Challenge of Korean blockbuster, and it succeeded quite well

Rating: 7/10 (23 July 2016)

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.