[Review] Train To Busan (8.5/10)

After watching Train To Busan, I have mad respect for writer-director Yeon Sang Ho.

Yeon has created a wonderful movie experience for the zombie genre, where it was non-stop suspense from when the train to Busan began to move, until the end of the movie. And most of the suspense weren't trite or cheesy and suited the scenarios crated.

I say "most of the suspense" because there were still a couple of scenes where inevitably fell into a transitional fault. Characters step out of who they are to do something out of character in order to further the plot. But these happened few and far in between and may be forgivable, though at the time of the incident they were bugging me to no end.

The other big downside for the movie was the first 30 minutes of setting up the father-daughter relationship, and it was almost to a painful crawl.

But once the zombies began chasing humans, that's when the fun started and never really let up.

The best part of the movie was the creation of a few key characters that the audience were asked to follow. There was the male lead, played by Gong Yoo, who started out as a selfish individual and had his own journey of self-actualisation. There was another supporting male played by Ma Dong Syeok that was the clear hero but only played the supporting character, but a clear audience favourite. And then there was the morally evil character but logical in every sense, played by Kim Eui Sung.

These different characters play out real life scenarios so that we the audience would in turn question our own humanity should we get placed in these extreme situations.

I also applaud the director for taking a couple of directions with his characters where no Hollywood movie would go - much like the ending confrontation of Old Boy, greatly pushing the envelope of the human psyche.

This movie is doing very well in Brunei, with virtually no marketing or advertising but the strong word of mouth has somehow even brought out non-movie-goers because the cinemas are always full even after last weekend's sneak previews. Hopefully it will do wel worldwide as well.

And I'm looking forward to Yeon's next work.