shock if someone finally does die.

Coverage of the stunt work and fight scenes is never sporadically crazy either, relying more on what the character sees rather than for adrenaline injections into the image and pacing, adding impressionistic flourishes that could be pulled right from “Come and See.” This collection of intrusive and taut shots were mixed by editor Yang Jin-mo (“ Okja ”), whose magnificent sense of timing and parallel linear storytelling creates astonishing pacing and sense of space, especially when establishing the length of the titular train and the many people who are along for the ride.

From the abrupt title card in the beginning moments to its somber contemplative ending, Train to Busan is far more than a damn good zombie flick, a deep character study into the roles we play in society, or an excellent practice in cinematic storytelling. The strength of the work is that there is never an extended moment of pandering, fluff or unnecessary frames. The movie is so systematically well-built that it’s actually quite amazing that the film isn’t more successful than it has been (it has, however, broken nationwide attendance records in South Korea, and is the current highest-grossing Korean film in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore).

Train to Busan is a wild ride, and one that can be enjoyed by any fan of cinema who can handle the trip.

Tagged: daughter , father , Korea , survival , train , zombie

A Maryland-based film critic and award-winning filmmaker, founder of Heaven’s Fire Films. Has written film critique and theory for FilmSnobbery, Community Soul, The Baltimore Examiner, AXS, Men's Confidence Magazine, Screen Anarchy, and IonCinema. He writes the film theory column "Anarchic Cinema" for Film Inquiry, DVD/Blu-ray reviews for Under the Radar, and movie reviews for Film Threat.

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S. Korea's Hit Zombie Film Is Also A Searing Critique Of Korean Society

Train to Busan is the first Korean movie of 2016 seen by more than 10 million people. It's also a critique of selfishness in society. Next Entertainment World hide caption

Train to Busan is the first Korean movie of 2016 seen by more than 10 million people. It's also a critique of selfishness in society.

A zombie flick is smashing box office records in South Korea. Train to Busan has been seen by an estimated 11 million Koreans — a fifth of the population — and broken numerous records, including the highest single-day ticket sales in Korean film history.

The plot isn't complicated: Everyday South Koreans find themselves trapped on a speeding bullet train with fast-multiplying zombies, creating the kind of claustrophobic feel that freshens up the zombie trope. But beyond a fast-paced summer thriller, it's also an extended critique of Korean society.

"We don't trust anyone but ourselves," says film critic Youn Sung-eun, who writes for the Busan Daily.

Without giving too much of the story away, the film blames corporate callousness for the death toll. The government covers up the truth — or is largely absent. And the crew? Rather than rescue passengers, it follows the wishes of a businessman.

Kim Su-an plays a little girl trying to get to her mother on an ill-fated train. Next Entertainment World hide caption

Kim Su-an plays a little girl trying to get to her mother on an ill-fated train.

In the film, those in charge — and the media— "are easily manipulated by others," Youn says, which she said is a message the film's director was sending about the institutions here.

A Year After Ferry Disaster, South Koreans Await Answers

These themes are particularly resonant in South Korea, which in 2014 faced national tragedy after 300 people, mostly teenagers, died when a ferry overturned in the sea. Investigators found the ferry's corporate owners overloaded it to save money. And the captain and crew got into lifeboats without rescuing passengers .

News media, toeing the government line, originally reported that everyone survived. The Korean president's whereabouts on that day are still unexplained.

"After that accident, we have big trauma," Youn says.

Goats and Soda

South korea's mers crisis exposes public distrust of leaders.

It didn't let up. Last year, as Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, spread in South Korea, the government didn't disclose key information about where patients were being treated and how officials would contain the outbreak, instead demanding that people trust them.

Outside a screening of Train to Busan in Seoul's Yongsan district, movie-goers like Wonwoo Park say they get it.

"Korea changed a lot in the last few years. We have to recognize we are pretty selfish," he says. "And we have to change."

While the message is clear, it's also just a fun summer flick, which probably explains its success more than its take on Korean society.

"The movie was the first made in Korea about zombies," film-goer Sharon Cho says. "And the actors were good."

Haeryun Kang contributed to this story.

South Korea
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Review: train to busan.

Train to Busan ’s scare tactics are among the most distinctive that the zombie canon has ever seen.

Writer-director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan , which largely takes place aboard a high-seed KTX train traveling from Seoul to Busan in the midst of a zombie outreak, is so nakedly hospitable to conservative attitudes that one may come to resent its strikingly creative and efficiently orchestrated maximalist frights. During the film’s elegantly staged opening, a man passing through a toll booth turned quarantine zone is so distracted by his phone, as well as by his contempt for the officials in hazmat suits who surely must be downplaying the seeming severity of the quarantine situation, that he runs over a deer. As the man drives off, the camera pans slowly to the right and reveals the deer jolting itself back to life, its glazed-over eyes representing both a promise of countless horrors to come and a confirmation of the man’s assertion that his government’s agents are “so full shit.”

When divorced of message-mongering, the film’s scare tactics are among the most distinctive that the zombie canon has ever seen. The zombies here are rabid, fast-moving ghoulies that, as Train to Busan ’s protagonists discover, are attracted to loud sounds and only attack what they can actually see. This realization becomes the foundation for a series of taut set pieces during which the story’s motley crew of survivors manipulate their way past zombies with the aid of cellphones and bats and the numerous tunnels through which the train must travel. The genre crosspollination for which so many South Korean thrillers have come to be known for is most evident in these scenes (as in the survivors crawling across one train car’s overhead luggage area), which blend together the tropes of survivor-horror and disaster films, as well as suggest the mechanics of puzzle-platformer games.

Train to Busan ’s macro frights, such as a freakish chase sequence wherein a horde of zombies unconsciously exhibit the behavior of colonial organisms, are no less impressive than Yeon’s staging of micro ones, primarily for how they shun conventional jump-scare tactics. When Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) and his young daughter, Soo-an (Kim Soo-ahn), board the train to Busan, where Seok-woo’s estranged wife is now living, an infected woman scurries onboard in the split second during which a conductor looks the other way. The moment is so casually presented as to hardly register at all. And as the train pulls away from the station, Soo-an barely glimpses from a window as someone crashes into and pushes a conductor to the ground. In one stylishly tossed-off beat, the girl’s fears of estrangement and uncertainty are effectively conflated with the audience’s certainty of this train’s doom.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to ignore Train to Busan ’s almost punishing devotion to formula. In between skirmishes with zombies, the train’s survivors dutifully corroborate their bona fides as stock genre types. Seok-woo is fund manager whose “bloodsucking” ways are understood by Sang-ha (Ma Dong-seok), a working-class bruiser on board the train with his pregnant wife, Sung-gyeong (Jung Yu-mi), to be consistent with how he only thinks of himself in the heat of the moment. Soon-an even takes her father to task, blaming the selfishness of his actions for his separation from her mother. The film sees Seok-woo as being one step away from the totalistic and cartoonish villainy of the bus-company executive played by Kim Eui-sung, and the zombie apocalypse as a means for Seok-woo to reconnect with what the filmmaker seems to believe is the man’s essential goodness.

Train to Busan treats, like San Andreas before it, a cataclysmic event as a backdrop to the restoration of a nuclear family—or something close to approaching one. The film’s drive toward a conventional sense of closure, executed with a clean sense of movement reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s work, becomes impossible to separate from a series of essentially socio-political talking points that suggest a nation’s ever-increasing embrace of capitalistic values has unhinged its populace from the salt-of-the-earth ethos of an idyllic past. And yet, because everyone’s reminiscences about how things used to be, delivered in service to remind Seok-woo of his capacity for empathy, are so culturally unspecific, it’s easy to see hypocrisy in how Yeon so scrupulously serves up Train to Busan as a calling card.

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Train to Busan: A Ride Paved With Good Intentions – Review

By Serafina Siow (17A13A), pictures from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB.

I confess to being highly skeptical when first hearing of the film. Despite the 93% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and the 8.0/10 score on IMDB, zombie flicks have a reputation for being gratuitously and mindlessly violent for a reason (World War Z, while thrilling for a bit, turned insipid after a while).

But Train to Busan absolutely blew those initial reservations out of the water. Despite its (increasingly overused) genre, it proved an amazing watch worth the seven dollars I shelled out.

The basic premise of the film is simple. A father, Seok Woo, is bringing his daughter, Sang Hwa, to see his wife who is separated from him and lives in the port city of Busan. They decide to go by train, which turns out to be an unfortunate decision when a zombie attack occurs on board. They try to make it to Busan, the last remaining place in Korea free from zombies, along with the rest of the passengers- some who help and some who (decidedly) hinder the group’s chances of survival.

While the premise of the film may seem totally cliched and typical of its genre, the film offers some refreshing twists to the usual disaster zombie film setting, while wearing its heart on its sleeve in the best way possible. The choice of a train as the setting not only aids in the action, but creates a sense of claustrophobia around the characters and compounds the tension. Emotions run high and this brings the humanity of each of the characters to the forefront. It is the human stories interweaved within the plot which will make you shed a tear or two by the end of the film .

The distant relationship between Seok Woo and his daughter strengthens by leaps and bounds and it is heartwarming to see the two reconnect and care about each other (helped by the liberal application of zombies).

The other noteworthy relationships in the film are between a gangster-like husband and his pregnant wife and two high school students. Although the husband helps to protect his wife physically, she is no shrinking violet and shows true grit throughout the film, more than successfully taking care of herself. It’s an admirable portrayal of a loving relationship where both parties are able to operate independently of one another, unlike some of the more dysfunctional relationships perpetuated in media nowadays.

The blossoming relationship between the two students is a little rushed with its development but completely justified by the circumstances. I mean, if you can’t trust your love interest in a race for survival, who can you trust?

Train to Busan also paints a chillingly realistic picture of the gamut of human attitudes and reactions to a zombie outbreak. With characters ranging from naive to cynical to self-sacrificing, we are reminded that people are all too human. On a positive note, someone who at first seems concerned only about the welfare of him and his own can learn to band together with other passengers to ensure a better chance of survival. On top of that, the claustrophobic setting helps to emphasise the very physical way that the characters are trapped within these circumstances, and are forced to adapt quickly.

Of course, there are people on the opposite end of the spectrum, such as an individual who personally causes the deaths of at least 4 other people (to the best of the author’s memory). Certainly, there are people who are consistently good: the train driver in the film comes to mind, living by his strong sense of duty which drives him to help the other passengers though he could have escaped easily on his own.

While a human story at heart, the action sequences were no slouch either. Nail-biting suspense and jump scares were a seamless feature throughout the film right down to the last seconds of Train to Busan. The fight through the train not only showcased the brawn but also the brains of the characters: innovative with the use of space, making best use of the narrow train cabins and the items they gave at hand. While this author finds the final victory a tad convenient in its timing (right when some characters were about to bite the dust), it ultimately does not detract too much from the film.

Overall, Train to Busan turned out to be a fabulous and marvellous film, with a fantastic plot, unforeseen twists, genuine human connections and well-choreographed action sequences. This movie’s spot-on delivery of the character lines in spite of the usual standards of its genre makes it a standout piece worthy of every bit of praise it’s gotten. This author reckons that Train to Busan reveals the blunt truth about the ugly side of society – the side unveiled when it’s every man for himself – that the audience will be able to dig deep and connect to the truth about human nature, when we usually conceal it.

One thought on “Train to Busan: A Ride Paved With Good Intentions – Review”

haha, I really had to be that guy, but I remember that the daughter’s name was Su an while the big buff guy was Sanghwa. sorry, it was just funny reading that. Good review btw!

Cinema Escapist

Explore and connect the world through a cinematic lens

South Korea

Review: train to busan (south korea, 2016).

World War Z meets Snowpiercer in this Korean zombie blockbuster.

By Anthony Kao , 19 Sep 16 05:48 GMT

Imagine World War Z and Snowpiercer mashed together. That roughly describes Train to Busan , the highest grossing South Korean film of 2016. With almost $100 million in box office earnings and over ten million domestic viewers, the movie is not only an entertaining blockbuster, but also a remarkable live-action debut for a director who previously was known exclusively for dark, socially critical animated features.

Train to Busan stars Gong Yoo (best known for his breakout role in the drama The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince ) as a hedge fund manager named Seok-woo who decides to take his young daughter Soo-an (played by the ten-year old Kim Soo-an) from Seoul to the southern city of Busan to see his ex-wife. As they depart on the KTX (South Korea’s high-speed rail line), Seoul erupts into a zombie apocalypse and their train becomes a speeding safe haven. However, that doesn’t last for long. A single zombie makes it onto the train and starts infecting passengers. This forces Seok-woo, Soo-an, and other survivors to quarantine themselves in uninfected cars and fight for survival.

As expected from a zombie apocalypse movie, there’s a gratuitous amount of violence and many shots of rolling zombie hordes a la World War Z or 28 Days Later . The film maintains a high degree of suspense throughout. It also creates both likeable and absolutely despicable characters for audiences to root for, cry about, or hate. With such an altogether entertaining makeup, it’s not surprising that Train to Busan sold so many tickets.

Interestingly, this represents a significant change for Yeon Sang-ho, the film’s director. Before this, Yeon had only made short films and animated features, none of which were box office flops. His two features King of Pigs and The Fake (which we reviewed last year) , are blisteringly dark and deal with mature, controversial themes like the hollowness of religion, domestic abuse, bullying, and class divides — hardly the stuff that attracts mass audiences.

However, signs of Yeon’s guiding hand are evident in Train to Busan if you look deeper. Like another well-known Korean train movie, Snowpiercer (directed by Bong Joon-ho), Train to Busan incorporates elements of class warfare and uses the claustrophobic setting of a speeding train to amplify the darker angels of human nature.

The Korean government is largely absent or, if present, unhelpful — the only time a government representative comes on TV, he tells people that the situation is under control when it clearly isn’t. Amidst the chaos, a ruthless businessman takes command of one of the train cars and orders the crew around to the whims of his self-interest. The hordes of zombies are juxtaposed against symbols of Korea’s material wealth — the shiny KTX train cars, immaculately designed train stations. It’s an ironic image: despite their outward trappings of civilization and modernity, the people are still monsters.

People being monsters — you could say that’s the unifying theme of Yeon Sang-ho’s work. With recent events in Korea, perhaps people are now more receptive to what he has to offer. When you have the nation’s Prime Minister calling 99% of the population “dogs and pigs” , an overloaded ferry sinking due to corporate greed , and public distrust of the government’s ability to handle viral outbreaks , maybe a zombie apocalypse starts to have some appeal.

If you enjoyed Train to Busan , consider watching:

Seoul Station : Yeon Sang-ho actually made this animated prequel to Train to Busan and also released it this summer. For all of Train to Busan’s success, this prequel has gotten surprisingly little publicity.
The Fake : Yeon’s second full feature, a biting and thoughtful satire of organized religion.
Doomsday Book : Train to Busan is actually NOT the first South Korean movie to feature a zombie apocalypse — Doomsday Book is.
Snowpiercer : A Korean-produced English-language movie (starring Chris Evans) that depicts a class struggle aboard a train speeding through an icy post-apocalyptic Earth. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, who also made Memories of Murder and The Host (the latter, which is essentially a South Korean Godzilla, is also worth watching).

Train to Busan (Korean: 부산행)– Dialog in Korean. Directed by Yeon Sang-ho. First released 20 July 2016. Running time 1hr 58min. Starring Gong Yoo, Kim Soo-an, Jung Yu-mi, and Ma Dong-seok.

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Film Review: ‘Train to Busan’

By Maggie Lee

Chief Asia Film Critic

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Following a motley crew on a bumpy ride from Seoul to Busan to escape a zombie outbreak, writer-director Yeon Sang-ho ‘s action-horror railroad movie “ Train to Busan ” pulses with relentless locomotive momentum. As an allegory of class rebellion and moral polarization, it proves just as biting as Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi dystopia “Snowpiercer,” while delivering even more unpretentious fun. Yeon has displayed recognizably cinematic sensibilities in his last three indie anime features — “King of Pigs,” “Fake” and “Seoul Station” — so it’s not surprising that he transitions easily into live-action, though his scathing, nihilistic vision of humanity is watered down for wider mainstream appeal. Buyers for Asian-friendly genre products should clamber to board “Train.”

Despite the vibrancy of genre cinema in Korea, you can count the country’s zombie films on the fingers of one hand. But whether it’s alleged prototype “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie” rip-off “A Monstrous Corpse” or the more recent “Zombie School” (2014), they’ve all been slapdash and unoriginal.

Popular on Variety

Workaholic fund manager Seok-wu (Gong Yoo) takes his estranged young daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an) on the KTX high-speed train to Busan to visit his ex-wife. The last person to hop on is a teenage girl whose bare thighs are crisscrossed with bulging veins. Yet, passengers and train crew get more alarmed over a homeless man hiding out in the washroom — one of the film’s frequent barbed comments on snobbery in Korean society.

The first 15 minutes tease audiences with glimpses of zombie threat, like a shadow lunging spastically across the platform, or ominous news reports of riots in the capital. Once the infected girl claims the first victim, however, the action surges ahead with exhilarating mayhem, abetted by the claustrophobic layout of train compartments.

The main reason zombies rank less scarily on the ghoulish scale is their slow waddling gait, but the resident evil here is so deliriously energetic and agile it’s like they’re powered by ginseng and soju. Yeon’s background in animation definitely lends their assault a cartoonish ferocity. The creatures’ only weakness is the fact they see poorly in the dark, giving rise to several mini-climaxes when Seok-wu exploits this to outwit them.

Whereas in Hollywood disaster or apocalyptic movies, the chief protagonist tends to take charge and puts him or herself in the line of fire, Seok-wu subverts the cliché by acting on his elitist, self-preserving instincts, telling Su-an off for giving her seat to an old lady, and shutting the door on escaping passengers Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife Sung-kyu (Jung Yu-mi, “Oki’s Movie”). It is up to Su-na, with her child’s innate decency, and the burly but dauntless Sang-hwa to undo the financial go-getting, cutthroat attitude, so he can learn that it is cooperation and altruism that ensures survival in a catastrophe.

Fans of Yeon’s edgier animations may miss his remorselessly evil characters, whose misogyny, sadism and dirt-filthy expletives exert repulsive fascination. In their place, “Train” features something one never expected from Yeon — nice people — such as a pair of high school lovebirds who stay faithful till the end, two deeply affectionate elderly sisters and the selfless tramp. The only major villain comes in the form of a a middle-aged corporate weasel (Kim Eui-sang) who’s calculating cowardice is bland compared with the conmen, religious hypocrites or bullies in Yeon’s past works. But his ability to incite the passengers into callous behavior is instrumental in illustrating how mob mentality works.

Given the sheer velocity of the action, some emotional connection is needed to prevent the film from turning into sheer technical exercise. Thus, Seok-wu’s gradual reform and other humane elements are essential to offset the insentient aggression of the zombies. Their sentimentality are also gleefully tempered by the jumpy, unpredictable script, which constantly teeters between nerve-racking and hilarious, as when Seok-wu hears his mother zombifying over the phone while still bitching about her daughter-in-law.

Shooting in standard 1.85.1 instead of widescreen, the confined mise-en-scene nonetheless affords lenser Lee Hyung-deok plenty of room for nifty camerawork of stunts in unexpected nooks. Washrooms become thrilling battlegrounds and unlikely sanctuaries. An extended sequence in which the driver tries to switch trains is choreographed with the utmost suspense.

However, like most Korean blockbusters, the production cannot resist showing off its visual and special effects clout, resulting in a bombastic stunt toward the end that’s incongruous with the film’s lean, gritty style. Likewise, the screenplay piles on the hysteria and the schmaltz in the last leg, and the hitherto restrained cast have no choice but to dial up performances to a borderline farcical level.

Craft contributions are top-drawer, especially breakneck editing by Yang Jin-mo, who raises suspense to nearly unbearable levels. Music by Jang Young-gyu and sound effects by Choi Tae-young are both sparingly and effectively deployed for genuine shocks rather than false jolts.

Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Midnight), May 13, 2016. Running time: 118 MIN. (Original Title: "Busan haeng")

Production: (South Korea) A Next Entertainment World release, presentation of a Redpeter Film production. (International sales: Contents Panda, Seoul.) Produced by Lee Dong-ha. Executive producer, Kim Woo-taek. Co-producer, Kim Yeon-ho.
Crew: Directed, written by Yeon Sang-ho. Camera (color, HD), Lee Hyung-deok; editor, Yang Jin-mo; music, Jang Young-gyu; production designer, Lee Mok-won; costume designer, Kwon Yoo-jin, Rim Seung-hee; sound, Choi Tae-young; special make-up, Kwak Tae-yong, Hwang Hyo-kyun; special effects, Demolition; visual effects supervisor, Jung Hwang-su; visual effects, Digital Idea.
With: Gong Yoo, Kim Su-an, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Eui-sung, Choi Woo-sik, An So-hee. (Korean dialogue)

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It has been now more then one year since the first coronavirus case has been identified in the city of Wuhan in China. At that time, the all world was far away from assessing the scale of the global sanitary, economic, social and political crisis that we are facing today. The East Asian countries started to accumulate worrying numbers of positive cases since the outbreak occurred in the region. However, what was expected to be the more impacted area of the pandemic a few months later has let the place to western countries overtaken by the management of the unexpected pandemic. In almost all countries, citizens lifestyles have known rapid shifts and new habits. As the months passed, some countries were balancing-and still-between lockdowns and new policies to minimize the spreadi of the disease into public spaces and others usually crowded places. In the mean time, other countries seemed to have a large lead into the recovery race. We could have been struck by Taiwan number of cases that has never exceed 1,000 persons, the Japanese hanging out and enjoying during the spring Cherry Blossom, or weather the famous pictures of a huge summer pool party in the pandemic epicenter city, Wuhan. It is therefore undeniable that we are living a « cosmopolitan moment » because of the shared awareness that the feeling of vulnerability the pandemic raised into us. We all have been constraint to deal with one of the risks our globalized word necessarily carries on as Ulrich Beck well earlier was underlining. Therefore, many took the opportunity to denounce globalization as a cause of this current crisis. From the beginning of the outbreak, national sovereign powers has operated and protectionist responses became the norm as countries were closing their borders, governments were limiting or even prohibiting exportations of masks. More recently, we have seen the aggressiveness exercised by some countries to rapidly own a security stock of vaccins. The globalization is challenged and it seems difficult to think cosmopolitism at this time as exchanges of divers natures are limited by tougher frontiers. Lockdown has caused international imbalance and ruptures because of its impact on the decreasing big fluxes characteristic of globalisation as international commerce or tourism. However, globalization can not be reduce to economic and financial phenomena though fluxes of commodities. It is also an experiment of a shared world amid plurality of cultures which is embedded in the cosmopolitan spirit. Therefore, we should also ask about the cultural exchanges in today's world. Thanks to several measures, asian relative models of resilience and recovery can help us to have an idea and to discuss what could be the conditions of the after world. These countries, are currently reframing their societies where life is going on although the threat of the pandemic still exists. sur 1 10

Dialectical Anthropology

George Baca

With COVID-19, powerful political and economic forces have magnified their power and expanded inequality. Many critical scholars have celebrated how South Korean authorities have contained the virus in ways that ignore power relations. The government coordinated its pandemic response by expanding its formidable surveillance technologies for tracing, tracking, and mining every activity of ordinary citizens. State managers produced powerful images of the government, in Confucian fashion, protecting the public from a dangerous threat. I will connect these performances of power with an examination of how authorities harnessed its pandemic response to private capital. South Korea’s reaction to COVID-19 does not represent a positive alternative to the dominant form of oligarchic rule that prevails in Euro-American societies. The governing elite deployed state power in ways that used this conjuncture to continue previous patterns of domination that have continuously expanded surveillance, extending techniques for the extraction of vital data for commercial and political purposes. Rather than celebrate the South Korean authorities, we should analyze how COVID-19 response has deepened South Korean society's social contradictions.

Maximiliano E. Korstanje

Abstract This essay explores the synopsis of the film Contagion (2011) that narrates the ethical dilemma of sacrifice in a post-disaster context. At first glance, it seems to emulate the situation during Swine flu outbreaks, radicalizing the political discourse in two directions. On one hand, China, a new emerging but undemocratic superpower, is portrayed as dangerous, disordered, and the Chinese as lazy. In the movie, the United States government intervenes to maintain the security of world health. The US intervention entails restricting the rights of democratic life such as mobility, trade, connectivity, and the distribution of food. The implication is that mobility and tourism facilitate virus outbreaks. This movie presents an ethnocentric discourse because it assumes that only mobility in the First world is safe. Global connections which enable the introduction of Third World from presumed uncivilized cultures lead to the possibility of apocalyptic pandemics.

"Introduction" to Transgression in Korea

Robert Prey

In the early morning of February 11, around 4 a.m., a devastating fire swept through the locked cells of a migrant worker detention center in the South Korean city of Yeosu, killing 10 detainees and wounding many others. The center staff tried to put out the f lames by spraying f i re extinguishers through the bars of the cells, but in an act that can only be described as barbaric, did not unlock the cell doors to free those trapped inside, out of fear that they would escape. Migrant workers behind the locked doors and barred windows were forced to breath in the toxic fumes emitted from burning mattresses. These fumes were the cause of most of the deaths and injuries. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the reality is that the roots of the tragedy lie with the Korean government's inhumane policy towards migrant workers.

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Train to Busan's Enduring Cultural Legacy

May 13, 2020

Each year near the picturesque shores of the French Riviera, the Cannes Film Festival, one of international cinema’s most prestigious events, takes place. On May 13, 2016, the South Korean zombie thriller Train to Busan premiered as part of Cannes’ Midnight Screenings section. It garnered immediate attention for its innovative scares and biting social critiques, and when it opened in South Korea later that summer, became a critical, commercial and cultural phenomenon. As Train to Busan celebrates its 4 th anniversary, its director has announced a new Netflix show and a follow-up , titled Peninsula , is due for release later this year. It feels like a fitting time to examine the film’s legacy as a horror gem, a blockbuster, a part of South Korean cinema’s international rise, and a still relevant condemnation of societal corruption and inequality.

This article contains spo ilers.

Train to Busan follows Seok-woo ( Gong Yoo ), a workaholic businessman and divorced father who, in a rare show of sensitivity, decides to indulge his young daughter Su-an’s ( Kim Su-an ) birthday wish to visit her mother. They board the KTX 101 train from Seoul to Busan just as strange incidences of violence begin to break out across South Korea. Their journey turns into a fight for survival when it becomes clear that a virulent disease is sweeping across both the nation and their train, transforming ordinary citizens into bloodthirsty zombies.

Prior to Train to Busan ’s release, director Yeon Sang-ho was best known for the gritty animated features The King of Pigs and The Fake. Train to Busan was conceived as a sequel to Seoul Station , another Yeon animated movie. It was his live-action filmmaking debut and in an ironic twist, it was ultimately released one month before Seoul Station .

For someone that had never previously worked outside of the animated medium, Yeon demonstrates astonishing confidence and creativity in his direction of Train to Busan . The film is masterfully paced, alternating phrenetic action sequences with moments of simmering quiet. Zombies’ mindless, teeth-gnashing nature don’t make them the most versatile villains, but Yeon find ways to use them unrepetitively. Their physicality–sprinting after victims and congealing into piles perfect for rendering barriers useless–is engaging, if occasionally reminiscent of the 2013 American hit World War Z . Yeon’s background in animation shows in shots so meticulously composed, they look like they could be torn from the pages of a comic. All this, combined with a strong cast in broadly drawn but compelling roles, make for a wildly entertaining film that has been hailed as one of the best zombie movies ever made.

However, Train to Busan is more than a well-executed piece of entertainment. It’s also part of a long tradition of horror films which use fantastical terrors to shed light on all too real societal conundrums. Horror is an oft-derided genre, written off as campy, exploitative, and just plain gross. While there are certainly horror films that live up to these low standards, there are many others that take advantage of horror’s place on the margins of filmmaking to engage with subversive topics in inventive ways.

South Korean horror films seem particularly drawn to this genre-bending trend. The film industry in South Korea was limited by various forms of censorship until the late 1990s, but in subsequent decades, films like Whispering Corridors , The Host , and Living Death have examined topics such as corruption, dysfunction in the education system, environmental abuse, and religious zealotry through horror.

Train to Busan ’s timely societal critiques played a major role in its phenomenal success in South Korea, where it attracted over 11 million moviegoers, roughly 1/5 of the population. 2 years before, the country had been rocked by the deaths of over 300 people, many of them high school students, in the Sewol ferry disaster. In 2015, South Korea was struck with an outbreak of MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) that claimed more than 30 lives. Both tragedies were compounded by bureaucratic incompetence and a government response that seemed to prioritize public relations damage control over transparency or the welfare of their citizens. These incidences, combined with growing concerns over economic disparities, created an anxious and pessimistic national atmosphere.

Into this context came Train to Busan , a brilliantly entertaining horror film that also had something to say about nearly every major South Korean societal concern. As previously noted, zombies’ purposeless and indiscriminate brutality can render them dramatically unengaging, but these same qualities make them a near perfect stand-in for disease. The scenes of hordes of infected undead wreaking havoc on cities, interspersed with a press conference in which a government representative calmly states that people have nothing to fear, feel like an exaggerated mirror of the experiences many South Koreans may have feared during the MERS outbreak.

When late in the film, Seok-woo discovers that the source of the zombies is the large company he works for, it serves as a sharp reminder of the costs of unchecked corporate greed. Even as the train passengers fight for their lives, they judge each other by the visible signs of each person’s economic status. The deaths of the working class Sang-hwa ( Ma Dong-seok ), students Yong-guk ( Choi Woo-shik ) and Jin-hee ( Sohee ) and a nameless homeless stowaway who sacrifices himself for Su-an and the pregnant Seong-kyeong ( Jung Yu-mi ) may come at the hands (and teeth) of zombies, but the film makes clear that they were largely caused by the selfishness of other people, most notably Yong-suk ( Kim Eui-sung ), an arrogant corporate executive. A zombie outbreak may be on the loose but Train to Busan ’s underlying message is that it’s society that is truly sick.

If this sounds like a bummer, it is. However, Train to Busan shows that one reason horror is such an effective vehicle for exploring subversive issues is because the genre is primed to provide thrills, levity, and catharsis alongside the societal analysis. It’s hard to sadly philosophize for long when you’re watching a film with heart-pounding action sequences around every corner. Horror is inherently comical in its excessiveness, and Train to Busan has many unexpected and maybe even unintended moments of humor, like when Yong-guk and Jin-hee call each other to confirm they are alive and conduct their conversation in loud, soap-opera worthy sobs. Catharsis is, of course, horror’s secret weapon. Within the exaggerated world of horror, anything is possible, from your deepest fears to your most secret wishes. The film’s boldest instance of catharsis comes from a sequence in which a group of passengers who had refused to help other survivors are eaten alive in slow motion, as dramatic orchestral music plays. It is certainly not the most subtle scene, but it speaks to a deep human desire for just deserts and is undeniably, if darkly, satisfying.

Train to Busan ’s exquisite balance of horror thrills with subversive commentary, of entertainment with depth, and of light with darkness made it a critical and commercial success, both in South Korea and abroad. In the last 4 years, it’s proven to be a steadfastly relevant film with a significant legacy.

As arguably the first notable zombie film in South Korea, Train to Busan can take credit for the country’s slight uptick in zombie appearances in recent years. Most notably, there is the hit Netflix show Kingdom, which like Train to Busan , uses the horrors of the undead to examine the horribleness of the living. Train to Busan also propelled star Gong Yoo, previously best known for his role in the classic K-drama Coffee Prince , to an entirely different level of stardom as part of the actor’s stellar 2016 . Ma Dong-seok’s turn as the lovable Sang-hwa helped him evolve from a supporting actor into a leading man, who has since helmed successful films such as The Outlaws and The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil. He was also recently announced as a cast member for the upcoming Marvel film The Eternals .

The South Korean film industry has seen a rise in its international recognition and influence through the global success of movies like Oldboy , The Handmaiden , and of course, Parasite . Train to Busan deserves a place among these heavyweights as a film so undeniably good, it made an ambivalent, and even occasionally hostile global film community pay attention and give credit where credit was due. It’s worth noting that many of these films achieved their unique brilliance by intertwining genre filmmaking of many different kinds with subversive commentary.

The specific combination of horror and societal critique which Train to Busan so masterfully executes is still alive and well, both globally and in South Korea. Moreover, the issues which the film examines remain a large part of the national psyche, making Train to Busan feel as relevant and timely as ever. A 2019 survey found that over 85% of South Korean respondents believed that income gaps were “very big” and that the barriers to upward mobility were significant. While the country and its government have been largely praised for their response to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, it seems fair to say that widespread anxiety about virulent outbreaks won’t be going away anytime soon. Government corruption and corporate maleficence remain concerns. Recent incidents include the resignation of the Justice Minister after widespread protests due to the fact that his family faced allegations of corruption, and a rare public apology (but with little clarification) from Samsung’s vice-chairman over the company’s controversial succession plans . Of course, South Korea is far from the only place to grapple with these issues, giving Train to Busan a relevance that extends beyond its home country’s borders to nations and people all over the world.

Train to Busan has stood the test of time, proving itself as an enduringly impactful, entertaining, innovative and subversive movie. It’s not just a film for fans of horror, Hallyu, or societal criticism that comes with a side of zombie. It’s a film for fans of good cinema, period.

( Al Jazeera , The Brookings Institute , The Diplomat , Film School Rejects , The Hollywood Reporter , The Indian Express , Indiewire [ 1 ][ 2 ], Inverse , The Korea Times , NPR [ 1 ][ 2 ], Reuters , Screen Daily , Vulture . Images via: Next Entertainment World)

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Train to Busan

Review by brian eggert december 13, 2016.

Zombies become relevant, even vital again in Train to Busan ( Busan haeng ), a tense horror story that unfolds with breakneck pacing and unexpected emotional substance. South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho makes a leap from animation to his first live-action feature, delivering a decidedly commercial project compared to his earlier releases. Yeon’s The King of Pigs (2011) and The Fake (2013) took probing and acerbic looks at bullying, poverty, and religion, while his other 2016 work, Seoul Station , dealt with a zombie outbreak in less straightforward terms—all of them animated. The director makes a graceful transition to live-action with this debut, as Train to Busan proves far more accessible and purely entertaining, while also containing the social commentaries and grim view of humanity for which the director is known. A mixture of perfectly calibrated scares, unlikely laughter, rage over social injustice, and even a few tears combine into a wholly satisfying experience.

Delivering his country’s biggest box-office performer of the year with more than $90 million in receipts in S. Korea alone, Yeon’s international hit has already sold its English-language remake rights to France’s Gaumont—despite not having a sizeable U.S. theatrical release. Imagining a successful remake is difficult, beyond the usual unlikelihood of a worthwhile rehash (see Spike Lee’s remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy for evidence), since Train to Busan ’s considerable subtext reflects a number of issues specific to Yeon’s home country. After the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) swept through S. Korea in 2015, stories of nationwide terror and plague hysteria consumed the headlines. Add to this an already prevalent national discussion about a division between social and economic classes, and suddenly a foundation emerges for a zombie allegory of better-than-average intelligence.

Juggling his ex-wife and cushy career as a fund manager in Seoul, workaholic Seok-wu (Gong Yoo) neglects his young daughter Soo-an (Kim Su-an, excellent). Only after botching her birthday gift and breaking her heart does he agree to deliver Soo-an to her mother in Busan, over two-hundred miles away. But their journey is just over an hour on S. Korea’s KTX high-speed train, which they board amid vague news reports of rioting and contagion throughout the country. Audiences have already seen glimpses of the zombie outbreak by now, including some uncertain allusions to a research facility leak as the cause. But in true zombie horror tradition, the source doesn’t matter much once fast-moving flesh-eaters start biting and adding to their rampant horde. The zombies themselves are scary and reminiscent of those in World War Z (2013), screeching and piling over each other in a rabid attempt to blindly attack anything that moves.

And so, our sense of dread is very real when a near-dead bite victim boards the same train as Seok-wu and Soo-an. Once the train’s attendants lock the exits, there’s no escape; the zombie chaos spreads. Seok-wu’s self-interest hangs over his every action and, at one point, he tells his daughter, “At a time like this, only watch out for yourself.” Fortunately, other passengers prove less cynical and build Train to Busan ’s rather affecting theme about the importance of helping others in times of crisis. Among the most enjoyable characters are the blue-collar Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife Sung-kyung (Jung Yu-mi), who remain unafraid to scorn Seok-wu for his petty behavior and, at first, act as surrogates to Soo-an. If the parents-to-be represent how Seok-wu should aspire to behave, then the entitled executive Yong-suk (Kim Eui-sung) represents the lowest point of humanity. A detestable character on par with Paul Reiser’s turn in Aliens (1986), Yong-suk cruelly uses his influence to ensure his own survival.

Yeon makes the most of the claustrophobic zombies-on-a-train concept, blending human drama with effective, genuine shocks in cramped spaces. But there’s plenty of action off-train too, using elaborate and impressive set pieces to explore the concept to its fullest. Occasionally the special FX threaten to call too much attention to themselves, but even amid a wowing derailment and swarms of zombies, screenwriter Park Joo-suk never forgets about the characters. Ma plays an affable and chummy tough guy reminiscent of Russell Crowe, and Gong’s father role affords a satisfying redemption arc. Kim’s rather awful corporate bastard may aggravate you, but he’s the sort of villain whose eventual comeuppance proves oh-so-satisfying. However, the best character must be Soo-an, whose tearful rendition of “Aloha ʻOe” won’t leave a dry eye in the house.

Train to Busan defies the notion that all has been said and done when it comes to zombies. It begins with an unrelenting setup, and the second half only becomes more complex, frightening, and emotionally involved as it goes—a strange rarity for zombie films today. After all, when AMC’s The Walking Dead pushes new boundaries with each new episode, zombie stories on film could hardly expect to compete, much less equal classics like George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1979), or even the newer 28 Days Later (2004) by Danny Boyle or Shaun of the Dead (2004) by Edgar Wright. But Yeon finds a way of delivering well-established genre elements within an exciting and resonating framework. He turns predictable tropes into an urgent rollercoaster for genre enthusiasts, and a curious but rewarding ride for fans of blockbuster-sized entertainment.

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‘Train to Busan’ review — A surprisingly unique and entertaining zombie flick

Train to busan is a heart-pounding, armrest-gripping, teeth clenching zombie flick that breathes new life into the genre..

Just when the zombie genre seemed on its way out, then along rolls in Train to Busan . This South Korean production breathes a new life into the genre without straying too far out of its confines. The rules set in place in this world are a little updated from the usual and refreshingly there are no guns. Not only does that raise the stakes, it makes for action like no other zombie movie I’ve seen. It is one of the best, if not the best, zombie movie since 28 Days Later. Taking place in Seoul, South Korea, Train to Busan follows Seok-Woo ( Gong Yoo ), a fund manager, and father to Soo-an ( Kim Su-an ). In typical horror movie fashion, he’s a terrible father. So terrible that he gives his daughter a birthday present she already has while she begs to see her mother in Busan the next day to celebrate. Looking to appease his daughter, early the next morning he takes her on a KTX bullet train to Busan. Little do they know a chemical spill nearby has caused a wave of infected people. Little do they know, an infected person made it on the train. This swift and quick setup is not only refreshing but integral to setting the pace of the story. As the lower class cars fall to the zombie outbreak, the forward class cabins fight to keep the undead out and escape.

Train to Busan is such an interesting study on the application of a genre. All the facets of a zombie horror movie are there – the absentee dad, the plot-point child, a pregnant woman, a more than capable fighter. However, the way that the movie applies these characters and throws them into the story is quite interesting. The first 45 minutes of the movie can’t help but draw comparisons to 2013’s Snowpiercer. Both movies take place on a train, involve commentary on class warfare, and involve fighting to get to the front of the train. Except, Train to Busan replaces rebels with zombies. However, both have a similar forward momentum that feels fast, efficient, and damn right thrilling.

One of the most refreshing aspects of the movie is its update of the traditional rules of zombie movies. While they are sensitive to sound, they are also more affected by their vision. At one point, a character puts newspaper over a window and the zombies instantly stop their pursuit. It’s a fun rule that’s put to great use a few times. It’s also very refreshing to have zombie movie where there aren’t any guns. At one point, a group of characters makes an all out dash for another car, the all-out assault on the zombies in their way is not only impressive but incredibly entertaining. The creature design is also really marvelous and terrifying. It perfectly compliments the violence of the transformation into a zombie, which we get to witness a few times. What the movie does pull directly from other movies — World War Z to be specific—is the flood of zombies. However, here it’s done on a smaller scale, which makes it look more realistic and all the more terrifying.

While yes, Train to Busan does eventually give into genre cliches – slow reaction times, horror movie logic—the first half of the movie is strong enough to plow through them. Even though some characters feel familiar, you come to actually care about the right people. By the end of the movie, you become so attached that the tension is almost unbearable. But that’s what we’re looking for, right? The amount of energy that director Yeon Sang-ho is able to infuse into Train to Busan is a welcome change from the stop and go nature of recent entries in the genre. Some wonky translations and frustrating decisions aside, the movie invigorates a genre on the way out. Sure, it completely owes a lot of itself to movies that came before it— World War Z, 28 Days Later— but it does enough on its own to warrant respect all on its own. Needless to say, I am all onboard with Train to Busan.

★★★★ out of five

Train to Busan is available to rent and buy on Amazon!

Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.

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Train To Busan Film Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dDA1IPn254

Between slick camera work, a relentless pace and overwhelming tension, Train To Busan is one of the best zombie films in quite some time. The claustrophobic setting of the train cars its predominantly shot in lend itself to a unique setting as the apocalypse grips Korea and a handful of survivors cling to what little hope remains. The story is well executed and the non-stop action set pieces grow as the film continues. The latter half does devolve into pure spectacle ,throwing the tight knit character work to the wayside in favour of a Hollywood-esque ending. The Korean language with English subtitles may put some people off which is a shame because Train To Busan is truly a great zombie film.

At the heart of this chaotic apocalypse is Seok-Woo (Yoo Gong) a man obsessed with his work with little time for his daughter Soo-an (Su-an Kim). Promising his daughter he’ll get her to Busan to see her Mother, the two set out at the very beginning of the apocalypse as Korea begins to crumble around them. At first glance it seems like the train might be a safe haven but can they really be sure no one on the train is already infected? What follows from here is a tense and near flawless hour of non stop action shot predominantly in a single train. As the film opens up a little it does lose some of the choked claustrophobia that grips this film but it remains tense throughout.

Train To Busan boasts a great array of camera angles and framing too. Whether it be a long pan shot of an empty station or a shaky, handheld camera used to accentuate the sporadic nature of the zombies up close, Director Sang-ho Yeon isn’t afraid to show off his artistic vision with some great cinematography. All of this is further enhanced by an uneasy, discordant, string-heavy score. With vast periods of this film shot with no music and just sound effects or dialogue, when the action does pick up, so too does the music and it really sends the tension off the scales. Its cleverly done and shows a real understanding for how to make the most of building tension that’s a trademark of Korean films in general.

All of this great work would of course be for nothing if the characters were lacklustre or the script lacking. Despite a questionably formulaic final act and ending on an unresolved note, Train To Busan delivers in almost every sense. Seok-Woo is a really well written character, transforming from a selfish businessman to a selfless, brave fighter as the film progresses. It is a little cliched but with the blistering pace the film sets for itself, its forgivable and barely noticeable. The rest of the characters have their own unique sub-plots which are all resolved too which is a nice touch and with the exception of one major plot point that leaves the film hanging, the script is excellent with barely any plot holes to speak of.

Overall though, Train To Busan is quickly simply a very good thriller. Not only is the action relentless, gripping and well shot, the characters are all memorable and have satisfying arcs. Despite not really ending the main conflict and a tendency to devolve into Hollywood spectacle toward the end of the film, Train To Busan is smartly written and boasts some excellent cinematography. The script tries to hit the peaks in the zombie genre with some incredible tense scenes and great writing. Its a shame that people may see the language as a barrier and avoid this one because Train To Busan should be seen as a benchmark for how to make a great zombie film.

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Verdict - 9/10 9/10

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Interview with josef kullengård, head of industry at the goteborg film festival, coup – a review, there will still be more blood / a report on the 28th edition of fantasia international film festival 2024, latin quarter with juan castro, why ehrlich is wrong and you should love “train to busan”.

Reading IndieWire critic David Ehrlich’s review of Train to Busan is a weird experience. What comes across as a mixed but positive-leaning review, somehow ends with a grade of a C+.

Ehrlich’s review reminds me of a piece I published two years ago called “ A Critique of Critics. ” I observed then that critics who insist on “grading” movies seem to get a kick out of being hyperbolically harsh. I also noted that critics tend to have pre-conceived notions of what makes a movie “good.” When the movie doesn’t fit their rubric, they decide it’s bad, regardless of whether the movie was enjoyable.

In Ehrlich’s case, his decision to deem Train to Busan a C+ movie seemingly comes down to his observation that, in the movie’s third act, “the characters whittle away into archetypes.” He notes that the film goes from being the work of a “sneaky chess master who arranges his pieces for a blindside attack” to a cartoonish work, that lets its flawed protagonist off the hook by introducing “an unbelievably scummy and selfish villain to shoulder all of the movie’s awfulness.”

I suppose the difference between myself and Ehrlich as critics (at least when it comes to this movie), is that Ehrlich puts himself in the role of mere evaluator. When I watch movies, however, I identify with their directors. When I don’t quite like something, I’m not happy to just say that. Rather, I try to imagine a rebuilding of the story.

So, what is Train to Busan all about? The film is the story of Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) and his daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an). Seok-woo is your typical, over-worked, business-office movie-dad. He is divorced from his wife and lives with Su-an. Seok-woo is comically bad at giving birthday presents, and Su-an expresses an overt preference towards spending time with her (supposedly non workaholic) mother. As a birthday present, Seok-woo decides to take his daughter on a train trip to visit her mother in Busan, but lo and behold, a zombie apocalypse strikes Korea.

Train to Busan draws in viewers in two way. Firstly, it makes great use of its train setting, depicting it both as a terrifying constraining capsule, and a source of comedic safety (the zombies are not able to open the door knobs to travel between train compartments). Secondly, the film creates three-dimensional characters where no one sees them coming. A baseball player and his friend/girlfriend (Choi Woo-shik and Ahn So-he) seem like mere members of the rabble, but instead prove compelling and sensitive in their brief, coming-of-age experience. Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok), a gruff father-to-be in a blue suit, appears at first as a background character, before evolving into a stoic, unfailing hero. A pair of elderly sisters (Ye Soo-jung and Park Myung-sin) are almost forgettable until they demonstrate the impossible dilemma of whether to be selfish or selfless in the face undefeatable evil. And even clichéd Dad Seok-woo isn’t so clichéd. He’s not an aggressively masculine, dad-trope like Adam Sandler’s character from Click , but a soft-spoken person trying to improve himself.

Midway through the film, however, a non-zombie villain is introduced. Yon-uk (Kim-jin hee) is an executive with the train company, and he pushes for a hardline approach to the zombie infestation. Yon-uk leads a “mob” in the first class train compartment, that demands the other passengers to be locked out of their compartment. His argument is that these passengers might have been contaminated by the zombies.

As Yon-uk gets more screen-time, he shifts from serving as a cynical, policy-hardliner, to a cartoon villain. Unlike Ehrlich, I see some value to employing such a “cartoonish character.” In so far as Train to Busan is an anti-capitalist movie in its early moments, its critique is focused on the apolitical, business mundanity of Seok-woo: he goes to work each day to make profits for investors. But evil systems are not just carried out by mundane actors. Capitalism relies on its hoards of investors and neoliberal policy makers, sure, but we can’t overlook the contributions of the overtly-sinister either: actors ranging from the Koch brothers to Pinochet.

So Train to Busan ’s problem is not that it features an over-the-top, arch elitist villain. But Ehrlich is on to something when he observes that Seok-woo’s arc as flawed-protagonist gets awkwardly interrupted. Seok-woo does transform over the course of the movie, but he does not come to question the ethics of his career. Instead of transforming from individualist to collectivist, he follows a more generic path from timidity to bravery.

The way I see it, the reason the movie’s arc takes this underwhelming shape, is that despite its political undertones, it is first and foremost a zombie film. When Yon-uk emerges and begins to propose the cruel idea that the bulk of the train’s passengers be locked in with the zombies, I thought I saw a plot twist coming. What if the film’s revelation was that Yon-uk was not the only bigot on the train (albeit he was still the worst)? What if the zombie virus was in fact treatable? What if it turned out it was wrong not simply to write off the possibly affected, but even those whose bodies had been transformed?

The message of such a film would be that whenever anybody is left behind, by a system, we should question the ethics of such a system. Donald Trump, for instance, was met with righteous disdain for putting “kids in cages.” Yet many of the liberals and moderates who repeated this phrase were probably not asking questions about what it means more generally to have strong borders. In liberal Canada, where I live, people can be deported or denied entry to the country because of criminal records, because they were not named on their family members’ paperwork, or because they are deemed to be drains on the medical system. Mainstream politicians don’t ask questions such as why double-punishment for foreign criminals is rational or moral, or whether one sick immigrant can possibly be a substantial drain on Canada’s medical resources. They just take the logic of a restrictive immigration system for granted: Of course there have to be medical exams! Of course criminals have to be deported!

Train to Busan could have beautifully taken on this kind of thinking by shocking its characters and audience alike, with the revelation that zombies are not in fact deserving of death and ostracization. But because it was a horror flick, and not pure political commentary, this idea probably never crossed the filmmakers’ minds.

By refusing to subvert the assumptions that zombies are hopelessly dangerous, Train to Busan confines itself to comparing the behavior of different humans when dealing with an extreme situation. As such, it cannot really serve as a commentary on the day to day injustice of capitalism or the class system in South Korea, America or elsewhere. If a zombie apocalypse were to happen, I would not be surprised if far more people than just elitist corporate officials start acting like Yon-uk.

David Erhlich and myself both agree that Train to Busan falls short as a piece of social commentary. Where Ehrlich and I part ways, however, is that I don’t believe this flaw ultimately damns it as a movie. Shoot for the moon and if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars. Train to Busan is not profoundly political, but it pushes enough in that direction to separate it from the pack.

I tried watching zombie classic Dawn of the Dead (1978) and gave up after thirty-minutes, bored by its simple shoot-em-up plot. Train to Busan, by contrast, can be loved by all kinds of film-viewers: the action and non-action oriented. It is a wonderful concoction, of suspense, timely comedy, and, most of all, heart. Whether its Sang-hwa’s mighty kicks or Su-an’s trembling song, this a movie with emotional beats that cannot soon be forgotten.

Train to Busan

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You Need To Check Out the Prequel to One of the Best Zombie Horror Movies Ever

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The Big Picture

Seoul Station expands social critique beyond Train to Busan , focusing on broader societal issues in South Korea.
The main characters in Seoul Station are dealing with real-world struggles like homelessness and prostitution, highlighting societal class hierarchies.
The film portrays the government in Seoul turning against its citizens, caring more about maintaining order than individual safety during the zombie outbreak.

Train to Busan was a mega hit in 2016, becoming one of the best zombie movies in years . It seems that director Yeon Sang-ho knew he had something special on his hands as soon as the movie was released. Just one month after Train to Busan ’s South Korean theatrical debut, Sang-ho released Seoul Station , an animated prequel that shows the very beginning of Seoul being overrun by zombies. The story follows Hye-Sun ( Shim Eun-kyung ), a former sex worker already struggling before she's separated from her boyfriend, Ki-woong ( Lee Joon ); together, they and Hye-sun's father ( Ryu Seung-ryong ) fight through the infected city to find each other. Beyond being one of the few animated horror films, Seoul Station rises to the same level of insightful social critique as its predecessor. It doesn’t rehash the themes from Train to Busan , but instead takes a wider look at South Korean society , and it does so while still creating characters to which the audience can relate and care about.

Seoul Station

Seoul Station is an animated prequel to the film Train to Busan. It portrays the early stages of a zombie outbreak in Seoul, focusing on a young woman, her father, and her boyfriend as they attempt to escape the chaos and survive the initial spread of the infection in the city.

'Seoul Station' Expands the Social Commentary of 'Train of Busan'

One of the draws of Train to Busan was the way it handled social issues like burnout and contempt between economic classes, and also humanistic ideas like sacrificing for those you love. These points were all made through a pool of characters that were small but well-developed. Seoul Station doesn’t lose any of that sharpness or strong writing, but it doesn’t repeat its predecessor , either. Instead, it expands its scope outside just a few commuters and shows a larger picture of all of Seoul and the rest of South Korea. The first zombie attack doesn’t happen until almost the 20-minute mark. Until then, we watch how dismissive city and government officials are towards those in need, specifically the homeless.

The main character, Hye-sun, also doesn’t find out about the zombie outbreak until five minutes after the first attack. The movie instead follows her struggling with being a former sex worker, having no money, and being with a boyfriend who wants to act as her pimp. By focusing on these real-world issues first and foremost, the movie makes it clear that the government has failed its citizens long before they turned into zombies.

'Seoul Station's Main Characters Are on the Bottom Rung of the Ladder

A woman in a pink dress, Hy-sun, looks at a wounded police officer in shock in 'Seoul Station'

The social commentary of Seoul Station centers its focus around homelessness and prostitution. The main character, Hye-sun, is a former sex worker that escaped from her brothel. She’s trying to establish a steady life with her boyfriend, Ki-woong, but the two are on the verge of eviction. And worse, Ki-woong continually tries to act as her pimp without her consent.

Hye-sun is actively trying to avoid sex work, but the people around her still look down at her . Even Ki-woong justifies his own decisions by making her feel guilty about everything he’s given her so far and blaming her for their circumstances. The audience sympathizes with Hye-sun’s unfair situation, but Seoul Station digs even deeper by showing that Hye-sun herself believes in a class hierarchy . When the police refuse to help her and the group of homeless people she’s with, Hye-sun begs that they should at least help her because she’s “not a homeless.”

Custom image of Jovan Adepo supporting Dominic Applewhite in Overlord against a red background

This Overlooked WWII Movie Doubles As a Thrilling Zombie Horror

The genre-bending film appeals to both fans of zombie horror and WWII drama.

She’s implying that, even as a sex worker, she’s more worth saving than an unhoused person. But considering that she’s on the verge of being evicted herself and also struggles with people looking down on her, it’s a little hypocritical for her to do the same to others. It’s even worse because this group of people warned her about the zombies in the first place and let her escape with them. And referring to an unhoused person as “a homeless” reduces them from being an individual human with needs to just part of a collective problem .

The Government Turns Against Its Citizens in 'Seoul Station'

That isn’t to say that Hye-sun isn’t sympathetic; the above conversation is a very brief, very subtle moment from her character . Others, however, completely embody this internal class conflict. When the military blocks civilians from escaping from zombies, one man loudly complains about the injustice. Except he’s only affronted on his own behalf; he says that because he served his country and is an upstanding citizen, he’s different from the “trash” around him and should be allowed to escape.

He doesn’t know these people and being “different” didn’t keep him from being stuck in the same situation, but he still maintains his superiority. And when the man can’t escape due to the military blockade , he turns his anger on those around him. He blames their inferiority for his current situation, not the actual government literally blocking the area off. While Seoul Station doesn't blame the outbreak on the government, it still portrays them as caring less about their individual citizens' safety than it does about maintaining order . They also take no responsibility for their actions, claiming that the trapped people are "participating in an unlawful assembly," completely ignoring the zombies terrorizing them.

Because Seoul Station is a prequel, it's sort of a foregone conclusion that none of its characters are going to come out on top; by the beginning of Train to Busan , Seoul is almost completely overrun by zombies . The lack of hope compared to Train to Busan 's ending combined with equally heavy social commentary makes Seoul Station a bleak watch , but its insightful themes and realistic characters are worthwhile additions to director Yeon Sang-ho's cinematic world.

'Seoul Station's Ending Is Way Darker Than 'Train to Busan's

Gong Yoo's character saving his family in Train to Busan

Although heartbreaking, Train to Busan ends with bittersweet hope . The main character rediscovers the depths of his love for his daughter and sacrifices himself so she can survive. Seoul Station , on the other hand, leans far more into the bitter side of Hye-sun’s situation. After spending the movie rooting for Hye-sun to reunite with her father and boyfriend, the ending reveals that Suk-gyu is not Hye-sun’s father at all – he’s her former abusive pimp looking for revenge for stealing from him. He murders Ki-woong and attempts to rape Hye-sun .

It’s a shocking turn for the story and the audience is left on the edge of their seats wondering how Hye-sun could possibly get away. Sadly, she doesn’t; in the middle of the attempted assault, Hye-sun dies beneath Suk-gyu. And the only catharsis the movie offers is the reveal that she dies from an infected zombie scratch on her foot. As the crazed Suk-gyu tries to revive Hye-sun, she suddenly reanimates and violently rips him apart. It’s tragic that Hye-sun doesn’t survive, but at least in becoming a zombie, she gets to exact revenge on her horribly abusive pimp.

Seoul Station is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.

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Study finds 94% of business spreadsheets have critical errors

by Higher Education Press

A recent study has found that 94% of spreadsheets used in business decision-making contain errors, posing serious risks for financial losses and operational mistakes. This finding highlights the need for better quality assurance practices.

The study, led by Prof. Pak-Lok Poon in collaboration with Central Queensland University, Swinburne University of Technology, City University of Hong Kong, and The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, shows that most spreadsheets used in important business applications have errors that can affect decision-making processes. "The high rate of errors in these spreadsheets is concerning," says Prof. Poon.

Errors in spreadsheets can lead to poor decisions, resulting in financial losses , pricing mistakes, and operational problems in fields like health care and nuclear operations. "These mistakes can cause major issues in various sectors," adds Prof. Poon.

Spreadsheets are crucial tools in many fields, such as linear programming and neuroscience. However, with more people creating their own spreadsheets without formal training, the number of faulty spreadsheets has increased. "Many end-users lack proper software development training, leading to more errors," explains Prof. Poon.

The research team reviewed studies from the past 35.5 years for journal articles and 10.5 years for conference papers, focusing on spreadsheet quality and related techniques across different fields.

The study found that most research focuses on testing and fixing spreadsheets after they are created, rather than on early development stages like planning and design. This approach can be more costly and risky. Prof. Poon emphasizes the need for more focus on the early stages of spreadsheet development to prevent errors.

The study suggests that adopting a life cycle approach to spreadsheet quality can help reduce errors. Addressing quality from the beginning can help businesses lower risks and improve the reliability of their decision-making tools.

The research also highlights gaps in current quality assurance practices and recommends further studies on early development stages. It suggests better training and tools for end-users to improve spreadsheet reliability.

This review, published in Frontiers of Computer Science , provides a comprehensive overview of spreadsheet quality assurance and underscores the importance of early-stage quality checks.

Provided by Higher Education Press

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IMAGES

Review Essay
Train to busan poster
Train to Busan Movie Synopsis, Summary, Plot & Film Details
TRAIN TO BUSAN
Film Review
Train to Busan (2016)

COMMENTS

Train to Busan movie review & film summary (2016)
How far would you go to survive a zombie outbreak on a train? Read Roger Ebert's review of this thrilling and emotional Korean horror film.
Train to Busan: Action-Horror and Class Critique
Train to Busan (dir. Yeon Sang-ho, 2016) presents South Korea at the onset of a zombie apocalypse, and does so with refreshing ingenuity. But what makes Sang-ho's vision of a world in outbreak so compelling is its particular focus on class, making for an exciting action movie and a nuanced exploration of social ills.
Review: All Aboard 'Train to Busan' for Zombie and Class Warfare
Elite passengers on a South Korean bullet train face a twitching, hissing threat from the cheap seats in " Train to Busan ," a public-transportation horror movie with a side helping of class ...
Train To Busan
Yeon Sang-ho crafted a film as nuanced and subtle as the great works of Ken Loach or Mike Leigh in its unflinching, yet deftly hidden critique of South Korean society. As well as being a balls-to-the-wall action-horror, Train To Busan is equally an intimate and sensitive character drama, and searing social commentary.
Review: Train to Busan (부산행, 2016) ★★½
The characters must fight their way through each train car to reach other survivors (Train to Busan, 2016). Many of the scenes in Train to Busan are reminiscent of Snowpiercer (2013), a far superior film from South Korean director, Bong Joon-ho.
Film Analysis: Train to Busan (2016) by Yeon Sang-ho
Film Analysis: Train to Busan (2016) by Yeon Sang-ho Sequel to the animated film "Seoul Station", also by Yeon Sang-ho, " Train to Busan " is the film with the most admissions in South Korea for 2016, with more than 11.5 million. This number places it in the 11th position of the all-time list with admissions in the country, despite the fact that it is one of the very few South Korean ...
Movie Review: Train to Busan (2016)
Movie review of Train to Busan (2016) by The Critical Movie Critics | While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on a train.
S. Korea's Hit Zombie Film Is Also A Searing Critique Of Korean ...
Train to Busan is the first Korean movie of 2016 seen by more than 10 million people. It's also a critique of selfishness in society. A zombie flick is smashing box office records in South Korea ...
Review: Train to Busan
Review: Train to Busan. Train to Busan 's scare tactics are among the most distinctive that the zombie canon has ever seen. Writer-director Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan, which largely takes place aboard a high-seed KTX train traveling from Seoul to Busan in the midst of a zombie outreak, is so nakedly hospitable to conservative attitudes ...
Train to Busan: A Ride Paved With Good Intentions
Overall, Train to Busan turned out to be a fabulous and marvellous film, with a fantastic plot, unforeseen twists, genuine human connections and well-choreographed action sequences. This movie's spot-on delivery of the character lines in spite of the usual standards of its genre makes it a standout piece worthy of every bit of praise it's ...
Review: Train to Busan (South Korea, 2016)
Imagine World War Z and Snowpiercer mashed together. That roughly describes Train to Busan, the highest grossing South Korean film of 2016. With almost $100 million in box office earnings and over ten million domestic viewers, the movie is not only an entertaining blockbuster, but also a remarkable live-action debut for a director who previously was known exclusively for dark, socially ...
'Train to Busan' Review
Following a motley crew on a bumpy ride from Seoul to Busan to escape a zombie outbreak, writer-director Yeon Sang-ho 's action-horror railroad movie " Train to Busan " pulses with ...
Train to Busan (2016): Glocalization, Korean Zombies, and a Man-Made
Roland Robertson's fTrain to Busan (2016) | 521 (1992) "glocalization" concept will help to deconstruct Train to Busan's glocal elements. Interrogating genre first, "glocalization" as a term helps to articulate the enmeshing of particularity with universality as a means to think about different societies around the world and their ...
Train to Busan's Enduring Cultural Legacy
Train to Busan follows Seok-woo ( Gong Yoo ), a workaholic businessman and divorced father who, in a rare show of sensitivity, decides to indulge his young daughter Su-an's ( Kim Su-an) birthday wish to visit her mother. They board the KTX 101 train from Seoul to Busan just as strange incidences of violence begin to break out across South ...
Transcript
Train to Busan, like All of Us Are Dead, is an action/drama with a horror flavour, in which the horror relies mostly on gore and the action can get a bit overblown.
Train to Busan
The director makes a graceful transition to live-action with this debut, as Train to Busan proves far more accessible and purely entertaining, while also containing the social commentaries and grim view of humanity for which the director is known. A mixture of perfectly calibrated scares, unlikely laughter, rage over social injustice, and even ...
'Train to Busan' review
TRAIN TO BUSAN is a heart-pounding, armrest-gripping, teeth clenching zombie flick that breathes new life into the genre.
Train to Busan critic reviews
Train to Busan pulses with relentless locomotive momentum. As an allegory of class rebellion and moral polarization, it proves just as biting as Bong Joon-ho's sci-fi dystopia "Snowpiercer," while delivering even more unpretentious fun.
Train To Busan Film Review
Overall though, Train To Busan is quickly simply a very good thriller. Not only is the action relentless, gripping and well shot, the characters are all memorable and have satisfying arcs. Despite not really ending the main conflict and a tendency to devolve into Hollywood spectacle toward the end of the film, Train To Busan is smartly written ...
Review Essay
Review Essay: Train to Busan Train to Busan, or Busanhaeng, is a movie about the zombie apocalypse in South Korea, directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring actors Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi and Ma Dong-seok.
Why Ehrlich is Wrong and You Should Love "Train to Busan"
Why Ehrlich is Wrong and You Should Love "Train to Busan". Reading IndieWire critic David Ehrlich's review of Train to Busan is a weird experience. What comes across as a mixed but positive-leaning review, somehow ends with a grade of a C+. Ehrlich's review reminds me of a piece I published two years ago called " A Critique of Critics.
You Need To Check Out the Prequel to One of the Best Zombie Horror
Train to Busan, one of the best zombie movies ever, has an unconventional and impressive animated prequel, Seoul Station.
Study finds 94% of business spreadsheets have critical errors
A recent study has found that 94% of spreadsheets used in business decision-making contain errors, posing serious risks for financial losses and operational mistakes. This finding highlights the ...

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Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Midnight), May 13, 2016. Running time: 118 MIN. (Original Title: "Busan haeng")

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