Board this train!

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2016)

This is one fantastic train ride. I love the creative ideas and the economical character setups. No need for too much heavy top-down moralization. This is a straight-up disaster flick with zombies coming in swarms from all directions. So we already know the archetypal characters - the coward, the brave one, the pregnant one, the youth in love, the heroic one and so on. The fun is in seeing which one will die first and who will live. This train is loaded with some colorful characters.
Putting 80% of the action on a bullet train didn't constraint the wealth of inventive ideas one bit as the commuters escape the crazy zombies from car to car. The momentum is terrific and I kept marveling at all creative problem-solving; some I have never seen before. The character arc of the main actor from narcissistic anti-hero to titular hero is very potent and what injects the narrative with much forward power. Love the subtext of class and government hypocrisy, class division, vileness of human nature and the dreaded herd mentality. Ya ya ya, I know the movie never delves too deep into them. Because that would rob the movie of its relentless momentum. I think Paul Greengrass who made Jason Bourne needs to study the cinematography here. You don't need to do split-second cuts and shake the camera to make the audience feel in-the-moment. The action set-pieces are so well choreographed that I understand and see everything.
Straits Times (my local papers) said the last act is disappointing with the train derailing, crashing into some cliché-obstacles and careening through melodramatic territory. Hello? This is Korean cinema - melodrama is expected and in this case welcomed with open arms. IMHO the first two acts are so explosively fun and rollicking thrilling that it practically earned its melodramatic ending. Heck! I was nearly tearing up.
This is one of the most entertaining and unpretentious zombie movies I have seen in a while. This is one train you need to board.