Dernier train pour Busan

If I have not watched the trailer, I will give it a score of 10 for its entertainment value but having seen the trailer, a little is lost. I don't remember having watched any movie that is so damn engaging, so easy to follow, and so exciting right from the first few minutes all the way to the end. All the exciting moments end with a climax that's fit for a movie. The few minutes during each break for audience to catch their breath is not boring or wasted, perfectly used for characters development. I don't understand why someone commented the last 30 minutes is not as good. I find each climax better in the next. If they make a sequel to show some happenings elsewhere with the same plot and concept, I will still watch it.

The investment manager Seok Woo (Yoo Gong) is a divorced man that lives in Seoul, with his daughter a Soo-an (Soo-an Kim) and his mother. Seok Woo is a selfish man and neglects Soo-an that misses her mother that lives in Busan. On Soo-an's birthday, she asks to visit her mother and Seok Woo travels with her with the intention of returning after lunch. They board the fast train KTX and a sick woman also boards another wagon. During the journey, the woman attacks a train staff and soon all the passenger in the wagon are attacked turning into zombies. Soon Seok Woo realizes that there is a zombie outbreak in South Korea and together with the passenger Sang Hwa (Dong-seok Ma), who is traveling with his pregnant wife Sung Gyeong (Yu-mi Jeong), they isolate the safe front wagons from the infected ones. Along their journey, the non-infected passengers have to fight the zombies and the selfishness of the human being.

"Busanhaeng", a.k.a. "Train to Busan", is one of the best zombie films ever made. The story is original and there is deep character development, which is not usual in horror movies, showing the different behavior of the human being in a stressful situation depending on his or her character (or lack of). The direction is amazing and the action scenes are fantastic. The screenplay is melodramatic but also attractive; the beautiful cinematography and special effects and make-up are highlighted by perfect edition. The cast has good performance but the girl Soo-an Kim is impressive and steals the show. We hope Hollywood industry does not destroy this little gem with the usual remake. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Train to Busan was a treat.

A look into Selfishness vs Selflessness and Individual vs The Collective.

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a foreign film this much. The cinematography is excellent, the story is original, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on Sang-ho Yeon's future projects.

This has to be one of the finest zombie and horror films in general I have ever seen. Extremely thrilling and captivating from start to finish. Everything in this film has done with passion and care. From the characters and heartbreaking moments they go through, visceral zombie attacks, acting and camera work down to dialogue. Everything works great. This is what World War Z should and could have been. Sure the plot of the film is not original, because yet again we are shown the struggle and survival of people during zombie pandemic, but the way the story is approached and executed is beyond most of the average mainstream horror movies we get these days. If you are a fan of zombie films you will definitely enjoy this horror gem.

Making zombie blockbuster movies outside of Hollywood is not an easy task. Money is the biggest problem, of course. Since it takes a lot of money, success should be guaranteed before making a movie is decided. However, because there are no other precedents, you can't tell whether it's going to succeed or not. This bad cycle kept Korean directors from making zombie blockbusters. This tells how bold movement it was to make 'Train to Busan'. This movie was destined to be 'hit' or 'flop' and it turns out to be 'hit'. Then, this gives a food for thought. What made this Korean zombie blockbuster movie which is definitely unfamiliar to Korean people successful? Ironically, the secret lies in familiarity. Let's take a look at this movie. Yes, it has zombies, but is this movie all about them? No. Unlike 28 days later or resident evil, this movie actually doesn't care about zombies that much. Zombies are not explained much. Their origin, their ability, cure for zombies…These are the things that are not being handled well in the movie. In this movie, zombies are just tools to represent 'threats'. The main theme of this movie is about how people react to threats. Selfishness, altruism, violence, love and much more are being depicted in this movie. And Korean people are quite accustomed to these elements. When directors mix these elements well, then the movie becomes a hit, just like this one. However, this movie still has some downsides too. Acting of Jin-hee is quite unbearably bad and the character Yong-suk (who keeps trying to sacrifice others to save himself) had gone way too far. Yes, I can get mad at bad guys but I don't want to get annoyed at them. Also, getting annoyed gets worse when it is not properly resolved as this movie does. Overall, this is a quite well-made movie, though it still has some bad moments. I believe this movie will be a new beginning for Korean blockbusters. And I recommend you to watch this movie to stay alert for rise of Korean movies.