Train to Busanis one of the greatest modern zombie films, butPeninsulafailed to live up to its predecessor and is a generally reviled sequel. 2016’sTrain to Busanwas Korea’s answer to the popularity of zombie media thanks to shows likeThe Walking Dead, but the gripping thriller put a clever new spin on the tired genre. Setting most of its action on a train, the film is a fast-paced ride with plenty of zombie action and a story at its core that is compelling and thought-provoking. A franchise seemed imminent, but things quickly took a wrong turn.
TheTrain to Busanprequelfilm was released around the same time as the original, and the animated story put all of its focus on the dramatic elements of the franchise.Peninsulawould follow in 2020, but it was clear from the start that something was different. Writer and director Yeon Sang-ho returned to helm the project, but the much-anticipated sequel got middling reviews and was quite divisive within the fanbase. What should have been an easy win became something of a notorious misstep, and the franchise has yet to rebound nearly half a decade later.
2016
95%
100%
2020
69%
Train To Busan 2 Was Too Different From The First Movie
A Radical Shift In Tone Doomed The Sequel From The Start
There was action in the original movie, but it mostly served to add stakes to the character drama.
Change is necessary when continuing a franchise, and director/writer Yeon Sang-ho was correct when surmising thatTrain to Busan’s follow-up shouldn’t be a cut-and-paste job. Far too many sequels are rehashes of what came before, butPeninsulawent way too far in the other direction so that it had almost nothing to do with its predecessor.Peninsulatraded in the tightly-paced character drama ofTrain to Busanin favor of off-the-wall action, and it was ultimately to the film’s detriment. There was action in the original movie, but it mostly served to add stakes to the character drama.
The best zombie moviesaren’t really about the undead, but are usually allegorical about some larger problem within society or its characters.Train to Busanis actually about Seok-woo and his workaholic habits that are ruining his family life, and the zombies are the pressure point that inspires him to change. He then spends the rest of the film trying to restore his life to some semblance of order, which is the quintessential hero’s journey. Unfortunately,Peninsulamuddles its characters with copious amounts of action, and trades in a streamlined story for an action-packed adventure with very little substance.
There are hints of a deeper story, and Jung-seok’s guilt is an interesting motivation for his behavior. Unfortunately,Peninsuladecides to be different by not really focusing on that aspect of Jung-seok’s narrative, and giving away too much time to larger-than-life action sequences that don’t have any emotional pay-off. Every second inTrain to Busanis important, and each development sends the characters in a new direction that pushes the plot forward.Peninsulasets the stage, but takes the wrong lessons from its predecessorby focusing on the zombie madness, and not what is really driving the characters.
Peninsulagrossed $42 million worldwide (viaBox Office Mojo)
The CGI In Train To Busan 2 Is Distracting
Bad practical effects can be charming and even enjoyable for a certain subsection of horror movie fans, but bad CGI is often just an eye-sore.
Peninsulaisn’t a terrible film when looked at on its own, but there are aspects of the filmmaking that keep it from being superb. The worst part of the entire experience wasthe movie’s terrible CGI, and it exposed the shortcomings of the film’s production. Fartoo many scenes are splashed with computer-generated imagery that is laughably bad, and it hearkens back to the early days of CGI in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Bad practical effects can be charming and even enjoyable for a certain subsection of horror movie fans, but bad CGI is often just an eye-sore.
The movie doesn’t really need too much CGI, and it comes off as overly-indulgent in the final product.Train to Busanfeatures some CGI, and though it is still substandard for a movie from 2016, it never pulls focus away from the rest of the story.SincePeninsulawas on shaky ground already, the CGI is even more glaring, and the sequel has nothing else to fall back on when the visual effects fail to hit the mark. Zombies can be simple from an effects standpoint, butPeninsula’s increased scale was matched by an increased use of bad CGI.
Train To Busan 2’s Script Was Underdeveloped Compared To The Original
The Audience Isn’t Given Sufficient Reason To Care About What’s Happening
While the zombie genre might feature dozens upon dozens of movies, nailing the perfect script is always a challenge. Unlike other horror stories which feature a conflict driven by a monster, or some sort of supernatural force that the heroes are trying to stop,zombie films are essentially a showcase of character. The zombies are often a somewhat neutral force in the universe of the story, and are more like an act of nature than a villain that must be overcome. As such, the characters and plot need to be airtight in order for the movie to work.
Train to Busanunderstood this challenge, and the screenplay is gripping and human. The zombies could be easily swapped with some other force of nature, and it would be just as strong. Unfortunately,Peninsula’s script is an underdeveloped idea that never seems to get off the ground, while also being a bit too overwrought. This is a deadly combination, because there’s so much happening but no real reason to care about why it’s happening in the first place. With a few more re-writes and drafts, the script toPeninsulacould have been much stronger, and it isn’t a lost cause.
Jung-seok’s guilt is a juicy piece of character development, but it is largely left behind as the film’s action plot gets underway. IfPeninsulacould have slowed down just a bit, it could have allowed for Jung-seok to grapple with his decisions, and examine the repercussions of the choices that characters made as their country began to fall to the zombies. Perhapsthe most frustrating part ofPeninsulais that the kernel of a great idea is there, but the kernel is wastedby an underbaked script.
Train To Busan Was An Impossible Act To Follow
There’s no denying thatPeninsulamade major missteps that kept it from being a great sequel, but it was ultimately shortchanged by its amazing prequel.Train to Busanwas an impossible act to follow, and even the best film would have suffered by comparison. The genre-bending and groundbreaking nature ofTrain to Busanis what’s so difficult to copy, andPeninsulacould have been a perfect film and still been docked points because it was a sequel. However, the mistakes that were made became the film’s downfall, andPeninsulais still one of the biggest disappointments in recent movie history.
