Full Bore Zombie Frenzy

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2017)

I know. I know. If you are anything like me, you are sick to death of zombie movies. Many will rise to defend the sub-genre of horror. After all, there are only so many tropes and monsters that you can explore. In the same breath, one could say you are tired of vampire movies or ghost movies, but the fact is that I would say I am tired of all three. Maybe "tired" isn't the right word. I am skeptical. I have seen the originals that created the structures, the next wave of zombie films that re-defined what you could do with it, then every twist on the genre directors could come up with, from comedies like SHAUN OF THE DEAD to dramatic presentations like MAGGIE. Mostly, I am tired of every indie film maker with no better idea then to do a zombie flick devoid of imagination. So, it really takes a lot to impress me at this point, which makes it all the more surprising that TRAIN TO BUSAN is able to do just that.
There are two major things that make this movie work incredibly well, the action and the characters. The action elements of this movie is what will get it attention from the largest segment of audience. The fact that this is the first live-action film for the director is even more impressive. He cut his teeth in animation and it definitely shows. The movie has a kinetic sense of action and pacing that is straight out of an action cartoon. The movie feels almost like a comic book or cartoon come to life, in many ways. I could make many bad train puns here, but the movie feel like a ride on a steam train. It starts off slow and plodding, setting up the story, the characters and the angles and the movie slowly picks up more and more speed, until arriving at a fever pitch towards the end. That action is gripping and once it hooks you in, it doesn't let go. You will be on the edge of your seat as the movie takes you for a ride.
I said, earlier, that the action would hook the largest audience. Plenty of people just want an action-packed film and there is nothing wrong with that, but I know my friends in the horror intelligentsia will want a little something more on their plates, and this movie does not fail to deliver in character. The plot is pretty straight forward, zombies on a train, but what makes the movie really special is the characters. The plot revolves around a workaholic dad who agrees to take his young daughter to see his ex- wife. We see that the two have a very strained relationship, which naturally evolves through the course of the film. Along the way, we pick up additional characters. There is the drifter that portends the action and plays a pivotal part. The tough bruiser and his pregnant wife, who are important pieces in the relationships that will develop and prove to be much deeper than they appear in the surface. There is an a*hole businessman, who will sacrifice anyone to save himself. To a less defined degree, the baseball player and the girl who wants to be his girlfriend, who aren't as fleshed out as other characters, but provide a few interesting scenes.
Many zombie purists will not like the direction of the zombies themselves. At the risk of incurring the endless, tired debate of which are the best zombies, you could argue these aren't zombies, at all. They are "infected". They are much closer to rabid, chaotic horde of the DAWN remake, or more so, WORLD WAR Z, than the shambling undead of the original DAWN OF THE DEAD, or even THE WALKING DEAD. That last comparison is an interesting one. For all the people on social media complaining that the popular show is too slow, too boring, too talkative and there isn't enough focus on the zombies, this is almost the antidote. Full of action and full of zombies.
The movie has two big things going against it for a western audience, it's sub-titled and it's another zombie film. For that reason alone, many will avoid it. They would be doing themselves a big disservice as this movie is one of the best of last year and a great modern zombie flick.