By this point, I feel like I’ve given up on zombies in just about every medium. For as large of a horror fan I am, zombies just bore me. Over the years several different creators have attempted to put a fresh or unique spin on them. Some zombies are slow, some are fast. There are those zombies that desire flesh, while there are others that just mostly just walk around. They’re just boring to me.
However I recognize what George A. Romero did in their creation. He basically put them on the map, taking the religious belief of zombies from 1932’s White Zombie and Westernizing it. Romero was the pioneer of how we view zombies in the modern world. Pretty soon, though, even his contributions to the genre led him to the bargain bin films of the b and c class movies. Night of the Living Dead is a remarkable piece of cinematic history. As much as I don’t like the genre of zombies, it was one of the only exceptions I made when it came to the walking dead.
For years, every zombie movie I found in front of my eyes just bored me. That was until 2016’s Train to Busan. Yeon Sang-ho, the writer-director behind the movie, did what I thought was impossible. He crafted a zombie film that had a grounded story, great characters and yes, even brought me to tears. It was unlike any other film that I had ever seen. Now we are in the presence of its sequel. Well…sort of. Train to Busan presents Peninsula takes the MCU or The Purge approach to its storytelling. Rather than us staying with the characters from the first film, we are introduced to an entirely new set of characters in this film. Peninsula takes place four years after the events of the first film as a retired captain in the Korean army (Gang Dong Won) joins a heist crew to go into a zombie-riddled land to recover a few million dollars.
Much like the new cast of characters we meet in this one, we equally meet a brand new tone. I compare these films to The Purge films for a very specific reason when it comes to tone. When you look at the first film in The Purge series, it’s a straight up horror film; whereas the other films in the series move to a more action-based tone. Looking at the first Train to Busan, it masterfully blends drama and horror in equal terms, resulting in a rather unique film. Peninsula is a film that’s hard to gauge in terms of tone. On the surface, it’s a heist movie. This lends itself to the action genre, while still retaining the horror from its first film, though it never feels like the tone is consistent enough. There are action shots where the camera will pan in campy fashion that mirrors the Kung-Fu movies of the 50s and 60s. It worked for those movies because the tone kept consistency. Here, however, it just feels out of place and messy. To make matters just a little bit worse, nearly the entire third act somehow transforms itself into Death Race.
Peninsula does retain a bit more than the zombies of its predecessor. One of the major things that makes the first film so great is the individual arc of each character. Won and fellow actor Lee Jung-Hyun carve out two tremendous arcs that weave into one another beautifully. With this film being set four years after the original film, the rules of the zombies are laid out within this one, a nice touch that helps to establish some pretty awesome sequences with zombies and fellow survivors. The fight choreography is tighter here than its predecessor.
Overall, Train to Busan presents Peninsula isn’t quite a worthy sequel or successor but preserves what makes the first one a masterpiece. Even with the zombies and the action, Peninsula feels void of any real personality. The world feels fuller, but bigger doesn’t always mean better. A few narrative decisions like mixing languages, camera shots, and tonal inconsistencies cost this zombie film a lot in the end. Peninsula might be surrounded by zombies, just wish it was surrounded with more substance too.
RORSCHACH RATING:
Mental Health Moment: At the beginning of this movie we open up on a car which is carrying Gang Dong-Won, his sister and her family. Minor spoiler warning: only he and the brother-in-law survive. When the film picks up 4 years after the prologue, we find Won in Hong Kong as a refugee. There is a scene between Won and his brother-in-law where the two are sharing a drink after receiving the offer to do the heist. His brother-in-law turns to Won and calls him out for being tormented for the loss of his sister and nephew.
It’s important for us to know and understand the signs of depression and suicide. Whether it is changes in an individual’s sleeping schedule, mood swings seeming different, or experiencing an increase in alcohol or narcotics, there are many signs that can lead to someone taking their own life. I get it: talking to someone about their mental health is tough. I have had to face it many times myself in my marriage and in close friends. Sometimes asking the hard questions and having those hard conversations can save someone in the end. Please be brave.
If you or someone you know is reading this right now and you are struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message or tweet to us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!
Victims and Villains is written Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey (and produced by) and more. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. Train to Busan Presents Peninsula is property of Well Go USA. We do not own nor claim any rights. Peninsula is now streaming on all major digital platforms and is available on Blu-Ray and DVD beginning November 24th, 2020!
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