All Aboard The Zombie Train: Train to Busan [review]

aNewDomain — Henry Hobson’s Maggie proved it: It is possible to make a great zombie movie.

Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan takes the zombie genre to another level entirely. It’s got plot, character development, unrelenting action, great special effects and a gang of zombies that just might be the most terrifying ever.

The storyline here revolves around a workaholic and neglectful dad as he reluctantly takes his young daughter by train from Seoul to Busan to visit his estranged wife.

This turns out to be really bad timing, coinciding as it does with a zombie attack on the country.

Before long, we have hordes of zombies chasing and of course mauling hordes of fleeing humans, but on a fast-moving train. And as the surrounding Korean countryside devolves into utter zombie infestation and chaos, the train engineer has no choice but to keep driving. No stations will take this zombie train.

Who will survive? Will we get to Busan? And what new horrors should we prepared to find when we get there?

That’s the outline, basically, and it’s a standard enough story. But what sets Road to Busan apart is the non-stop action. It’s unrelenting. The stunts and special effects are excellent, too.

And, in the tradition of all good disaster films, the characters in this movie are moral studies, either good or bad, selfish or sacrificing, brave or cowardly.

As for the neglectful dad, he proceeds along his own character arc as he desperately tries to protect his daughter.

But the zombies are the stars here, and they are a sight to behold.

These aren’t the kind of dumb, slow zombies that stumble fitfully around, either. These zombies race and rage. And they chow down on their human victims with stunning speed and unrivaled ferocity.