Train to Busan: Action, Horror, and Sadness.

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2019)

Train to Busan is a movie that you probably haven't heard about. I didn't either until my dad forced me to watch it with him. He didn't tell me much about it, except that it was a zombie movie. We've seen zombie movies, the cliche walking corpses and the race to survive. I figured it would be just like them, and wasn't prepared for much. Boy, was I wrong. If you can get past the subtitles, you should brace yourself for an emotional, action-packed and morally challenging adventure, as there is nothing like this movie and I doubt there will be for a long time. Unlike well-known zombie-horror films/shows like The Walking Dead or World War Z, Train to Busan manages to create an emotional attachment to the characters. Even though the main character starts out as a prick, we still feel for him and want to see him improve. It kind of reminds of me of the movie Shaun of the Dead, in the sense of a unique approach to the cliche. Shaun of the Dead takes a more comedic and wacky approach to the cliche, with some hints of seriousness, and Train to Busan takes a serious and somewhat realistic approach, with some comedic moments, which is a good balance. The movie somehow packs in these emotional attacks with exciting unique action into a two-hour film, making it hands down the best zombie survival movie along with providing a unique and enjoyable experience.
The film starts with the main character Gong Yoo (It's Korean) sitting in an office space and is depicted as a supervisor or administrator of a large corporation. He returns home for his daughter's birthday, late, and gives her a Wii U, which she already got from her mom. He also missed her singing performance, causing her to lose confidence and stutter out of singing. Right off the bat, we know that he's not the best father, but he still cares for her. Things get serious when they board a train to the city Busan to see her mother, as a strange and hysterical woman sneaks on board. Of course, that woman is what you would call a zombie, and thus the classic virus spreading action begins. While their whole city is worrying about their own zombie attack, we get to see it from the point of view of train passengers who are cramped in a small linear passage trying to survive.
If you were to just look up the movie and take a glance at it, it would look silly. It's hard to make a zombie movie not look ridiculous. Now before you say "Well it's a zombie movie, isn't that silly?" While that is true, the movie somehow takes a silly and cliche concept and magically turns it into something serious, exciting, and original. Of course, there are some inescapable unrealistic moments; such as train security not noticing a clearly strange woman without a ticket board the train, or nobody regarding the woman while on the train. Those are just nit-picky things you can't avoid.
Every movie has its faults, yet the faults in Train to Busan don't even come near to how amazing the film is. As I've said before, the pure emotional value packed in with exciting action makes it so great. I don't know exactly how they did it, but I can tell you that the two "Us vs Them" and "Me vs Us" themes play a big role. Us vs them is pretty obvious; a group of strangers banded together to fight the evil zombies outside, sharing resources and information. However, the Me vs Us theme goes a bit deeper. Would you sacrifice everything for a bunch of strangers you just met on a train? Or would you abandon them in hopes to survive on your own? We witness the characters go through these decisions and change as the story progresses. Gong Yoo was a businessman who wouldn't raise a thumb to help the poor, yet later on, he risks his life for a homeless man by turning back to help him up to run from a horde of zombies. After watching the movie I felt the effects of its message.
Along with moral challenges, by the end of the movie, you will shed a tear. Trust me. You will feel sorrow for the characters. This is one of the few movies where I actually felt sad after watching it, and that's saying something for being a zombie movie. I definitely wasn't prepared for it, and it hit me like, well, a train. A lot of movies you will forget about after a couple of weeks, and some you will hold on to for a very long time. This is one of those that you will hold on to.